Dress Code and Themes

[MCC retired]

17 hours ago, Archipelago said:

Is a black suit okay for gala/formal evenings or do most men wear a tux ? I have not been on Cunard in a while but I always wore a tux. Am planning to start cruising with Cunard again . I enjoy the ambience and passenger mix !

Booked on our 18th Cunard cruise since 1979.

Always a black suit for Gala Nights and jacket for smart Casual when it use to be required.

Never felt out of place , ever,always Brittania Class.

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by MCC retired

[tacticalbanjo]

I personally hate the costumes that appear on the 20s nights. So tacky. It's a formal night not a fancy dress party. I don't mind colour themes or a nod to the theme with some jewellery etc but anything beyond that just looks to me like you don't know how to dress formally.

[exlondoner]

39 minutes ago, tacticalbanjo said:

I personally hate the costumes that appear on the 20s nights. So tacky. It's a formal night not a fancy dress party. I don't mind colour themes or a nod to the theme with some jewellery etc but anything beyond that just looks to me like you don't know how to dress formally.

It is odd, isn’t it? One of the features of the 1920s was the shortening of skirts, so your rouged knees were visible (a bizarre fashion, I think), yet the theme is always on formal nights, when many women would naturally wear their long dresses, and are encouraged to do by the rubric.

[bluemarble]

I'll attempt to add a little perspective regarding the history of past themes. Cunard used to have many more themes than they do now, especially on the world voyages. They have simplified the themes in recent years by reducing them to these five current themes.

 

Black and White

Red and Gold

Masquerade

Roaring Twenties

Ice White (Alaska itineraries only)

 

In the past, they scheduled these themes during portions of their itineraries outside of the world voyages.

 

Victoriana Ball (Queen Victoria only)

Elizabethan Ball (Queen Elizabeth only)

London Ball (Queen Elizabeth only)

Starlight Ball (Queen Elizabeth only)

Venetian Masked Ball (alternative to Masquerade)

Cunard Ball (alternative to Black and White)

Royal Cunard Ball (former name for Red and Gold)

Royal Ascot Ball

Buccaneer Ball

Big Band Ball

Halloween Ball

Christmas Ball

New Year's Eve Ball

Oliviers Ball (London Theatre at Sea voyage)

175 Ball (for Cunard's 175th Anniversary during 2015)

 

During world voyages they used to add more themes appropriate to the date or the region visited. Here is a list of themes from several years of world voyages across several of the ships.

 

Burn's Night

Carnival Ball

Hawaiian Ball

Valentine's Ball

South Pacific Ball

Australian Ball

Neptune's Ball

St. Patrick's Day

Madame Butterfly Ball

Oriental Ball / A Night in the Orient Ball

Night of the Raj

African Ball

Egyptian Ball

Mariner's Ball

Ladies' Night Ball

 

These themes are from some of the schedules I have in my archives for 2012 voyages and later. I didn't try to go back any further to document what the themes might have been during the true "golden age of ocean travel."

[rtdiva]

On 12/12/2023 at 6:30 AM, tacticalbanjo said:

I personally hate the costumes that appear on the 20s nights. So tacky. It's a formal night not a fancy dress party. I don't mind colour themes or a nod to the theme with some jewellery etc but anything beyond that just looks to me like you don't know how to dress formally.

Ah! You are correct! Most of us do not know how to dress formally, as we are plebeians, not royalty or invited to the White House. Well I was once. Most of U.S. Americans think the word gown refers to what Disney Characters wear. 20ties a formal night? No, it is a costume party. While I too, do not prefer to wear costumes, Cunard is encouraging passengers to do so. On that note; time is flying, have fun, dress as it may be the last dance. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 1/2/2024 at 2:40 AM, rtdiva said:

Ah! You are correct! Most of us do not know how to dress formally, as we are plebeians, not royalty or invited to the White House. Well I was once. Most of U.S. Americans think the word gown refers to what Disney Characters wear. 20ties a formal night? No, it is a costume party. While I too, do not prefer to wear costumes, Cunard is encouraging passengers to do so. On that note; time is flying, have fun, dress as it may be the last dance. 

 

For years, I have seen the complaint about formal/gala "I don't have space to pack an evening gown." An evening gown does not have to be a Disney Princess gown, which is technically a ball gown with a wide skirt. An evening gown with a less extravagant silhouette is packable. That said, I've seen some beautiful full-skirted ball gowns onboard on New Year's Eve. 

 

I like the 20's night. My fringed flapper dress is the most packable and comfortable dress I've taken on a cruise. The problem is people don't do 20's style EVENING dress. I've seen men in striped blazers and straw hats (is that even 20's??). I have not seen the Al Capone gangster look, although I've read reports of that here. For men, 20's is easy. Tux with a wing collar shirt. Think Gatsby, not Capone.

[rtdiva]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

For years, I have seen the complaint about formal/gala "I don't have space to pack an evening gown." An evening gown does not have to be a Disney Princess gown, which is technically a ball gown with a wide skirt. An evening gown with a less extravagant silhouette is packable. That said, I've seen some beautiful full-skirted ball gowns onboard on New Year's Eve. 

 

I like the 20's night. My fringed flapper dress is the most packable and comfortable dress I've taken on a cruise. The problem is people don't do 20's style EVENING dress. I've seen men in striped blazers and straw hats (is that even 20's??). I have not seen the Al Capone gangster look, although I've read reports of that here. For men, 20's is easy. Tux with a wing collar shirt. Think Gatsby, not Capone.

I love watching passengers dressed in their finery, my complaint is when others dislike others choice of dress. We choose Cunard for transit to destinations not for clothing choices. So, yes we enjoy traveling on other lines too. And yes, a tux is packed with a long evening dress.
 

The 20’s style evening so excited me, I suggested the same theme for a ladies luncheon here. Over a hundred women enjoyed dressing in costume. On Cunard I’ve noticed it is often the organized dancers who use the ballroom, taking the advantage to theme dress. 

[Giles2000]

Hello fellow cruisers.

 

We are aboard the QV from SF to Southampton with 16 nights of Galla attire starting 2/7.  I would like to support your disappointment about the Galla night themes.  After much research it appears that all cruise lines are under great pressure to do away with all formal nights.  Many of the prominent lines have already done so. What we have observed aboard numerous Princess cruises in the last year or two people are showing up for normal dinners looking like slobs, not even clad in smart casual and formal nights you are lucky to see a handful of nicely dressed couples.  On one formal night there was only one man in the entire dining room in a tux.  Worst yet the management staff lets the passengers get away with this by doing what they chose.  The standards are not being enforced at all.  If too many protest the formality there will not be anyone left to eat in the main dining room on those nights.  I think this is what they are juggling.

 

By the way, if you want to dress up do so.  There is nobody there that will complain about your sophisticated style.  We showed up on our last cruise in Victorian costumes, me,a Victorian long dress with a hoop skirt and my husband in a steampunk outfit one normal dinner night.  Everyone was so excited and took our pictures.

I think the problem is people are afraid to be different.  They must hide amongst the crowd.  Go for it if you have an outfit you want to wear.  Not a formal night who cares!  We intend to dress up in Mardi Gras costumes on 2/13, Fat Tuesday.

 

Vernie

 

PS  I think mostly this is being driven by the men.  I won't let my husband get away with a sloppy appearance at any time if he is with me or he is toast!  I guess I have been successful.  We celebrated our 53 wedding anneversay on 12/26/23.

 

 

[Victoria2]

I think the problem is people are afraid to be different.  They must hide amongst the crowd.  Go for it if you have an outfit you want to wear.  Not a formal night who cares!  We intend to dress up in Mardi Gras costumes on 2/13, Fat Tuesday.

 

No, the majority of Cunard passengers are not afraid to be different but they understand the underlying USP of Cunard and are happy to go along with it.

 

As for causing excitement in your fancy dress costume, incredulity can be mistaken for excitement.

[Winifred 22]

3 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

I think the problem is people are afraid to be different.  They must hide amongst the crowd.  Go for it if you have an outfit you want to wear.  Not a formal night who cares!  We intend to dress up in Mardi Gras costumes on 2/13, Fat Tuesday.

 

No, the majority of Cunard passengers are not afraid to be different but they understand the underlying USP of Cunard and are happy to go along with it.

 

As for causing excitement in your fancy dress costume, incredulity can be mistaken for excitement.

That was me along with a withering look of disdain, when a man at the next table turned up in the full head of a panda head on black and white night and thought he was very funny. I did not . 

[Giles2000]

We went to Alaska this spring on QE.  That was one of our themes.  I decided as I usually do to go rouge. My husband wore white linen pants with a metalic gold shirt untucked and gold beads.  I wore a long white polyester dress with metalic gold accents, metalic gold shoes and a wide brim hat I made myself with a big gold rose attached.  It was a hit.  I saw one lady with a white fascinator and nobody else in white.  At this point in time I think it is fair to say enjoy you self with anything fancy you wish to wear.  Please at least make the effort to wear something along the lines of the ice and white theme.  This formal wear as I already posted is falling apart.  If we want to find anything like this when we cruise in the future we must give it the old college try.

 

Vernie

[Victoria2]

My husband wore white linen pants with a metalic gold shirt untucked and gold beads. 

 

For a Gala night?

[D&N]

9 hours ago, Giles2000 said:

I decided as I usually do to go rouge.

Would that not be better for red and gold night?

[Cruise Puss]

My Husband and I were on QV just before Christmas and all the Formal nights (and I prefer that term) were well adhered to - thank goodness.  In fact, we saw staff politely asking passengers on a few occasions who were in the Chart Room Bar to leave after 6pm as they were not dressed appropriately.  No fuss was made, and the passengers got up and left.

 

Yes, you can dress in whatever clothes you are comfortable in, but you should then keep to the areas designated for more informal wear on Formal nights and adhere to the dress code for certain areas after 6pm.

 

I do agree that the 'themes' can be taken for 'fancy dress'.  Perhaps it would be an idea for people to use the internet to look up what 1920's styles, for example, actually mean.  Items do not have to cost a lot. I purchased accessories from Amazon at extremely reasonable prices, and 1920's style dresses do not have to be 'expensive' (although that term means different things to different people).

 

Cunard are, unfortunately, one of the only cruise lines that continue to have such a formal attitude, and it is what most of us travel on Cunard for.

 

As most cruise lines do not now have this attitude, perhaps those people who prefer a more relaxed way of dressing for the whole of their cruise should stick to those lines and leave Cunard to those of us who love dressing more formally.

Edited January 6 by Cruise Puss

[TouchstoneFeste]

2 hours ago, Cruise Puss said:

we saw staff politely asking passengers on a few occasions who were in the Chart Room Bar to leave after 6pm as they were not dressed appropriately.

On our recent crossing there were several people in egregious violation of the code on a gala night (sweatshirt and baggie jeans in the Commodore Club; at dinner in the Queens Grill a man whose concession to formal dress was to put a sloppy sport coat over his open-collar tattersall shirt) and no one corrected it.

[3rdGenCunarder]

15 hours ago, Giles2000 said:

We went to Alaska this spring on QE.  That was one of our themes.  I decided as I usually do to go rouge. My husband wore white linen pants with a metalic gold shirt untucked and gold beads.  I wore a long white polyester dress with metalic gold accents, metalic gold shoes and a wide brim hat I made myself with a big gold rose attached.  It was a hit.  I saw one lady with a white fascinator and nobody else in white.  At this point in time I think it is fair to say enjoy you self with anything fancy you wish to wear.  Please at least make the effort to wear something along the lines of the ice and white theme.  This formal wear as I already posted is falling apart.  If we want to find anything like this when we cruise in the future we must give it the old college try.

 

Vernie

 

 

The themes are optional, but people who don't want to dress for the theme usually do dress formally. I'm fine with that. 

 

Although the theme is "ice white," on board the description is white/blue/silver. Snow is white, but glaciers are blue. I wore white and turquoise. I did see a fair amount of blue and silver as well as white last time.  

 

Going rogue (or did you really mean a shade of red?) isn't following the theme, especially when it doesn't follow formal/gala dress code.

[exlondoner]

On 1/5/2024 at 1:39 PM, Winifred 22 said:

That was me along with a withering look of disdain, when a man at the next table turned up in the full head of a panda head on black and white night and thought he was very funny. I did not . 

I hope they gave him bamboo shoots to eat.

[exlondoner]

17 hours ago, Giles2000 said:

We went to Alaska this spring on QE.  That was one of our themes.  I decided as I usually do to go rouge. My husband wore white linen pants with a metalic gold shirt untucked and gold beads.  I wore a long white polyester dress with metalic gold accents, metalic gold shoes and a wide brim hat I made myself with a big gold rose attached.  It was a hit.  I saw one lady with a white fascinator and nobody else in white.  At this point in time I think it is fair to say enjoy you self with anything fancy you wish to wear.  Please at least make the effort to wear something along the lines of the ice and white theme.  This formal wear as I already posted is falling apart.  If we want to find anything like this when we cruise in the future we must give it the old college try.

 

Vernie

If I follow you correctly you wore red, or gold, on an ice and white night, and then mention (sadly, I think) formal wear is falling apart - metaphorically I trust. Can you not see some connection here?

 

You then say (people) should enjoy themselves with anything fancy they wish to wear, but in the next sentence say they should make an effort to wear something appropriate.

I’m not sure what your actual feelings are.

[Host Hattie]

I don't think @Giles2000 wore anything red, just white and gold.

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I don't think @Giles2000 wore anything red, just white and gold.

Rouge? Isn’t that red? Sorry I’m being dim. (Again)

[Host Hattie]

Just now, exlondoner said:

Rouge? Isn’t that red? Sorry I’m being dim. (Again)

I think it was supposed to be rogue, there was nothing red mentioned in the description of their outfit. 

[exlondoner]

4 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I think it was supposed to be rogue, there was nothing red mentioned in the description of their outfit. 

Sorry, I’m a complete moron. Interestingly, I have seen a couple of people over the years make a splash by wearing red on black and white night.

[NE John]

5 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I think it was supposed to be rogue, there was nothing red mentioned in the description of their outfit. 

All this is better than Mr. Untucked Hawaiian Shirt guy dancing in QR during Gala night on last TA! And he wasn’t a young guy either to not know better. 

[Victoria2]

42 minutes ago, NE John said:

All this is better than Mr. Untucked Hawaiian Shirt guy dancing in QR during Gala night on last TA! And he wasn’t a young guy either to not know better. 

Sorry, I'd put Gala night untucked gold shirt with matching beads, on a par with Gala night untucked Hawaiian shirt.

I too noticed rouge/rogue but decided silence the better part of valour as I'd already been advised to look up aspects of English history and didn't want a lecture on grammar policing too.

 

The irony is, the poster reckons Formal wear is falling apart, and yet they are party to this with their fancy dress approach.

 

Others' wear has no effect on my enjoyment whatsoever and I would  ignore the outrageous [Gala untucked gold shirt etc] even if I do inwardly laugh but to describe Fancy Dress as Gala OK, doesn't sit well with me.

Edited January 6 by Victoria2
added 'Gala'

[NE John]

Maybe because I went to an all boys school where we had to wear jackets and ties everyday but I agree that Gala/Formal nights should have a degree of uniformity in dress to create the right atmosphere. Too much variation with costumes and fancy dress takes away from that environment.