How do you dress for formal night(s)?

[BallFour4]

http://johnhealdsblog.com/2012/02/17/rip-tuxedo/

 

John's comments about the tuxedo, dating back to 2012.

 

The days of formal wear being readily available on board are long gone, it's now done by an independent contractor you must contact well before your sailing.

 

I love these threads too; but people struggle to accept that a pair of khakis, a Tommy Bahama shirt and some casual leather shoes do meet the hosts requirement for Cruise Elegant night. When someone posts they see the entire ship dressed up their vision is most likely based on the promenade deck and those waiting for photos. Go look at the lido deck or casino area, it's shorts and flip-flops galore, regardless of departure port or month.

 

On non-elegant nights shorts and a shirt like a Tommy Bahama and leather sandals are standard fare for a growing amount of men. It's my standard attire, and again, approved by the host.

 

I've worn shorts and jeans on cruises for nearly a decade now, and on cruise dates back to 1976 I wore khakis and a sport coat with no tie on Formal Night.

 

The best part of Carnival is the entire ship has a shorts acceptable dress policy in other venues regardless of night. We change after dinner to shorts, sandals and a casual shirt. We are surrounded by like minded cruisers.

 

The bulk of our 30 cruises have been since 2002, and this isn't a sudden departure to a more casual cruiser. The polls on Cruise Critic that tilt towards a more formal night setting are based on us, a small sampling of cruisers addicted to the sea and reading others posts. If Carnival were to survey about casual dress for every night at time deposit was paid then you could leave long pants at home.

 

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Edited July 11, 2015 by BallFour4

[Swampbabe]

Please let us know when you were sailing, and which ship. I hear stories like this all the time but have never witnessed anyone being that brash on elegant night.

 

In addition to the aforementioned basketball shorts and ball caps, I also saw a young woman in denim booty shorts and her male companion was in jeans and a t-shirt. Can't speak to their state of disrepair, though. This was on the Breeze on the first elegant night which was on June 29 at approx. 8:20 p.m. Is that specific enough?

[Bellabananas]

We haven't been on carnival yet but we are planning on going dressy. My husband will wear a suit at least the first elegant night. He will likely wear slacks and a nice shirt for the rest of the evenings. I pack dresses to wear because I rarely get to wear dresses at home. Most are cocktail dresses. We cruised holland America about 5-6 years ago and rented a tux. On elegant nights we were way over dressed compared to everyone else.

[lovescruisingbc]

Usually a long dress or skirt and fancy top ... This year on HAL I'll be wearing dressy jump suits with a shawl and evening sandals... And of course some bling to dress them up even more!

 

 

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[mllewis48]

We enjoy getting gussied up on Formal Nights in fact due to a weight loss I bought a new Tux. The wife does the Sparkly stuff. We don't mind the Formal Nights at all!

 

 

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[DebJ14]

I found it interesting that they now refer to them as "Requirements" not suggested dress. I discovered this while doing online check in and clicking on all the links.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1093/kw/Dining%20room%20dress%20requirements

 

They also have a link for the Steakhouse Dress requirements

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1115/kw/Dining%20room%20dress%20requirements/related/1

 

The Steakhouse specifically prohibits shorts on casual nights, contrary to what many people on CC say.

 

Maybe by being explicit about them being "Requirements" they might actually start enforcing them. But how is that going to work if JH is at a table with a bunch of guys wearing baseball caps and says nothing?

 

The link also says the dress pertains to children!

Edited July 16, 2015 by DebJ14

[mllewis48]

Are these links from HAL's site as it appears they are Carnival related? I have never seen these, I don't believe, on HAL's website. Interesting?

 

 

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[DebJ14]

Are these links from HAL's site as it appears they are Carnival related? I have never seen these, I don't believe, on HAL's website. Interesting?

 

 

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No, they are from the Carnival site, not HAL. Each line within the Carnival family of brands has its own dress code and enforcement of them seems to differ from ship to ship.

[Velvetwater]

Full length chiffon floaty style gowns that are stunning and easy to pack. Being a bit of a tomboy I enjoy dressing up when night falls. I also wore a 50's style dress for a formal evening once...didn't pack my petticoat though.

 

Husband wears trousers, dress boots,a shirt and his velvet evening jacket/black evening jacket with or without a cravat. Husband would never wear a tux as he sees them as dated and too obvious...we are only in our twenties.

 

We did this on Carnival and will be doing it on Celebrity but I must say we do longer, different routes on Carnival where more do dress up.

[eponym]

I know many folks don't like to get dressed up at all, but for those of you who still enjoy it,

In 2015, what will you wear on formal night?

Does anyone wear actual evening gowns? Does anyone still wear a tux? Do you stay "dressed" all night?

 

I'm curious to how formal nights on Carnival 7 day or longer cruises may have changed over the years....

 

Evening gowns or dresses. Hubby over the years went from renting a tux on board (now they don't offer) to full suit and tie, to now no tie ever on Carnival ships.

 

We get out of formal wear as soon as dinner is over and we get the photos done we are interested in...

[eponym]

I found it interesting that they now refer to them as "Requirements" not suggested dress. I discovered this while doing online check in and clicking on all the links.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1093/kw/Dining%20room%20dress%20requirements

 

They also have a link for the Steakhouse Dress requirements

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1115/kw/Dining%20room%20dress%20requirements/related/1

 

The Steakhouse specifically prohibits shorts on casual nights, contrary to what many people on CC say.

 

Maybe by being explicit about them being "Requirements" they might actually start enforcing them. But how is that going to work if JH is at a table with a bunch of guys wearing baseball caps and says nothing?

 

The link also says the dress pertains to children!

 

That is an interesting observation at the links. I don't recall Carnival using the word REQUIREMENTS. Perhaps it has been modified to read requirements just after the foray of recent posts on this board and John Heald's posts to his FB page relating to dress code(s). I'm not sure.

[asalligo]

I found it interesting that they now refer to them as "Requirements" not suggested dress. I discovered this while doing online check in and clicking on all the links.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1093/kw/Dining%20room%20dress%20requirements

 

They also have a link for the Steakhouse Dress requirements

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1115/kw/Dining%20room%20dress%20requirements/related/1

 

The Steakhouse specifically prohibits shorts on casual nights, contrary to what many people on CC say.

 

Maybe by being explicit about them being "Requirements" they might actually start enforcing them. But how is that going to work if JH is at a table with a bunch of guys wearing baseball caps and says nothing?

 

The link also says the dress pertains to children!

 

Nice! I like this wording, now just enforce it.

[momonthego17]

Evening gowns or dresses. Hubby over the years went from renting a tux on board (now they don't offer) to full suit and tie, to now no tie ever on Carnival ships.

 

We get out of formal wear as soon as dinner is over and we get the photos done we are interested in...

 

Actually you can rent a tux, just not through Carnival. I think I posted the link

cruiselineformal dot com that will take your husbands measurements and then have a tux for pick up, usually at Cherry On Top. We use it almost every cruise!

[Havingfun2010]

I wear a "nice" pair of flip flops, with my custom designed cut-off shorts, and a classy t-shirt with a tuxedo design on it. For formal night, I take my hat off at dinner.

[CruzKnitr]

I wear whatever my cabin mates are wearing and this year its maxi-dresses. So, I am ditching the Mother-of-the-bride dress with bling that I wore last time.

 

If my cabin mates are dressing to the 9's then I will too. I guess we are being slightly more casual this year.

[WyKnott]

I always dress up, one formal night it will be a long gown, the other will be a cocktail dress. I even dress for the other nights. In my everyday world, I live in jeans or shorts, If I'm going out to dinner, I'll be in boots (maybe heels on the boots) and my jeans. So a cruise is my opportunity to get gussied up. I usually change after dinner unless I'm going to a show immediately after.

 

I don't get the attitude of "it's your vacation, you can do what you want". If it applies to dressing or not for dinner, it should apply across the board, saving chairs at the pool, smoking on the balcony, smuggling alcohol, etc. And, no, if someone doesn't dress up on formal night it won't ruin my dinner, I just think it comes down to manners, there's a dress code.

 

I'd be okay if there wasn't a dress code, there's certainly be more room in my luggage. But since there is one, it should be enforced.

[WyKnott]

I wonder if the people who get turned away on elegant night aren't aware of the dress requirements?

 

On my last Alaska cruise on HAL, two in our group hadn't cruised before. For months before the cruise I would send out links and tips on cruising, and yet, a week before the cruise, I got the response "wait, there's a dress code??" :eek:

[Roscoe13]

I wear a "nice" pair of flip flops, with my custom designed cut-off shorts, and a classy t-shirt with a tuxedo design on it. For formal night, I take my hat off at dinner.

 

Way too formal for me. On elegant night I turn my hat backwards.

[Sparky2]

I know many folks don't like to get dressed up at all, but for those of you who still enjoy it,

In 2015, what will you wear on formal night?

Does anyone wear actual evening gowns? Does anyone still wear a tux? Do you stay "dressed" all night?

 

I'm curious to how formal nights on Carnival 7 day or longer cruises may have changed over the years....

 

I wear black "silky-ish" pants (slightly wider leg) with sparkly top. My husband wears his suit. I told him he could skip the jacket, but he said, "If I have to wear the rest of the stuff, I may as well wear the whole suit."

[JMAE]

I wear a suit and my wife wears a dress and don't change until after the show.

[Senoj84]

My first cruise, I did the gown on formal night. Over the years, it's changed from an after 5 dress to just a dressy dress. My last cruise, I wore an off the shoulder dressy jumpsuit.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Senoj84

[ccruisequeen]

Jersey slacks and a glitzy top

 

I still cruise for Warm Chocolate Melting Cake (with 2 sugar-free vanilla ice-creams)

[simplelife]

DH and I used to dress up (tux and formal) but in recent years we've become more relaxed. For Caribbean cruises, I usually wear an LBD with nice jewelry and DH wears dress slacks with shirt and tie. We find we are on the same formality level as most diners in he MDR and more dressed-up than many.We like to pack light, so this suits us very well

[mllewis48]

After years of cruising HAL we still enjoy the Formal nights. I do my Tux and the wife does her Sparkly Tops with dress slacks, no gowns. We usually comply for the entire evening and enjoy it very much!

 

 

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[JawjaFatBoy]

I wear a suit on the first formal night and usually dress slacks, dress shirt and tie on the second formal night.