Cruise elegant dress vs casual dress dining

[CRU1Z1N]

I've read often of those that do not want to dress up (cruise elegant) for dining on the cruise elegant nights. I believe most ships have two dining rooms. On cruise elegant night, why not have one dining room be cruise elegant dress and the other be cruise casual? Those nights could be anytime dining for all passengers, however you go to the appropriate dining room. To accommodate everyone they could have a check list on the cruise documents such as ... Will you be participating in the cruise elegant dining yes or no. This would be for everyone in the same cabin. Then the ship would have a listing of those participating in the elegant dining so they can check in at their preferred dining time on those nights.

 

Thoughts?

Edited June 19, 2015 by CRU1Z1N
new title...more relevant to question

[SRcruise]

That is a really good idea but if 65% wanted to dress up or down there could be some issues. Still better than having a guy in jeans seated next to a guy in a tux.

[portocaller]

I like this idea

[katiel53]

I happen to like things the way they are. I do dress up but I don't wear a gown or anything like that. Your suggestion is similar to the one where balconies should be half smoking and half non.

 

You would run into the same problem in that the dressed up/non-dressed up and smoke/no smoke don't equal 50% so there will be upset people no matter how it's done.

 

Another problem would be that many families with younger kids like to eat at 6 and there wouldn't be enough room in any dining room to feed all of those at 6 plus the older crowd who likes to eat early too.

[spleenstomper]

I don't think it is nearly as big of a deal as you are making it out to be. I barely have seen people dressed up last cruise-- maybe 20% dressed more than say casual friday type clothes.

 

I think even casual elegant is becoming a thing of the past.

[Fla Senior]

One DR is used for assigned dining and the other is used for your time dining. So it's not likely to happen.

 

Also, agree that dressing for dinner is slowly fading away. But khakis and a golf shirt (meets minimum dress code for elegant night) is not that big a deal for dinner.

[spleenstomper]

I just saw the post that tailored shorts and polo shirts are now acceptable for cruise elegant night.

 

See. Clearly very few people want to dress up any more.

[satxdiver]

I think the OP has an excellent idea. On my last Caribbean cruise however, the over dressed MDR would have been empty for most of the time as what I saw was pax informally dressed. With the elegant night now on Carnival, men can wear a pair of dockers and a shirt with collar. It sounds pretty casual to me already. The only thing elegant night seems to ban are shorts and jeans however since Carnival is notorious for not enforcing any rules, those can be observed in the MDR on elegant night anyway.

[spleenstomper]

Tailored shorts are now acceptable in MDR on elegant night per a recent post about the fun times.

[dvond]

Tailored shorts are now acceptable in MDR on elegant night per a recent post about the fun times.

 

 

This is great news, do you happen to have a link?

[spleenstomper]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=318434&d=1404684842

 

i agree that tailored shorts allowed is great news. in fact, I am on my way to the upscale men's boutique in town to get DH some fresh tailored shorts and tropical shirts for our cruise and for father's day.

Edited June 19, 2015 by spleenstomper

[skittl1321]

Tailored shorts are now acceptable in MDR on elegant night per a recent post about the fun times.

 

That is actually a zombie thread- the original post is from September 2014.

 

Based on all reports from onboard and the CCL website, shorts are not allowed.

[PA Dutchman]

Tailored shorts and tropical shirts for all 7, 8 or more nights ,now that's a Caribbean cruise.

[BallFour4]

Tailored shorts are now acceptable in MDR on elegant night per a recent post about the fun times.

 

The cruise director staff made a mistake on their "type over" of text from the Fun Times for the day before, hence that was printed. What they didn't tell you was it was corrected on the announcements on the ship the very same day.

 

To the question: This will never work. First, this is a Carnival board, and they live and die by reviews and tips. Disgruntled people don't tip and that hurts their wallets. The code now has been stated for men "wear pants." That's all they ask.

 

We've had the benefit of 29 cruises, the bulk of those in the past decade and have seen on both Carnival and Royal Caribbean the numbers of people dressing up in decline. On shorter and summer weather cruises the dining room can be a ghost town on Cruise Elegant nights. It was on the Magic in February and again on the Triumph this month.

 

What we think are a majority of people dressing are just those visible. You don't see the buffet, the casino and other areas of the ship where people skip the formalities.

 

Any Time Dining is exploding; it fills up right ahead of early seating dinner. Late seating is the least popular.

 

Judging what a majority of people want would need to be somewhere other than Cruise Critic. We are all crazy about ships, and the numbers consistently trend to dressing nicer for dinner. That doesn't give you a true sample of those on the ship at sail away.

 

Will shorts be allowed at Cruise Elegant night? I doubt it. I wasn't surprised at them being allowed on casual nights, and equally not surprised when the dress code virtually vanished for those days as well. I'd settle for people needing a shirt while getting a burrito or burger. They didn't care on the Triumph a few cruises ago.

 

.

Edited June 19, 2015 by BallFour4

[spleenstomper]

Oh well. I'm still going to get DH some shorts and tropical shirts anyway for father's day!

[spleenstomper]

Tailored shorts and tropical shirts for all 7, 8 or more nights ,now that's a Caribbean cruise.

 

Agree!!

[Fla Senior]

That is actually a zombie thread- the original post is from September 2014.

 

Based on all reports from onboard and the CCL website, shorts are not allowed.

 

Actually on our last cruise on the Breeze, dress shorts were allowed on Elegant Night and it was shown in Fun Times.

[spleenstomper]

Actually on our last cruise on the Breeze, dress shorts were allowed on Elegant Night and it was shown in Fun Times.

 

 

Good to know, thanks!

[singbluesilver1]

I love to dress up, where else am I going to wear my formal gowns??

[elliair]

What someone is wearing (besides wife beater T-shirts but those aren't allowed) doesn't affect me or what my food tastes like. I don't dress for other people, I dress for comfort. What if someone shows up in jeans and a nice dress shirt and they feel as though they are "elegant" but is turned away because of their jeans. I can see this idea opening up a big can of worms - for Carnival.

Edited June 19, 2015 by elliair

[skittl1321]

Actually on our last cruise on the Breeze, dress shorts were allowed on Elegant Night and it was shown in Fun Times.

 

That's nice to hear.

 

It seems to be ship dependent, so if you plan to eat in the MDR, I'd bring a pair of pants as a back up plan.

[skittl1321]

I love to dress up, where else am I going to wear my formal gowns??

 

Anywhere you want? Including the MDR. They aren't prohibiting you from wearing them.

 

I've seen people in formal gowns eating at Chili's. And not always for prom/homecoming. Sometimes it is adults. I figured they just wanted to get dressed up and go out.

Edited June 19, 2015 by skittl1321

[figdu]

Actually on our last cruise on the Breeze, dress shorts were allowed on Elegant Night and it was shown in Fun Times.

 

I have also seen it in the Sensation Fun Times more than once.

[evandbob]

I just wish that whatever dress code is decided upon by the cruise line, the staff at the MDR's would see that pax are abiding by it.

 

Having a dress code but not enforcing it makes the dress code, whatever it was, irrelevant.

[cantthinkofanythingfun]

The days of getting all dressed up are done, and probably rightfully so. It's a throwback to the days when cruising was reserved for the wealthiest of people. If you think that you should wear a tux to dinner you should probably suggest that they rip out the water slides as well, and maybe serve something worthy of a tux. I used to do the suit and tie thing, and I still dress nice, always a colored shirt, a sport coat when it's cooler. I like to wear jeans. I wear nice jeans. I'm on vacation, and honestly, I'm on a cheap vacation. I feel that at this point with the changing demographics of cruisers, getting dressed up is like playing dress up.