Dress Code for Men

[Archipelago]

Can smart attire be a polo shirt and nice slacks ? Can a black suit be okay for a gala evening or should it be a tux ? Thank You for your patience . Was on QE2 so haven't been in a while.

[Emma666]

In my experience most people dress more formally than that, i.e. men wear long sleeve collared shirts and maybe chinos for smart evenings and tuxes for gala nights. 

[buchanan101]

5 hours ago, Archipelago said:

Can smart attire be a polo shirt and nice slacks ? Can a black suit be okay for a gala evening or should it be a tux ? Thank You for your patience . Was on QE2 so haven't been in a while.

Yes it can. I wore polo shirts and chinos sometimes - but also sometimes with a jacket.

 

Black suit is fine for a gala evening. Most wear DJs, but it really doesn't matter

[buchanan101]

20 minutes ago, Emma666 said:

In my experience most people dress more formally than that, i.e. men wear long sleeve collared shirts and maybe chinos for smart evenings and tuxes for gala nights. 

Indeed, but his suggestions are absolutely fine.

 

There was a discussion a while back about what collared shirts actually meant as it seemed Cunard relaxed the requirements to include polo shirts - and I took that as meaning it was fine to wear polo shirts in Oct 22, and it was. Not sure what exact guidance is now. I usually wore a jacket over the polo shirt and took the jacket off to eat.

 

There are, of course, polo shirts and polo shirts...

[Victoria2]

6 hours ago, Archipelago said:

Can smart attire be a polo shirt and nice slacks ? Can a black suit be okay for a gala evening or should it be a tux ? Thank You for your patience . Was on QE2 so haven't been in a while.

Nice slacks are fine and apparently, it seems a polo shirt is acceptable for dinner of an evening onboard but I haven't seen a polo shirt in the [QG] restaurant over dinner [lunch, yes]  or if I have, it was wearing a jacket, and so in my experience, I haven't seen one.

 

However, if it's allowed, it's allowed. 🙂

 

For info., most chaps will go the long sleeved shirt route for dinner and at least half will wear a jacket too. A smaller minority will also wear a tie.

For Gala evenings, you're sorted with the black suit but again, more will be in DJs than not.

Enjoy, whatever you wear. 😃

[buchanan101]

1 minute ago, Victoria2 said:

Nice slacks are fine and apparently, it seems a polo shirt is acceptable for dinner of an evening onboard but I haven't seen a polo shirt in the [QG] restaurant over dinner [lunch, yes]  or if I have, it was wearing a jacket, and so in my experience, I haven't seen one.

 

However, if it's allowed, it's allowed. 🙂

 

For info., most chaps will go the long sleeved shirt route for dinner and at least half will wear a jacket too. A smaller minority will also wear a tie.

For Gala evenings, you're sorted with the black suit but again, more will be in DJs than not.

Enjoy, whatever you wear. 😃

Have worn a polo shirt in QG for dinner, but with a jacket (removed to eat)

[exlondoner]

Yes, in my experience, jacket wearers are a majority. I imagine it depends more than anything on what sort of mood the air conditioning is in.

[2BACRUISER]

11 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

Have worn a polo shirt in QG for dinner, but with a jacket (removed to eat)

This what my DH did on QV and on gala nights he wore his dark suit with a dickie bow tie one night and a business tie the other. Hth 

[Archipelago]

Would probably wear a jacket in the evenings then . The dark suit jacket could also be worn with other shirts other nights . Would probably be in Britannia Club or Britannia on a shorter 2 week . Had worn a tux before but easier to pack the dark suit and versatile to wear 

[Victoria2]

16 minutes ago, Archipelago said:

Would probably wear a jacket in the evenings then . The dark suit jacket could also be worn with other shirts other nights . Would probably be in Britannia Club or Britannia on a shorter 2 week . Had worn a tux before but easier to pack the dark suit and versatile to wear 

You'll be absolutely fine. 👍

 

Have fun.
 

[exlondoner]

And if you want to save more space you could wear at least half the suit for embarkation (with other garments of course. 😀). Wearing the jacket would save more space, but the trousers would be more anonymous.

[MCC retired]

9 hours ago, Archipelago said:

Can smart attire be a polo shirt and nice slacks ? Can a black suit be okay for a gala evening or should it be a tux ? Thank You for your patience . Was on QE2 so haven't been in a while.

 Yes !

[BigMac1953]

11 hours ago, Archipelago said:

Can a black suit be okay for a gala evening or should it be a tux ? 

 

It should be a tux or dinner suit, but with so many trying to drag down the dress code, they've made concessions.

 

As I have stated previously, the Cunard dress code is the MINIMUM not the target.

 

In QG on a Gala night almost all men are in tux/dinner suit, and on Smart nights it's mostly still jackets.

 

You can never be overdressed but enjoy yourself too!

[WantedOnVoyage]

To be clear... a dark suit has always been acceptable and suitable for Cunard on formal nights.  Sure has since I started sailing with them... in 1977. More common in Tourist Class but not uncommon in First Class, either.

 

To me, the big downgrade of the dress code is "Smart Attire" and regardless of what the code now states, I personally cannot even imagine going to dinner in a fine restaurant... ashore or afloat... wearing a "polo shirt". If you don't think Cunard is fine dining... you are wasting your time and money and their efforts.   The "polo shirt" is, as the very name implies, an item of sports attire and most do not look like Steve McQueen in "The Thomas Crown Affair" wearing one, either. So... don't. Or at least wear a jacket over it. 

 

And to end on a pompous note.... a dress code is not for "men" but for.... "gentlemen" (and ladies) and therein lies the distinction.  What one might is not always what one should. 

Edited April 19 by WantedOnVoyage

[2Oldpeopleinlove]

As I’ve noted before on these men’s-dress-code threads, if men only knew how hot they look in tuxes (AKA dinner jackets), they’d wear them at every opportunity!

[Jack E Dawson]

13 hours ago, Archipelago said:

Can smart attire be a polo shirt and nice slacks ?

Archipelago,

If you go to the Cunard web site and look under What To Pack, you will find that "Smart attire simply means a dress shirt and trousers," So a polo shirt really doesn't meet the dress code for the Main Dining Room or Grills restaurants but is fine for the Ledo buffet area. With that said, you will see a small smattering of polo shirts in the MDR, mostly on the first night of the voyage. After that, polo shirts tend to disappear as most of those gentleman see what's going on and rise to the occasion. 

Jack

[D&N]

I wouldn't wear anything other than a proper shirt in the evenings on any ship. Although I've had a few polos in my wardrobe for about twenty years, I probably wouldn't wear them at any time.

I don't consider a polo shirt to be a collared shirt.

A few people would argue otherwise.

 

The Cunard QM2 definition of Smart Attire is attached. I don't believe it means a polo shirt, but it is only a request.

I did come across reference in an article to a "hoodie collar". I wonder how long it will be before someone argues that one of those would meet the dress code standards?

 

 

 

[buchanan101]

1 minute ago, D&N said:

I wouldn't wear anything other than a proper shirt in the evenings on any ship. Although I've had a few polos in my wardrobe for about twenty years, I probably wouldn't wear them at any time.

I don't consider a polo shirt to be a collared shirt.

A few people would argue otherwise.

 

The Cunard QM2 definition of Smart Attire is attached. I don't believe it means a polo shirt, but it is only a request.

I did come across reference in an article to a "hoodie collar". I wonder how long it will be before someone argues that one of those would meet the dress code standards?

 

 

 

A polo shirt has a collar by definition of what a collar is and obviously is a shirt. The OP was asking if it was ok to wear one and given that I have done so without any problem then it’s obviously ok. I did wear a jacket but that was removed for dinner. A quality mono-coloured polo shirt can be as smart as many “proper shirts” - and,(in my opinion obviously), smarter  than short sleeved “proper shirts” - which I consider rather naff… 😉
 

A hoodie is a hoodie. Not sure anyone would argue they were ok. 

[buchanan101]

42 minutes ago, Jack E Dawson said:

Archipelago,

If you go to the Cunard web site and look under What To Pack, you will find that "Smart attire simply means a dress shirt and trousers," So a polo shirt really doesn't meet the dress code for the Main Dining Room or Grills restaurants but is fine for the Ledo buffet area. With that said, you will see a small smattering of polo shirts in the MDR, mostly on the first night of the voyage. After that, polo shirts tend to disappear as most of those gentleman see what's going on and rise to the occasion. 

Jack

Nope. In QM2 QG I wore a polo shirt and jacket some nights, normal shirt other nights, DJ on gala nights. Seems more people have issue with that on here than did on board. You wear what you want, I will wear what I want. 
 

OP: you will be fine. However probably  best to wear a jacket with a polo shirt. In my opinion. 

[buchanan101]

1 hour ago, 2Oldpeopleinlove said:

As I’ve noted before on these men’s-dress-code threads, if men only knew how hot they look in tuxes (AKA dinner jackets), they’d wear them at every opportunity!

But only with a properly tied bow tie obviously… not a clip on

 

i would find a cumberband too hot, and not in the way you suggest… 

[2Oldpeopleinlove]

7 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

But only with a properly tied bow tie obviously… not a clip on

 

i would find a cumberband too hot, and not in the way you suggest… 

Re the tie, well, yeah!

 

But my husband wears vests to go with my dresses, not cummerbunds. That would probably be way to warm for you, but he looks great!

[King Amo]

Cunard have never made things easy with their terminology. They used to classify the majority of non-formal nights as 'informal', but that meant jacket and tie. Now they talk of smart attire, but define it as a collared shirt, which would almost certainly include a polo shirt, but that could never really be considered as 'smart'. They also say things along the lines of 'wear what you would to the theatre or smart restaurant' which once again could really mean anything. As such you get this level of confusion with people's mismatched expectations, particularly across different age brackets. 

 

The main thing from my point of view is that I would expect people to look as if they have made an effort. The outcome of that effort may be different for a man in their 20s than a man in their 60s, but that is pretty much to be expected. 

[Victoria2]

11 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

But only with a properly tied bow tie obviously… not a clip on

 

i would find a cumberband too hot, and not in the way you suggest… 

If it means chaps who don't normally go for a DJ go all out and wear one - with a clip on bow tie, then good for them.

 

Don't let's get precious over a bow tie. I;m just happy they're worn! 😀

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

If it means chaps who don't normally go for a DJ go all out and wear one - with a clip on bow tie, then good for them.

 

Don't let's get precious over a bow tie. I;m just happy they're worn! 😀

And honestly, how close do you have to be to identify types of bow tie? Closer than I’d want to get, I suspect.

[Victoria2]

Just now, exlondoner said:

And honestly, how close do you have to be to identify types of bow tie? Closer than I’d want to get, I suspect.

Clip on/pre tied/self tie

 

It's a bow tie and although the purists [really??] might be able to distinguish, like you, I have no intention of finding out!  It's a ruddy bow tie!

 

Good grief, it reminds me of school where we were inspected on the state of our school tie knots!  😲