All your P&O dress code comments and queries.

[nellydean]

On 1/21/2024 at 3:58 AM, Sausagedogs said:

We just arrived back in U.K after 2 weeks on Arvia . Formal nights were a joke . we booked a table for four ( paid ) and told trousers and shirt is ok . I wore a tux friend wore said trousers and shirt and we got denied entry as friend had no jacket . we ended up in the buffet !! ( we did get a refund though ) .

 

Overhaul the cruise was ok P+O seems to of gone downhill since our last one 4 years ago on the AZURA . the food was average ( meaning we want hot food not luke warm at the booked restrauants ) and service ok we we're told the ship had 200 staff down . Thats not having a go at the ones that where there they worked extremley hard . 

 

Not sure if it was due to Aircon but alot of Pax got sick and ended up confined to cabin i myself ended up in bed for 3 days with fever and missed out on 2 paid trips ( 1 they said i couldn't get refund ) in St Kitts !! 

 

I'll think long and hard about booking the Caribbean for next year with P+O . 

 

Just a side note . Its the little things that matter . When disembarking / embarking onto a redhot quayside . Norweigen next door offered there passengers glass of cold water and face flannel  i'm sure P+O did that last time ? 

 

On departure day couldn't they offer free WIFI so passengers can organise any last minute departure changes .( the poor folks who flew with Maleth Aero had extremly long delays and one flight got cancelled !! ) 

Without coming across as stupid, could you tell me why the AirCon would cause people to be ill?

[nellydean]

On 1/19/2024 at 6:56 PM, terrierjohn said:

A smart,  preferably dark coloured jacket should be ok, whether or not a tie need be worn is a matter of personal choice, but plenty of posters on here will disagree with me.

Thanks, but if he needs to take a dark jacket then he may as well take his suit - or, I suppose, he could hire a tux for formal nights, and just take a summer jacket for other evenings?

[nellydean]

5 hours ago, Thedonkeycentrehalf said:

 

In answer to your question, a nice smart lightweight jacket (Don Johnson Miami Vice style) and trousers should be fine.  I haven't seen ties being enforced myself in recent years.

 

As a fairly well built gentleman myself, having to take either a suit or jacket plus accessories is quite a chunk of my luggage allowance when it comes to a fly-cruise.  Going from Southampton it is never an issue as I just take a separate suit carrier.  My wife's nice dresses for a formal night take are much lighter and take up far less space. 

 

I'm off on Britannia in a few weeks but we have booked PE so have a few more KG to play with.  I'll also probably use my hand luggage allowance to supplement this so will take my monkey suit as all I need when flying is my MP3 player and some water.

 

However, while I get the arguments some have around "you know the rules", there should be some common sense around the practicalities for fly cruises and the locations these cruises go to.

Many thanks  about the Don Johnson jacket suggestion - just need a Don Johnson husband to fill it!

[Harry Peterson]

8 minutes ago, nellydean said:

Without coming across as stupid, could you tell me why the AirCon would cause people to be ill?

Potentially, the spread of viruses via recirculated air. Aircraft in particular are notorious for it.

[terrierjohn]

4 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Potentially, the spread of viruses via recirculated air. Aircraft in particular are notorious for it.

I thought that following covid most cruise ships had modified their aircon systems to filter out most viruses.

[yorkshirephil]

7 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I thought that following covid most cruise ships had modified their aircon systems to filter out most viruses.

The modified aircon systems will do little to filter virus particles, they are simply too small. We used self cleaning hepa filters where I worked and that had limited effect and was mega expensive.

 

One of the reasons that make some people ill is the amount of moisture that is removed from the air, which can cause people to cough, hence ships cough.

[Cash123]

I have to say I found some of the rules very strange on our Arvia cruise last week, we didnt want to do formal night so I wore shorts and a shirt and went to 6th street diner, was told you cant come in wearing shorts, I said this is an american diner no one wears trousers in a diner butnthey said as its formal night you have to wear trousers so off I went to change came back and we went in to join the other 4 people in there !!!!.

 

Another night we had the Oliver Grove booked so phoned reception to ask if shorts were ok and they said yes no problem so what about Andersons bar next door ah I cant answer that, so even though you have 2 restaurants within 20 feet of Andersons bar both allowing shorts you cant wear them in Andersons, where it gets more stupid is when they gave us a bleeper in the Olive Grove she said it will only work in Andersons which we couldnt go in !!!!!

 

 

[WestonOne]

We have cruised a fair bit on P+O (Caribbean loyalty level) but for the first time have booked one over Christmas and New Year. It is on Aurora, and so adults only.

I assume there will be some decorative differences, but what else should we expect to be different to any other cruise?

I have probably put this in the wrong thread, since it is not just dress code, so sorry about that.

Edited January 27 by WestonOne

[JoJo1947]

On 1/22/2024 at 7:03 PM, terrierjohn said:

I thought that following covid most cruise ships had modified their aircon systems to filter out most viruses.

Sag definitely did and air is fresh not recycled 

[nellydean]

My Caribbean cruise is coming up soon. 

 

 I have not cruised that area with P&O before, and was wondering what kind of clothes people wear in the dining rooms on casual evenings? Will I look out of place wearing my usual black trousers and nice tops/dresses, like I do when sailing the Med, or is it a much more colourful code, seeing as it's in the Caribbean (lots of bold colours/flowery patterns etc)?

Many thanks.

H

 

 

Edited February 26 by nellydean

[Selbourne]

Just now, nellydean said:

My Caribbean cruise is coming up soon. 

 

 I have not cruised that area with P&O before, and was wondering what kind of clothes people wear in the dining rooms on casual evenings? Will I look out of place wearing my usual black trousers and nice tops/dresses, or is it a more colourful code, seeing as it's in the Caribbean?

Many thanks.

H

 

 

It’s a complete mix of both. Wear what you are comfortable in. You will be fine. 

[nellydean]

Thank you Selbourne, just what I wanted to hear (too late to do anything about it anyway!).

[sandancer]

On 1/15/2024 at 9:39 PM, m011d402 said:

We are going on a New Year’s Eve cruise with p and o on Brittania. I was surprised to see YouTube videos of the deck party at midnite and people didn’t seem dressed up at all? I thought it would be tuxes etc 

Well last NYE on Iona there were many, many DJ’s on show and it’s a wonder the ship didn’t sink due to the weight of the sequins (including mine). 

[Fionboard]

12 minutes ago, sandancer said:

Well last NYE on Iona there were many, many DJ’s on show and it’s a wonder the ship didn’t sink due to the weight of the sequins (including mine). 

Same on Arcadia. However, more relaxed after midnight. 

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Fionboard said:

Same on Arcadia. However, more relaxed after midnight. 

Britannia being in the Caribbean has her "official" NY Eve party on deck and as such a lot of the passengers have eaten in the buffet and taken their seats long before midnight.  There is a mix of formal and non formal dressers as a result so perhaps the video mentioned reflected that.  However my experience on Britannia is that there are several venues where people gather to celebrate at midnight and the indoor venues do reflect the formal dress.

[gmac00]

Hi,

My first cruise is fast approaching in July. I am sailing from Malta on Azura with my wife and daughter and this will be our first cruise. We are all excited but I am slightly stressed about the dress code.

 

We are going to a wedding in Tuscany the weekend before the cruise and I've bought a nice light linen suit for it. My wife wants me to take it on the cruise but I'm concerned it won't be allowed on the formal nights. Thoughts?

 

Secondly, it says no trainers on the casual night but I hear loads of people saying they are fine. What constitutes "acceptable" trainers? 

I know a pair of knackered New Balance you wear to the gym won't work but will a smart pair of dark trainers be OK, would smart great trainers be ok?

 

Thanks in advance for any answers

Graham

 

 

 

 

 

[yorkshirephil]

6 minutes ago, gmac00 said:

Hi,

My first cruise is fast approaching in July. I am sailing from Malta on Azura with my wife and daughter and this will be our first cruise. We are all excited but I am slightly stressed about the dress code.

 

We are going to a wedding in Tuscany the weekend before the cruise and I've bought a nice light linen suit for it. My wife wants me to take it on the cruise but I'm concerned it won't be allowed on the formal nights. Thoughts?

 

Secondly, it says no trainers on the casual night but I hear loads of people saying they are fine. What constitutes "acceptable" trainers? 

I know a pair of knackered New Balance you wear to the gym won't work but will a smart pair of dark trainers be OK, would smart great trainers be ok?

 

Thanks in advance for any answers

Graham

 

 

 

 

 

I wear plain black lightweight trainers on casual night sometimes, they are great for taking on fly cruises where the weight allowance is restrictive. They do not really look like trainers but are comfy.

A linen suit on formal night is fine too, enjoy your cruise.

[FangedRose]

4 minutes ago, gmac00 said:

Hi,

My first cruise is fast approaching in July. I am sailing from Malta on Azura with my wife and daughter and this will be our first cruise. We are all excited but I am slightly stressed about the dress code.

 

We are going to a wedding in Tuscany the weekend before the cruise and I've bought a nice light linen suit for it. My wife wants me to take it on the cruise but I'm concerned it won't be allowed on the formal nights. Thoughts?

 

Secondly, it says no trainers on the casual night but I hear loads of people saying they are fine. What constitutes "acceptable" trainers? 

I know a pair of knackered New Balance you wear to the gym won't work but will a smart pair of dark trainers be OK, would smart great trainers be ok?

 

Thanks in advance for any answers

Graham

 

 

 

 

 

Dark, smart (not old and battered) trainers will be ok. The minimum for formal nights is collared shirt, tie and jacket. Most will bs wearing a suit and tie, some tuxedos and there is usually a few dress kilts if you look for them. The only places that adhere to the dress code is the main dining room, the Crow's Nest (or equivalent Metropolitan?) and maybe one other bar.

 

If you don't want to dress up you can use the buffet or, one of the other restaurants that charge a supplement. 

[davecttr]

Black trainers for me as well. mine had some small coloured areas so Used a black permanent marker on them.. Basically anything that does not look like a trainer. My 'trainers' are actually casual shoes and you could not train in them anyway.

 

Above the trainers we have chinos or smart dark jeans for casual nights. My dark jeans are very dark blue or actually black. You cant tell they are denim and nobody has checked the cut on entering the main dining room 😃 On my Fred cruise in June I will see what they make of my brand new 'light stone' jeans. 

[gmac00]

2 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

I wear plain black lightweight trainers on casual night sometimes, they are great for taking on fly cruises where the weight allowance is restrictive. They do not really look like trainers but are comfy.

A linen suit on formal night is fine too, enjoy your cruise.

Too "trainery"?

[gmac00]

2 hours ago, FangedRose said:

Dark, smart (not old and battered) trainers will be ok. The minimum for formal nights is collared shirt, tie and jacket. Most will bs wearing a suit and tie, some tuxedos and there is usually a few dress kilts if you look for them. The only places that adhere to the dress code is the main dining room, the Crow's Nest (or equivalent Metropolitan?) and maybe one other bar.

 

If you don't want to dress up you can use the buffet or, one of the other restaurants that charge a supplement. 

So this will work? (Not me in the picture) 🙂 

[Selbourne]

@gmac00 Both are fine. Don’t worry. Just enjoy your cruise!

[yorkshirephil]

1 minute ago, gmac00 said:

Too "trainery"?

You should be OK with those, staff on the MDR door don't seem to bother too much with shoes, especially as people may wear certain shoes for medical reasons. If in doubt wear the shoes that you will use with your suit, with the option of changing them after dinner

[FangedRose]

22 minutes ago, gmac00 said:

So this will work? (Not me in the picture) 🙂 

Yeah. Will be fine on a family ship such as Azura.

[gmac00]

27 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

@gmac00 Both are fine. Don’t worry. Just enjoy your cruise!

My wife keeps telling me this 😬......I'm just a stickler for rules and don't like breaking them. I also like to be comfortable on holiday so it's a fine balance!