Anything goes !

[Scarlett Fever]

I just returned from our cruise last week on RCI Explorer and let me say this...

all of you worried about what is formal or informal, etc. have nothing to worry about because what people wore to formal night was absurd and what people wore to "casual" nights were horrific. I was disgusted that people obviously flat out refused to take a little pride in their appearance and show up to dinner IN THE DINING ROOM in appropriate attire.

What I saw in the dining room ....

 

- Men in t-shirts that said "Costa Maya", shorts and flip flops.

- Ripped jeans.

- Board shorts.

- Skirts that if you bent over would show whether or not you had waxed.

- See through tops and no bra.

- Ultra low rise jeans with their thong undies showing.

- Dirty gym shoes.

- Bathing suits with just their terry cloth cover up.

 

Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

I think cruise lines need to start enforcing their dress codes and people should stop being so lazy about their appearance.

 

- Yvette

[Lois R]

Hi Scarlett......sounds like you happen to cruise with a lot of folks who were the "Its my cruise and I will do As I please" personalities. (And I hope I don't get FLAMED TO DEATH) for making that comment.

We all know who those folks are.......now, that is not to say I let people who don't like to dress up have any affect on my cruise. I really don't concern myself with how other folks dress BUT and this is just for ME...I cannot speak for anyone else.......I love to dress up:D and even those nights that are casual I still enjoy looking pretty.....so there is at least one person who does follow the rules;) .

Scarlett, I have cruised on Celebrity 3 times, and there was an instance where folks were turned away from the dining room because they were not dressed accordingly....

I think the Maitr'd on your sailing might have been able to do something as well...but maybe their Managers told them not to......:rolleyes:

[lszu]

Setting myself up to get flamed with Lois, but...

 

There are plenty of other dining options for people wearing (or not wearing) any of what Scarlett Fever described.

 

I like to "dress" for dinner on a cruise, but I realize that not every one does. I'm not saying you have to go out and spend a ton of money, but c'mon people, if you're going to the dining room, a little effort, please.

[raytownlady]

We'll girls they're going to have to flame us all!

 

I agree, I love to get dressed up while we're on our cruise, and no it's not the only time we get to put on our glad rags. I don't concern myself with what others are wearing and just do my own thing.

 

Nekita:cool:

[MrsPete]

No flames here. I think people have gone waaaaay too far with the "I paid for my ticket and I'll do as I please" attitude.

 

There's casual and then there's sloppy -- the two should not be confused. A man in khakis and a polo is casual. A man in athletic shorts and an old tee-shirt is sloppy. If you can imagine yourself mowing the yard in your outfit, it is in no way appropriate for the dining room!

 

I agree that the dining room manager should "politely suggest" that people in obviously inappropriate attire might enjoy another dinner choice.

[Shellbelle28]

As long as someone is clean and neat and appears to have made an effort with their appearance, I try not to be judgemental about their dress, but Scarlett's observations seem to have been of people who didn't even make an effort. That's too bad. Especially since it makes it so much HARDER to get my husband to get dressed up when he can say "well look at those guys". Though honestly, I don't think even my "I had to wear a coat and tie every day through 4 years of Catholic school and I'm never putting one on AGAIN" husband would want to go in to dinner in flip flops and board shorts or a t-shirt. People say that Norwegian (the line we usually go on) passengers are slovenly in the dining room, but it really hasn't been so in my experience. I thought nearly everyone looked very nice when they were in the dining rooms. There was one guy always dressed like Elvis :eek: on my last cruise but THAT'S another thread!

[slverbell]

Add me to the club. I love to dress up and get little opportunity at home. Whenever I have the opportunity to get dressed up, be it a wedding, a christmas party and so on, I go all out. I am so pathetically obsessed with this cruise planning my outfits that after making a big order online I think I will have to book another cruise to wear all the outfits I purchased. But at incredible savings. I do not want to try to purchase something for the Caribbean in December in December, and have to pay full price. :)

[jp2001]

As long as someone is clean and neat and appears to have made an effort with their appearance, I try not to be judgemental about their dress, but Scarlett's observations seem to have been of people who didn't even make an effort. That's too bad. People say that Norwegian (the line we usually go on) passengers are slovenly in the dining room, but it really hasn't been so in my experience. I thought nearly everyone looked very nice when they were in the dining rooms. There was one guy always dressed like Elvis :eek: on my last cruise but THAT'S another thread!

I only cruised NCL and I thought that most people were following dress code guidelines. I saw only one man (mid twenties I would say) who was wearing jeans but it was nice ones and a VERY NICE shirt. I had no problem with that even if it didn't fit the guidelines. However, what Scarlett describes seems trully inapropriate for dinner in the dinning room. I agree that casual should never be confused with sloppy. I can't understand why the Maitre'D didn't say a thing.

[vacation4two]

My biggest concern with this is that the cruise lines will eventually discontinue formal nights because of the "It's my cruise..." attitude. I agree with Lois that I don't let others dress ruin my dining experience. However, I love to dress up and it seems that a cruise is really the only vacation time that I get to do that. Since they have formal night my DH goes along with this and I love it. He looks fabulous! But if there wasn't a formal night my DH would be happy to never have to dress up more than nice dockers and a polo shirt. I'm secretly glad that our next cruise is on Celebrity rather than Carnival because it means more dress up nights (informal that Carnival doesn't observe). Shopping and planning my clothes and jewelry for a cruise is as much fun for me as the cruise itself. What do you all think? Will the cruise lines eventually discontinue formal nights?

[JanetMarie]

I, too, have often thought that one of these days the lines may just do away with formal night. How horrible that would be.

 

Add me to the flame list. When DH and I cruise, we love, absolutely love ;) to dress for dinner, whether it be formal night or not. I mean, come on...how can someone possibly think it's okay to enter a formal-type atmosphere dining room dressed in jean, tee shirts, flip flops? That, too, disgusts me, and I would immediately arise from my table and tell the maitre d'. Shame, shame.:mad:

[hikergirl_ga]

Gotta say that I was surprised to see that the diners on formal night on Radiance (RCI) were all dressed nicely. I can't remember a single person who was dressed sloppily or even halfway casual for which I'm grateful. While my DH and I don't do the dress up thing in real life, we enjoyed getting dressed up several times for dinner and noticed that pretty much everyone else did the same.

[lel5344]

My wife and I will be going on our 4th NCL cruise. We love the concept of freestlye dining because we can eat when and where we wish (forgive the alliteration).

 

But we also like to look nice. I don't own a tux but I do have a great black suit with some terrific ties, and I love to wear that on formal nights. Other nights, you'll see me in a sport jacket and slacks, sometimes with a tie, sometimes without. Worst case scenario in the evening is a cotton sweater with slacks.

 

My wife brings at least 2 great dresses and mix and match pants, blouses, jackets.

 

We're not judgmental about how others dress - goodness knows we see all kinds of attire when we go out to local restaurants. I'm much more interested in how people act.

 

If we were on a luxury ship, I might be put off by "inappropriate" attire. But if we choose NCL because we get some terrific deals, I suspect some others also choose NCL for the same reason, and perhaps they just aren't into "dressing up."

 

It's OK as long as they don't blow smoke in my face or sneak into line or save seats for the shows or confiscate deck chairs as permanent possessions.

[Happy ks]

Even on our little 4 night Carnival cruise, people were dressed more appropriately than your description. Was this the majority, or just a few people you were seeing?

[cruisin' scrapper]

I'm a newbie here, but I just can't understand the "I paid for this vacation, I'll dress how I want" excuse. If you choose to cruise, then you also are choosing that "style" of vacation, and you know that beforehand. If you want to wear tacky jeans, t-shirts, etc., then go on the type of vacation where you can dress that way if you want! If I don't feel like dressing up for dinner, then I go to a more casual restaurant instead of a fancy place. Sorry, but it just doesn't make sense to me! :confused:

[MrsPete]

Know what this makes me think of? The teenaged girls who spend MONTHS choosing the perfect prom dress, shoes, purse . . . then they go to the tanning bed for weeks before . . . the day of prom they have their hair, nails, and make-up done . . . then they wear all their finery for a couple hours before discarding it for tees and shorts at the after-prom parties.

[momofmeg]

Hi Scarlett......sounds like you happen to cruise with a lot of folks who were the "Its my cruise and I will do As I please" personalities. (And I hope I don't get FLAMED TO DEATH) for making that comment.

We all know who those folks are.......now, that is not to say I let people who don't like to dress up have any affect on my cruise. I really don't concern myself with how other folks dress BUT and this is just for ME...I cannot speak for anyone else.......I love to dress up:D and even those nights that are casual I still enjoy looking pretty.....so there is at least one person who does follow the rules;) .

Scarlett, I have cruised on Celebrity 3 times, and there was an instance where folks were turned away from the dining room because they were not dressed accordingly....

I think the Maitr'd on your sailing might have been able to do something as well...but maybe their Managers told them not to......:rolleyes:

Lois you won't get flamed by me-I agree-one reason I feel so strongly about capris-just a step from there to shorts which definetly are not approiate-I know some capris are dressy but some think when you say capris all are okay. By the way since our little discussion I have looked around in places like Dillards and Marshalls and you are correct there are those done in linen and silk that hit just below the knee. My problem is those who will wear the definetly more casual ones feeling it shouldn't matter because others wear the nicer silk and linen ones.

 

To me part of the cruising experience was "dressing" for dinner as people used to do on the old liners when they traveled between Europe and the US before the jet liners were around. I buy into that. As I said before I also love the beach and Disneyworld going to museums etc. and on those vacations I don't dress for dinner. Heck the nicest place I go into then is a subway or a Bob Evans or possibly a Olive Garden. At least normally we don't go anywhere great- we did go to a really nice restuarant in Savannah called the Pink House when we went to Tybee Island and we did dress nicer-did not bother me in fact I would have been embarrssed to go to a place like that in blue jeans. We were served thesame quality of food that is more like dinner on a cruiseship there also. I did not see anyone dressed casually either-not every man wore a tie ofcourse but they were at least in a nice shirt and slacks.

 

Anyway Lois I guesss I will be the one to be flamed instead of you. Oh well-it won't be the first and definetly not the last-huh?

 

P.S. to the orginal poster sounds as though you may have had my neigbhors on Miracle.