Recent Formal Night Trends?

[yogimax]

No tuxedos to be seen on last cruise.  Formal Night seems that 50% will dress better than they normally do at dinner and for 50% it makes absolutely no difference.

 

sad but true.

[topnole]

3 hours ago, 2ferfun said:

First Caribbean cruise this Friday (Oasis from Cape Liberty).  Currently packing (woot!) and trying to decide what to pack for formal night.  In the past have usually taken tuxedo (most don't, I know) but I am wondering what Caribbean formal nights are like recently?  Can anyone who has been on a recent Caribbean itinerary give me some general advice (percent of people in tuxedos, percent of people in suits, percent of people not participating, etc?)

 

We enjoy formal nights but think everyone should dress how they want to for their cruise. I don't mind being part of a small group that choose to dress up but I don't really want to be THE ONLY ONE dressed up!  Any advice or recent observations would be super helpful!  Thanks!

You will see it all.  More than likely few if any tuxedos nowadays.  
 

In total you will see many suits.  But even that is probably a smaller percentage (say 10-20%).  Many will be in some form of….well I don’t know what…..but it isn’t old school formal.  It’s more like, they call this dress up night so I’ll Frankenstein what I have to try to look a little fancier.   
 

Dress how you please. You can’t control watch others do, so don’t worry about them. Enjoy.  

[BND]

33 minutes ago, topnole said:

You will see it all.  More than likely few if any tuxedos nowadays.  
 

In total you will see many suits.  But even that is probably a smaller percentage (say 10-20%).  Many will be in some form of….well I don’t know what…..but it isn’t old school formal.  It’s more like, they call this dress up night so I’ll Frankenstein what I have to try to look a little fancier.   
 

Dress how you please. You can’t control watch others do, so don’t worry about them. Enjoy.  

In April on EN we saw several tuxes and gowns.  More than I've seen in a while.   What we haven't seen since restart is military dress uniforms.  There used to be at least one or two on every cruise, but we saw none of either of our two b2b's.  DH takes his navy blazer with his mini SWO wings on the lapel along with a ribbon (pin) but I don't remember which one.   He went from tux to suit to blazer over the years.   

[Ky Bill]

On our March EOS cruise out of San Juan we observed everything from rag bag to tuxedos on formal nights.  There are no dress codes which are enforced so come as you are.  Sounds like in your case you will be just fine.  Enjoy!

Bill

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, topnole said:

Takes a few days to catch enough of them.  

 

🤣 I almost said that.

[Mapleleafforever]

4 hours ago, 2ferfun said:

First Caribbean cruise this Friday (Oasis from Cape Liberty).  Currently packing (woot!) and trying to decide what to pack for formal night.  In the past have usually taken tuxedo (most don't, I know) but I am wondering what Caribbean formal nights are like recently?  Can anyone who has been on a recent Caribbean itinerary give me some general advice (percent of people in tuxedos, percent of people in suits, percent of people not participating, etc?)

 

We enjoy formal nights but think everyone should dress how they want to for their cruise. I don't mind being part of a small group that choose to dress up but I don't really want to be THE ONLY ONE dressed up!  Any advice or recent observations would be super helpful!  Thanks!

 If you want some photos in a tux then by all means bring it, you won't be the only one. If you want to dress more casual you won't be the only one. If you want to wear khakis and a golf shirt you won't be the only one. If you want to wear jeans and a t-shirt you won't be the only one. What I'm trying to say is that with over 5000 passengers onboard there will be lots of variety of fashion on formal nights. 

 

FWIW personally I haven't packed a jacket or dress slacks since our second ever cruise and have never felt out of place fashion wise on any night. 

 

Have an awesome cruise!!

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, bonsai3s said:

A bit off topic...when we cruised out of San Juan, Puerto Rico...

 

We genuinely enjoyed watching families celebrate "Quinceanera" (sp) while onboard. The celebrants would be dressed in spectacular gowns and the rest of the family members were dressed to the 10's...beautiful.

 

The Q's and their 'entourage are why I despise SJ departures

Edited June 8, 2022 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, baelor said:

I will gladly dress far more casually than that to make you look formal in comparison.  Huge sacrifice on my part, I know.

 

Pack your grey sweatpants 

[Diver2014]

Currently on Mariner in San Juan. Formal night two nights ago- lots of folks dressed to the nines. A lot of people having formal portraits taken. Saw more tuxes and gowns than anything else although one or two in MDR in shorts. Whatever floats their boat.

[topnole]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

🤣 I almost said that.

Great minds think alike.  

[DCPIV]

You certainly won't be out of place if you wear a blazer/sportcoat, with or without a tie.  As mentioned, you may very well be out of place in a tux, but go nuts if it makes you happy!

 

2 hours ago, BND said:

What we haven't seen since restart is military dress uniforms.

 

Someone else should be able to give a better answer, but I believe there have been some pretty strict travel restrictions in place for military due to covid and, now, the war in Europe.

[BND]

1 minute ago, DCPIV said:

You certainly won't be out of place if you wear a blazer/sportcoat, with or without a tie.  As mentioned, you may very well be out of place in a tux, but go nuts if it makes you happy!

 

 

Someone else should be able to give a better answer, but I believe there have been some pretty strict travel restrictions in place for military due to covid and, now, the war in Europe.

DH retired from the US Navy 11 years ago so I haven't really paid close attention to the current DOD Covid restrictions, but even before Covid we saw less and less military dress.  The war in Europe would have no impact/restrictions on cruises in and out of the US and more than likely Europe either as long as there are no port stops in specified countries.   It's not uncommon for certain Gov employees to be restricted from specific countries as I experienced in my career.  

[DCPIV]

14 minutes ago, BND said:

The war in Europe would have no impact/restrictions on cruises in and out of the US and more than likely Europe either as long as there are no port stops in specified countries.

 

A lot of leave (if not all of it) has been cancelled. 

[CRUIS4ME]

7 hours ago, 2ferfun said:

Thanks for the good replies...seems like a tux might be overkill.  If everyone dressed like ComicCon I would definitely be happy to bust out a Star Trek uniform.  🙂

 

Probably just going to go with a sport coat.   Thanks all!

If you have a tux and want to wear it, dust it off, and take it…wear it proudly!  

[lenquixote66]

I have never worn formal attire on a cruise.The closest that I ever came was a suit and not since 2015.

[baelor]

1 hour ago, lenquixote66 said:

I have never worn formal attire on a cruise.The closest that I ever came was a suit and not since 2015.

If you categorize a "suit" as something other than "formal attire," then I imagine that very few have worn formal attire on a cruise, since dinner jackets/tuxedos are only semiformal in that conception!

[BirdTravels]

11 hours ago, 2ferfun said:

First Caribbean cruise this Friday (Oasis from Cape Liberty).  Currently packing (woot!) and trying to decide what to pack for formal night.  In the past have usually taken tuxedo (most don't, I know) but I am wondering what Caribbean formal nights are like recently?  Can anyone who has been on a recent Caribbean itinerary give me some general advice (percent of people in tuxedos, percent of people in suits, percent of people not participating, etc?)

 

We enjoy formal nights but think everyone should dress how they want to for their cruise. I don't mind being part of a small group that choose to dress up but I don't really want to be THE ONLY ONE dressed up!  Any advice or recent observations would be super helpful!  Thanks!

Less than 3% will be dressed in formal (tux) attire. The vast majority will be in resort casual (jeans/dockers, polo shirt or Hawaiian shirt). A few sports coats. Fewer suits. We were on a Caribbean cruise in March and an Alaskan cruise last week. You could count the tuxes on one hand. This was the attire on Formal Night (lobster night) on our Eastern Caribbean cruise

 

 

 

[constantcruiser]

We were on the Navigator to Alaska the week of May 20, and I observed only one man wearing a tux, and very few in suits. My husband wore a long-sleeved dress shirt, tie, and dress slacks and he was the most "formally" dress man at our table of 8.  I wore black dress pants with a a black lace top, and lots of bling and felt very comfortable.  For us flying to ports just doesn't allow for lots of extra clothes.

[Cruise a holic]

We were on the AOS in May.  A mixed bag.  Some people were well dressed- others not.  We dressed up.  Not gowns and tuxedo's but cocktail attire-   Some people dressed up for a day at a ball game.  

[cublet]

Hello,

 

Last week's otherwise 'Formal' night on Anthem was styled 'Wear your best' - to which I can only say "Good grief!"

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

 

[Sancho_proudfoot]

We find that cruises in Europe (or the Far East) garner much more formal attire among passengers than cruises in the US or Caribbean.   We're  on the Anthem in September ( out of the UK) and I fully expect a significant  percentage to be in tuxes/gowns/etc. I'm certainly  taking mine!

[davekathy]

11 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Less than 3% will be dressed in formal (tux) attire. The vast majority will be in resort casual (jeans/dockers, polo shirt or Hawaiian shirt). A few sports coats. Fewer suits. We were on a Caribbean cruise in March and an Alaskan cruise last week. You could count the tuxes on one hand. This was the attire on Formal Night (lobster night) on our Eastern Caribbean cruise

 

 

 

Maybe the kid wearing the backpack didn't have time to unpack yet. 😁

[lenquixote66]

13 hours ago, baelor said:

If you categorize a "suit" as something other than "formal attire," then I imagine that very few have worn formal attire on a cruise, since dinner jackets/tuxedos are only semiformal in that conception!

I have never owned a tuxedo and never owned more than one suit at a time.

[bucfan2]

2 hours ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

We find that cruises in Europe (or the Far East) garner much more formal attire among passengers than cruises in the US or Caribbean.   We're  on the Anthem in September ( out of the UK) and I fully expect a significant  percentage to be in tuxes/gowns/etc. I'm certainly  taking mine!

Awesome.  Not expecting any such trend here.

[nferr]

I own a tux. Haven't worn it in years. And I'm certainly not packing it for a cruise. I pack a 24 inch carry on and a small travel bag. To go formal means the suit or tux, dress shirts, dress shoes, ties, different belt, etc. No thanks. Did it many times years ago when cruising with family.  Hated it. Now I wear a nice pair of pants and a collared shirt to "formal" night. And honestly I fit right in IMO.