Please Define Country Club Casual

[TheNit]

We're booked on the May 29th, Athens to Rome cruises on the Nautica. I continue to be confused about the term "country club casual". I assumed that you could get away with khakis and shirts but the DVD supplied by Oceania shows jackets. What are your experiences with the dress code? I would prefer to not take a jacket because we are planning to do some travel by train after Rome and don't need the excess baggage.

[Jancruz]

We are on board now and Stuart did not bring a jacket..many men did..he does not feel uncomfortable..even when we have dinner with the Captain!!

Jan

*****

[Druke I]

We've been on Oceania twice (Regatta into the Baltic 8-05, and Nautica Istanbul to Singapore 11-06).

 

I took a sports jacket with me on Regatta, and never wore it. A few gents did wear them in the Grand Dining Room.

 

I also took one sports jacket with me on Nautica, and wore it once. No particular reason, other than we were eating at Tapas, and I thought it might be a little cool on the open deck.

 

We have a trans-Atlantic booked on Regatta Mar 08, and I don't plan on taking a jacket.

 

I interpret Country Club Casual as slacks or Dockers, and a collared shirt, perhaps with a cardigan sweater on cooler evenings, and never felt out-of-place.

[Rickey 88]

I assumed that you could get away with khakis and shirts but the DVD supplied by Oceania shows jackets. .

 

Both the Oceania brochures and the DVDs feature professional models wearing what some publicist had decided was "appropriate and correct". In acutuality, what is "Country Club Casual" is something comfortable, not dressy, the sort of thing one could wear in most surroundings and be happy doing so.

 

Holes in jeans, scruffy shorts, open sandals, etc. are generally frowned upon.

 

Hope this helps......

[hondorner]

Khakis and mild Hawaiian shirts with boat shoes work for almost anywhere. I do wear slightly dressier trousers, open-collared dress shirt and dressy loafers in the specialty restaurants, but only because it helps to set them apart as a special evening. I reserve my loudest Hawaiian shirts for Tapas. When we had dinner with the Captain, I was glad I had a sports coat, because the gentlemen of the four other couples were wearing jackets, and two had ties. I would not have been made feel uncomfortable by the Captain or any of the others, but sometimes it's easier to fit in. I think Stu is a legend with "O" and is more relaxed in that situation; I'm still a newbie.

 

I will be taking a jacket to Barcelona for our transAtlantic, but only because we will be in Spain for 4 days prior to sailing and I'm not sure what I may need there.

[orchestrapal]

Hondorner you will hardly if ever need a jacket in Barcelona.

We stayed at the Ritz where only the manager and some men there for a meeting had on jackets. Even in a very fancy restaurant for Sunday lunch

where all the men came from church they all removed their jackets when they sat down. Enjoy Barcelona. It's a great city.:)

[Takyla]

Sailed on Insignia's inaugral in April 2004 and took a sports jacket, wore it once when we had dinner in the specialty dining room. Wore slacks and sport shirts at every other dinner and never felt out of place. Was on Regatta's LA to Miami through the canal last january and didn't take the jacket on this cruise. Going on the Insignia's Istanbul to Barcelona in November and don't plan on packing the extra weight. Enjoy your cruise and don't be concerned.

[UB & AS]

We are booked for our first Oceania cruise and really appreciate your comments on clothing. In November we sail on Nautica for Rome/Singapore and are talking a lot about wardrobe. Thanks again for the excellent information.

 

Now to start packing for Celebrity/Mercury Wine Cruise from San Francisco back to British Columbia.

 

Cheers, Bill and Sandy

[TheNit]

It's good to know that dressy casual is good enough. It was one of the reasons that we chose Oceania (besides great itnineraries and smaller ship sizes) and I'm glad it is as we anticipated. It used to be exciting to get dressed up in a tux and all but now it seems more of a nuisance. It probably had something to do with retirement.

 

Thanks for your help.

[lahore]

We found it depends a bit on your on board lifestyle. I loved the classy atmosphere - by classy I mean no compulsory recycled bridesmaid dresses ;) - on Oceania, and found that it was pretty much as reported by those above. We, like others on this thread, were very concerned about packing in terms of weight as we did Beijing to HK and had temperatures of -4 to 28 (centigrade) to contend with and a 20kg luggage limit out of Australia. We were very careful about what we packed - I am the woman and bought one pair of black dressy pants and a couple of dressy tops, and wore them when we went to the speciality restaurants. You can always dress up such outfits with a different shawl (for the ladies of course. He did not bring a jacket. We really didn't enjoy the formal dining room, so we ate most nights in the casual one which has almost exactly the same food, and we made an effort to get into the speciality restaurants three times instead of the usual two. The casual dining room is even slightly more casual than the formal. Other nights, after a very long day out (e.g. 7am start) I actually had dinner room-serviced and watched a movie in my PJ's. To me that choice is relaxing. So, long story short, if you are really worried about packing it, don't. You don't have to on Oceania.

[LHT28]

Most women on our 3 cruises either wore a nice dress, dress pants & nice top or a skirt/top that you may wear out to dinner to a nice restaurant at home.

 

Only 1 cruise did I see more formal dresses.

The GDR you can dress up the same as you would for the specialty restaurants.

No Jeans or shorts for dinner in any venue.

 

Most Oceania cruisers scrub up pretty good!:D