Black and White Gala Dinner - Cunard QV

[RomanRy]

Hi,

Any help appreciated, it is our first cruise.

How formal will the evening be? 

Do I need to wear a full length black dress? 

Would knee length be acceptable? 

 

Please any advice welcome, if it helps we are staying in a Queens type of room, called the 'grill'

 

Thank you !

[Lanky Lad]

Hi @RomanRy Most people on Cunard like to dress up so it can be quite formal. However, you don't need a full length ball gown/dress. Knee length should be fine.

[Victoria2]

The dress advisory code will b throughout the ship and you can wear a long dress, a short/shorter 'party type' dress, evening trousers and top. My only comment would be try and make it fit an upmarket evening function where the majority of the chaps will be in black tie.

 

I have a couple of long black dresses, but | also like wearing evening trousers, with beautiful tops or long line evening jacket over a black camisole.

Hope that helps.

[elmsliebev]

We are on QE next month and I'm taking a knee length cocktail dress and an ankle length velvet shift dress with some diamante on it, as well as evening trousers and floaty tops. I have a theory that you can never be over-dressed on a cruise but it doesn't have to be formal ballgowns, though if that's your thing, go for it!

[BigMac1953]

Her indoors always wears full length for "formal" nights. Shorter, or cocktail dresses are more appropriate for the other nights.

[RomanRy]

Thank you for the replies so far. 

Any further input appreciated. 

 

How formal are the non gala evenings? Should my husband wear a jacket each evening? He is planning to, as he usually does when we go out for dinner. 

 

We are getting more excited now! We had a look at some recent reviews of Cunard on this site and they were a little disappointing so we are hoping they are anomalies! 

 

Thanks 

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, RomanRy said:

Thank you for the replies so far. 

Any further input appreciated. 

 

How formal are the non gala evenings? Should my husband wear a jacket each evening? He is planning to, as he usually does when we go out for dinner. 

 

We are getting more excited now! We had a look at some recent reviews of Cunard on this site and they were a little disappointing so we are hoping they are anomalies! 

 

Thanks 

 

Jacket not required for non-gala evenings, but on our cruise in April, the majority wore them, if only in self-defence against the air conditioning, which can be quite fierce. Incidentally, I have worn the same black dress on Cunard, since our first voyage in 1997. I can still get into it well enough, but, strangely, it is somewhat shorter!

 

We had a lovely time in April. Don't let the reviews put you off, but be prepared for a slow embarkation, and don't let it ruin your cruise.

[Victoria2]

My husband will also be among the jacket fraternity on non formal evenings although any accompanying tie will depend on the shirt of the evening.

[jsn55]

We don't do the dinners very often ... our favorite activity on QV was to pick an alcove table on the way to the MDR on formal nights, have some champagne and watch the gorgeous ones parade through.  Everything from a sequined sheath and matching stilettos to a black tunic.  I think your husband will be comfortable wearing a dark blazer with an open-neck shirt or turtleneck.  Everyone's looking at the sequin lady anyway and you just need to look presentable.

[Jack E Dawson]

7 hours ago, RomanRy said:

Hi,

Any help appreciated, it is our first cruise.

How formal will the evening be? 

Do I need to wear a full length black dress? 

Would knee length be acceptable? 

 

Please any advice welcome, if it helps we are staying in a Queens type of room, called the 'grill'

 

Thank you !

You may want to check out Queen Mary 2, 29th May round trip crossing. 

It's the thread below yours. The pictures will give excellent guidance.

Jack

[Victoria2]

3 hours ago, Jack E Dawson said:

You may want to check out Queen Mary 2, 29th May round trip crossing. 

It's the thread below yours. The pictures will give excellent guidance.

Jack

An example, yes but as beautiful as those photos are, they are personal to the couple involved. Apart from the fact I wear long dresses and not short on Formal nights when I ring the change from evening trousers,  I have never dressed onboard in the same style as Nora, the lovely lady in the photos.

[2BACRUISER]

@RomanRy if you are on the UK a website called Vinted has some beautiful preloved evening dresses and cocktail frocks. I have made a couple ok several purchases that I will tell my partner I've had in the wardrobe for ages 🙈😁 there's some nice black and white maxi dresses from the likes of Lipsy, Quiz, Next  etc. Worth a look. 👍🙂

[PORT ROYAL]

If of interest, we have a friend and neighbour who shops with CSD also Pandoro, being pleased and proud of her purchases.  She checks at least once per week to review stock.  Possible option?

[rakkor]

On 6/12/2022 at 9:15 PM, RomanRy said:

Thank you for the replies so far. 

Any further input appreciated. 

 

How formal are the non gala evenings? Should my husband wear a jacket each evening? He is planning to, as he usually does when we go out for dinner. 

 

We are getting more excited now! We had a look at some recent reviews of Cunard on this site and they were a little disappointing so we are hoping they are anomalies! 

 

Thanks 

 

 

Here's a montage of some of my partners outfits from our 2016 cruise, some of which are still going strong

 

Some of Jane's outfits

[D&N]

We've had quite a few of Nora's outfits for years. Some are designer items that we picked up in final reduction sales.

More recently we've bought a number of items from SHEIN. Depends of course on whether you have any qualms about buying from a Chinese company.

They produce thousands of new items each week, most of which are absolute rubbish so you need to refine searches quite a bit.

Their MOTF collection is where we find most of the decent things. Generally the more expensive it is on their site the better the quality.

You need to carefully look at body and garment sizes described and relate these to the sizes given for the model displaying them, and whether there is stretch in the fabrics. If available check out the feedback where real people have posted how they look in the garments.

1 evening outfit, all or parts of 7 lunch outfits and some accessories came from SHEIN. 

 

The grey floor sweeping gown came from JJs House, another Chinese outfit.

They specialise in wedding wear. The site isn't as good at giving detailed sizing but they do made to measure as well as standard sizes.

[Victoria2]

On 6/12/2022 at 9:15 PM, RomanRy said:

How formal are the non gala evenings? Should my husband wear a jacket each evening? He is planning to, as he usually does when we go out for dinner. 

 

 

 I would say my non formal evening wear is more formal than many.  I dress as I would to a black tie cocktail party for drinks and nibbles which although more formal than just going out for dinner, would not imply  black tie formal dinner attire. If that helps.

Edited June 14, 2022 by Victoria2