Attire - Pirate Party and Formal Dinners

[smheese]

First time cruiser...

How formal is the formal dinner dress? Are we talking formal black tie gown? Cocktail dress? A daytime work type dress/business casual?

 

Also for the pirate party do all the families dress up? All the kids? Wondering if I have to spend even more money on this for T shirts or head wraps or whatever before we travel.

 

Thanks :)

[moki'smommy]

Attire on DCL is basically "whatever you want." For formal night, the majority of people make some attempt at dress up--a business suit or sports jacket, a cocktail type dress or church type dress. VERY few do all out ball gowns and tux, although you may see a few. The longer the cruise, the more dressed up people seem to be. 10+ nights = more tux, military dress uniforms, etc. Glad my DD now prefers more suitcase space to doing the ball gown bit. Even smashed, that crinoline took a lot of space. There are always a few who make no effort at all toward dress up (or maybe the fact that their t-shirt was clean means it is formal.

 

Pirate night...depending on the cruise, about half the people dress up. There are a few who go "all out," many with lesser costumes. Kids and adults dress or don't dress. You won't be out of place either way.

 

Also, you are probably aware that short cruises do not have a "formal" night--they have "Dress up optional." For this, you won't see the full out formal attire.

[buckeye82]

We were also given Disney "head wraps" to wear on pirate night. So that is what my husband and I wore to fit in with the pirate theme!

 

 

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[Stephylynn02]

For Pirate night my family does matching T-shirts and the bandanas DCL provide. Last year I brought eye patches as well, and wore big gold hoop earrings. This year DH and I are going alone so I am not sure what we will do? I think he wants to dress up but I am not sure lol. Matching T-shirts is really fun and we always get a lot of compliments and pics turn out great :).

[Gardeneroflove]

Attire on DCL is basically "whatever you want." For formal night' date=' the majority of people make some attempt at dress up--a business suit or sports jacket, a cocktail type dress or church type dress. VERY few do all out ball gowns and tux, although you may see a few. The longer the cruise, the more dressed up people seem to be. 10+ nights = more tux, military dress uniforms, etc. Glad my DD now prefers more suitcase space to doing the ball gown bit. Even smashed, that crinoline took a lot of space. There are always a few who make no effort at all toward dress up (or maybe the fact that their t-shirt was clean means it is formal.

 

Pirate night...depending on the cruise, about half the people dress up. There are a few who go "all out," many with lesser costumes. Kids and adults dress or don't dress. You won't be out of place either way.

 

Also, you are probably aware that short cruises do not have a "formal" night--they have "Dress up optional." For this, you won't see the full out formal attire.[/quote']

 

:raiseshand: we do full formal attire, ball gown and tux. :-)

 

First pirate night, dd wore jeans, no socks, a red striped shirt, her free DI charm bracelet and a dollar pendant necklace. We bought nothing. DH and I hit after Halloween sale. 2nd cruise, dd was tinker bell,with DI bracelet. DH and I wore jeans with colored tee shirts and bandanas, same pendants from year before.

 

You can be creative with what you have, very easily. Target has eye patches in party section. Gold hoop earrings, bulky jewelry, simple stuff add a touch.

[AndreaDH91483]

We're cruising the Fantasy in May/June. The last time we were on a cruise was on the Magic in 2003 (my DH and I got engaged at Palo) and we only got semi dressed up for formal night. This time, I really want to get dressed up nice on formal night because I like getting all dressed up. DH doesn't like getting dressed up so much, but said he'd be willing to for the formal night. I'm considering renting a tux for DH, mainly so we don't have to hassle with packing his suit jacket and dress shoes (we're going to try and pack as lightly as possible so we can fit all of our clothing in one big suitcase and toiletries in one small suitcase), so I was thinking a long gown would be appropriate for me, but I'm a big woman and rather stocky, so it's not easy to find a long gown that fits and flatters without significant alterations, and I don't want to spend a lot of money on a dress I'm not going to wear often (and if we rent a tux, DH is going to get the least expensive, very basic package). At Dillard's recently, I found a beautiful, knee length A line dress with black lace overlay that is very flattering and I think will work well for formal night with the right accessories whether we end up renting the tux for DH or he ends up bringing his suit (and it won't take up much room in the suitcase). We are also traveling with a large party as this is a family trip, with various ages, and I'm thinking for the most part, the kids and other adults in our party won't get super dressed up, but still dress nicely. But the last time my hubby was in a tux was our wedding, and the last time he wore his full suit was my dad's funeral three years ago (which obviously was not a photo taking event), so I'd love to see him all dressed up in either. :)

 

For pirate night, I wanted to wear something fun, but didn't want to have to pack a costume or extravagent outfit and a bunch of accessories. I was browsing the Jessica Louise clothing site and they have some basic camis in all sizes (regular and plus) that are stripped and have a skull and crossbones printed on one side. I thought of ordering one and just wearing it with some capris for a little pirate flair, but then, on their sale page, I spotted an adorable sailor dress that is a black and white stripped top and trim with a red skirt, and a little skull in the center, so I ordered that instead. It's actually super light weight and doesn't wrinkle, so it's easy to pack, really cute, and I don't really need to add any accessories to it. Simple and easy! I seriously doubt anyone else in our party is going to dress up except for maybe the little ones. My husband has proclaimed that he is going to go to Long John Silver's before we leave and get one of the cardboard pirate hats they give to the kids and wear that. Ha ha! I don't really care if he dresses up for the pirate night or not, so if he wants to just wear a cardboard pirate hat with is regular clothes, that's fine with me.

 

I'll attach a picture of the dress I got for formal night (I was just trying it on here, but I'll accessorize it differently), and here's the dress I ordered for pirate night: http://www.shopjessicalouise.com/sailor-dress-plus/

Edited February 16, 2015 by AndreaDH91483

[Ex techie]

There are always a few who make no effort at all toward dress up (or maybe the fact that their t-shirt was clean means it is formal.

 

Too funny and sadly too accurate for some!

 

ex techie

[monty913]

For our first cruise we went all out for formal night, full suit for my DH and I wore a very formal dress. But you see a range of the definition of "formal".

 

Pirate night- some dress in full on jack sparrow costumes, others (like us) just do a pirate-ish t shirt and wear the bandana they hand out. My husband bought a shirt on board that says "time to get my pirate on" and wears it every cruise on pirate night.

[TOMomof4]

Pirate night - We had 6 adults, 4 kids and shopped for Pirate costumes after Halloween for everyone. Would highly recommend it, we had a blast and it made the evening that much more magical for the kids. But yes, we're a little crazy like that ;)

[moki'smommy]

You'll get lots of "we did this and it was fun" posts. Bottom line--as much or as little dressing up as you wish is fine, and you won't be out of place no matter what you do!

 

A hint--if you do any sort of hat on pirate night, make sure it is well secured.

[captcruiser]

Khakis pants and a polo shirt are just fine on DCL even on formal nights. Better yet, stay in your swim suit and go to Flo's. LOL!

 

They are pretty relaxed on the attire. Pirate Night is fun to dress up. We get shirts printed up and wear the bandanas they give you.

[slightlysilly]

Sadly, we were way out of place on the three night Dream cruise we were on. The optional dress up didn't even hit my radar and we showed up just barely showered from CC. When we got to the dining room, I realized the error and wanted to change (I brought clothes for our date at Palo) but then my son wouldn't have been properly dressed. We saw one or two other families dressed as we were but for the most part we were seriously underdressed. We were newbies, it won't happen again. ((((Flogging self))))

[Swampbaby]

Andrea, I'm also a plus size and found a couple of long dresses on eBay that I took on our cruise earlier this month. One still had the price tags on and the other did not look like it had been worn at all. My picture is one of the dresses.

[MCC retired]

For the Pirates Night party on deck , I would suggest Safety Glasses for every one. :-)

Hundreds of kids running loose waving plastic swords .

[JMHDisney]

Are swords allowed? I had told my son he couldn't bring a plastic sword because it was a weapon and if all the other kids have swords I am going to be in the doghouse with him!!

[Ex techie]

Are swords allowed? I had told my son he couldn't bring a plastic sword because it was a weapon and if all the other kids have swords I am going to be in the doghouse with him!!

 

Plastic kids toy swords are fine :)

They even sell them onboard.

 

ex techie

[moki'smommy]

Are swords allowed? I had told my son he couldn't bring a plastic sword because it was a weapon and if all the other kids have swords I am going to be in the doghouse with him!!

 

It is one of those things that makes no sense at all. They list swords (even plastic) as not allowed and then sell them in the gift shop. No one will question you if it is plastic and in your checked luggage when you board. I won't say "all" the kids have them, but they are out there in abundance.