Nile Cruise Dinner Dress Code

[ducklite]

As part of our travels this year we are on a three day Nile cruise in December.  We are trying to keep our packing as light as possible as we are going to the Ukraine and either Austria, Serbia, Greece, or Israel depending on borders being open prior to arrival in Egypt for our final week.  We are planning on jeans and base layers/fleece tops depending on the climate the entire trip, but if we each need to bring a pair of slacks and a collared shirt or risk being turned away, we'll do so.  Hopefully our tablemates won't care if we wear the same clothes three evenings in a row. 🤪

The ship we are supposed to be on is the M/S Tulip.  I have hunted high and low, and haven't found anything discussing dinner dress code.  

Has anyone sailed on that ship who can shed some insight? 

[Mrs. Claypool]

I can't answer for the Tulip, but my husband and I took a Uniworld Nile cruise in 2019 and here are my thoughts ...

 

After touring all day, you're going to end up sweaty and dusty; so you'll want to clean up and change out of your daytime clothes before having dinner.  But that doesn't mean that you'd have to "dress up" for dinner.  I usually wore a clean and presentable outfit of whatever I was going to go out touring in the next day.

 

Slacks or a skirt and a shirt or blouse should be entirely appropriate for any emergency dressy occasion that might pop up.  Our particular cruise included teatime at the Old Cataract Hotel, where  most of the women wore a light summer frock.  But if your cruise doesn't have a similar activity on the itinerary, I don't think that you would need to pack a dress or jacket.

 

Most Nile cruises have a djellaba night where you have the option to dress in native garb.  But by a surprising coincidence, the ship's souvenir shop usually sells exactly what you might need to participate!

Edited July 4, 2021 by Mrs. Claypool

[jsn55]

I agree with Mrs Claypool.  Shirt with a collar, tuck it in, wear a belt ... about as formal as any river cruise gets.  I do question your plan to wear jeans, they are heavy and hard to wash/dry so you have to send them out ... maybe look at some lighter-weight pants that will look nicer anyway.

[ducklite]

On 7/4/2021 at 8:07 PM, jsn55 said:

I agree with Mrs Claypool.  Shirt with a collar, tuck it in, wear a belt ... about as formal as any river cruise gets.  I do question your plan to wear jeans, they are heavy and hard to wash/dry so you have to send them out ... maybe look at some lighter-weight pants that will look nicer anyway.

We will be there in December when the weather is much cooler.  Keep in mind that before we go to Egypt we are going to COLD Ukraine and Austria.  We are trying to keep our luggage as light as possible, and jeans absolutely make sense for most of this trip.  We'll each have a pair of lighter pants, but after wearing them all day we probably shouldn't wear them to dinner.  I guess we'll each pack a second pair of lighter slacks and an appropriate top.  Hopefully no one has a problem with seeing us in the same outfit night after night.  We're not opposed to sending a few things out for laundry on the ship if we need to. 

We will have a washer/dryer in Ukraine and Vienna, so will arrive in Egypt with clean clothes.  We have a free day before our tour starts when we arrive in Cairo, so maybe I'll buy an Abaya to wear for dinners--they look very comfy!  Thanks for letting me know that they aren't going to expect any sort of dressy outfits.  🙂 
 

[jsn55]

For what it's worth, my husband always travels with a pair of silk long bottoms.  And of course you're right, nobody cares if you show up for dinner in the same 'outfit' on a river cruise ... you'll probably have open seating anyway!