Formal Nights on Iona/Arviva

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, besberry said:

I don't mind the two or three on fortnight cruises, but having been lucky enough to do a couple of 100+ night cruises and a 55 nighter, they certainly begin to pall on those!

You'll forgive me if I don't sympathise too much...😉😀

[jmcd1969]

20 hours ago, Purdey16 said:

There is one formal night on my princess cruise in September it’s on the cruise personaliser so I will certainly be taking a long dress and other half his dinner suit , I love dressing up for dinner and it’s only for a short while then il be back home in my scruffy togs again . I hope formal nights will stay for good 

 Has anyone with a P&O staycation got information about the Formal Nights on their My Cruise ?  My Iona cruise for August has no mention and we like to book Speciality restaurant's on formal nights so would like to now for when bookings open.

[Denarius]

On 4/12/2021 at 1:57 PM, Son of Anarchy said:

If there's a formal night listed for our September staycation, I shall be taking my DJ.  Whether it still fits is another matter!!

It is surprising how rarely worn garments have a habit of shrinking in the wardrobe.

[jaydee6969]

23 minutes ago, jmcd1969 said:

 Has anyone with a P&O staycation got information about the Formal Nights on their My Cruise ?  My Iona cruise for August has no mention and we like to book Speciality restaurant's on formal nights so would like to now for when bookings open.

 

Not yet.  I am booked on Iona's maiden and also on Britannia in July.  I keep checking for dress codes.  And also at present I can't book any of the restaurants on Iona.

[Angel57]

1 hour ago, besberry said:

I don't mind the two or three on fortnight cruises, but having been lucky enough to do a couple of 100+ night cruises and a 55 nighter, they certainly begin to pall on those!

If I remember correctly I think we had over 30 formal nights on the World cruise in 2013.....

Gill x

[majortom10]

We love formal nights that is why as a cruise line we prefer Cunard.

[Windsurfboy]

Up until Iona Cunard and P&O have been the same at 2 formal nights per week excluding transatlantic which are 3,

 

  personally I'd prefer 3 or more if only.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, majortom10 said:

We love formal nights that is why as a cruise line we prefer Cunard.

 

[wowzz]

I think 2 a week is about right, but I agree that on longer cruises,  a certain amount of "formal fatigue" sets in, especially as there is nothing very special in terms of food or entertainment on formal nights. 

[Ardennais]

5 hours ago, Angel57 said:

If I remember correctly I think we had over 30 formal nights on the World cruise in 2013.....

Gill x

Now that would really put me off. 

[Ginb56]

The novelty of traditional formal nights wore off for us after a number of cruises - the extra luggage, pressure to conform and exclusion from certain venues if not in full dress. So we just do smart casual in evenings and hope that formal nights get replaced with an option of ‘dress to impress nights’ for those that enjoy it. Plus the larger the ship, the more people likely to be opting out of formal dress (especially on 7 nt cruises) so a natural demise potentially. 

[davecttr]

1 hour ago, Ginb56 said:

The novelty of traditional formal nights wore off for us after a number of cruises - the extra luggage, pressure to conform and exclusion from certain venues if not in full dress. So we just do smart casual in evenings and hope that formal nights get replaced with an option of ‘dress to impress nights’ for those that enjoy it. Plus the larger the ship, the more people likely to be opting out of formal dress (especially on 7 nt cruises) so a natural demise potentially. 

Dress to impress is the way to go, especially for the largest ships which are aiming at a younger clientele. After all you can still impress by dressing formally. What irritated me about formal nights was the venue exclusions and that SHOULD not be a problem with the likes of Iona. It should not have been a problem with Britannia either but they made the Glass House formal, not that it mattered as the one aboard was IMO the worst in the fleet with a tiny bar and obviously designed as a restaurant, not an informal relaxing bar specialising in wine which also served food. IMO a formal venue should not be a transit area between other venues unless there is an easily available inside alternative route.

 

Oops!, must stop, I am beginning to enjoy all the raging arguments about penguin suits - Oops! again 😁

[Dermotsgirl]

There hasn’t been a good old dress code thread for ages! 
 

However, this thread indicates that the times are a changing. We are a group of mostly older, experienced cruisers, many of which are saying that the formal dress code isn’t that important to us. 
 

 

[Angel57]

2 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

There hasn’t been a good old dress code thread for ages! 
 

However, this thread indicates that the times are a changing. We are a group of mostly older, experienced cruisers, many of which are saying that the formal dress code isn’t that important to us. 
 

 

As much as I feel there are sometimes too many formal nights at times, I would never want them to disappear altogether (the exception being fly cruises to Caribbean).

I love to put on a posh frock and do enjoy those evenings. However I admit I enjoy them more at the beginning of the cruise when everything tends to fit rather more comfortably. 

[MX-Drew]

12 hours ago, majortom10 said:

We love formal nights that is why as a cruise line we prefer Cunard.

We agree on something.🤣

[MX-Drew]

9 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

Up until Iona Cunard and P&O have been the same at 2 formal nights per week excluding transatlantic which are 3,

 

  personally I'd prefer 3 or more if only.

 

 

 

 

Except Cunard request men wear a jacket to dinner, something I approve of myself. After all I see it as good manners to the restaurant staff, you expect the waiters to look smart so I feel looking smart in return is the least I can do. 

[MX-Drew]

31 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

There hasn’t been a good old dress code thread for ages! 
 

However, this thread indicates that the times are a changing. We are a group of mostly older, experienced cruisers, many of which are saying that the formal dress code isn’t that important to us. 
 

 

Interesting you say the older cruisers are saying the dress code is not important, this implies the dress code is important to the new cruisers which to some extent is my point of view being a new(ish) cruiser. This would mean formal nights are here to stay.

[Beckett]

I am in the Dress to Impress camp. I find formal too restrictive these days - or maybe that's because the clothes are too tight! Having said that, when I cruise with my family, my daughter and SIL, who are in their late thirties, love the formal nights, and it is my daughter who has to persuade me to make more of an effort. Mind you, coming from a 5ft 10 in,  skinny as a rake, looks fabulous in anything and everything girl, I am always going to look dowdy! Don't get me wrong, I will always follow the dress code but sometimes find it easier to eat in one of the alternate eating houses. My two granddaughters, who are 15 and 12, love getting dressed up in their finery and then grizzle because they can't wear their trainers!

 

Have a good day everyone. Be well and keep safe. Jane.x

[Dermotsgirl]

57 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

Interesting you say the older cruisers are saying the dress code is not important, this implies the dress code is important to the new cruisers which to some extent is my point of view being a new(ish) cruiser. This would mean formal nights are here to stay.

No implication on my part.

 

What I was saying was that, about 15 years ago, if you got a group of older, experienced cruisers in one place, any suggestion about the formal dress code not being very important would be met with comments about ‘falling standards’ and ‘ diluting the anticipated ambience’ .

 

 

[Adawn47]

16 hours ago, Denarius said:

It is surprising how rarely worn garments have a habit of shrinking in the wardrobe.

I have one of those wardrobes too!! I blame the type of wood they're using nowadays😇

Avril

[Adawn47]

15 hours ago, Angel57 said:

If I remember correctly I think we had over 30 formal nights on the World cruise in 2013.....

Gill x

Ooh goody, the dress code posts are back. I can now feel that things are begining to get back to 'normal' again😄

Avril

[Jennizor]

One of our most interesting experiences on a formal night was when a lady and her partner came into the bar in what they thought was ‘formal wear’. He was wearing a dinner suit but she was wearing a tiny white lace see through dress. He underwear was skimpy as everyone could see. A lot of people complained and she was asked to leave the bar. She burst into tears and her partner put his jacket around her and they left. We didn’t see them again. 

[davecttr]

21 minutes ago, Jennizor said:

One of our most interesting experiences on a formal night was when a lady and her partner came into the bar in what they thought was ‘formal wear’. He was wearing a dinner suit but she was wearing a tiny white lace see through dress. He underwear was skimpy as everyone could see. A lot of people complained and she was asked to leave the bar. She burst into tears and her partner put his jacket around her and they left. We didn’t see them again. 

She would have been just fine on dress to impress

[Windsurfboy]

2 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

Except Cunard request men wear a jacket to dinner, something I approve of myself. After all I see it as good manners to the restaurant staff, you expect the waiters to look smart so I feel looking smart in return is the least I can do. 

 

Agree but we were talking about number of formal nights  where dress code is identical between Cunard and P&O , except for Iona both have 2 per week.

 

The wearing of a jacket on non formal nights is another discussion I'm sure there will be many views on. However also feel what ever the dress code it is incumbent upon everyone  to look as if they have made an effort. Some people forget the SMART  in SMART casual. 

 

As 3 weeks is my longest  cruise formal dress fatigue has never set in, in fact on the 8 sea day leg would have liked more formal nights/balls to make evenings different.

[davecttr]

Ah! the jacket required nights. I was on Arcadia and the Jacket required nights were interesting. The dining room looked like a tramps convention with every possible style and colour of jacket you could imagine. The ambience was a lot more stylish on evening casual nights. I did comment on it here at the time. Soon after they dropped the idea and about time too.

 

Just how formal is formal? For gentlemen P&O recommended a navy blue suit as entirely appropriate. This was in the peninsular club magazine where they got a designer to dress up a not too young couple. They looked very stylish too. So I adopted that dress code with either a baby blue or baby pink shirt and appropriate normal tie. I still wore a dinner suit on my Asia cruise though, simply because it was M&S's finest and I could wash the trousers, whilst my Navy blue suit required dry cleaning.

 

ps  - fashion police - if wearing a normal suit DO NOT wear a bow tie

pps - fashion police - DO NOT wear a red cummerbund, it makes you look like a circus ringmaster!

ppps - fashion police - the only coloured part of a gentleman's dinner suit should be the pocket square which can complement your partners dress colour, otherwise a white one, STARCHED

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, Jennizor said:

One of our most interesting experiences on a formal night was when a lady and her partner came into the bar in what they thought was ‘formal wear’. He was wearing a dinner suit but she was wearing a tiny white lace see through dress. He underwear was skimpy as everyone could see. A lot of people complained and she was asked to leave the bar. She burst into tears and her partner put his jacket around her and they left. We didn’t see them again. 

I wonder who complained.  Men or women?

I wouldn't have complained!