How different is it?

[lola4795]

Dh and I are looking at a January cruise on the Liberty. We have only been on 1 other cruise. That was with NCL.

 

Dh is very concerned about traditional cruising. He does NOT like to dress up when he's on vacation. How would this affect us on a Carnival Cruise?

 

Are there options to the formal dining? What are they? How do they work? Are there still assigned dinner times?

 

Thanks!

[momofzeke]

Lots of options for informal dining. Lido deck buffet is open every evening, which includes the deli and the 24-hour pizza. The poolside grill is open until about 6 pm. You can get sandwiches and snacks from 24-hour room service, but no hot meals.

 

The formal dining room does have the assigned dining times, but if you opt for the other choices, you can go whenever you want to.

 

The dining room is also open for breakfast and lunch (no lunch on port days, usually) and the attire is casual. Open dining.....no assigned times.

 

Lido buffet is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Deli is open until late, usually around 11 pm. Pizza is 24-hour and you can also get a caesar salad and calzones there. Don't forget to try the soft-serve ice cream, available 24-hours.

 

All of the above is provided with no extra charge.

 

Welcome to Carnival! :)

[AmberMarie]

They allow jeans in the dining room, as long as you dress them up. A nice shirt, not a t-shirt. Heels, dressy sandals, not sneakers or rubber flip flops. You can wear khakis, cotton dresses, whatever... just not shorts and tank tops. There is no formal night, just "cruise elegant"... my mom and I wore black dress pants and a dressy top and heels and we still felt VERY dressed up compared to some of the cocktail and cotton dresses we saw. There is never a time where he would be uncomfortable in a suit, because a suit just isn't necessary anymore (although if he wants to, he can).

 

You choose your requested dinner time when you book your cruise and then you find out later what your dinner assignment is "officially."

 

Pretty sure I got this right.

[mcfam5]

First of all Carnival has changed their formal nights to cruise elegant nights, so the dress code has lightened up a bit.

 

If you would like no restrictions on dress, you can eat in the buffet located on the Lido deck. There is also pizza available 24 hours, New York style deli open during meal hours and room service when ever you like.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[dclark]

You can wear shorts to the dining room on every night but formal if you want. On formal night, you have to wear a coat, pants.

If your husband doesn't want to do that, then you choie is the buffet area. However, it is really worth going to the dining room on those nights! Putting on a coat and pants is a very small price to pay to enjoy prime rib, lobster and filet mignon that is offerred in the dining room and you won't those things sitting in the steam table of the buffet (yuck!).

[DqALEX]

You can eat each night up on the Lido deck. No dress up required

[momofzeke]

Another thing to note: you can eat in the dining room on the more casual nights and then if you don't wish to dress up for formal nights, go to the buffet on those nights. Totally your choice!

 

I agree that the dining room food is best. And, like others have said, you really don't have to "dress up" for it, except for formal nights. The lobster is served on formal night, and it is not available in the buffet, so if you LOVE lobster, you would have to dress up a bit for that night.

 

Enjoy! :)

[genngee]

The Liberty is going to have one dining room open for anytime dining starting after dry dock so you will be able to chose that option if you want

[more cruises]

We were on the Pride and they still had assigned dining times. The first elegant night was more elegant than the second. My DH wore black Dockers and a short sleeved dress shirt both nights - no tie. His attire was just fine.

 

Our only cruise prior to this was on NCL too and we found that the dinner choices on the Pride really disappointed us. I got tired of the fast food/pizza/deli/grill for dinner and the dinner buffet was really skimpy - not nearly as nice as the lunch buffet. They kind of force you into the dining room if you want a decent dinner.

 

We loved our Carnival cruise but missed the Freestyle Dining of NCL.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

You can wear shorts to the dining room on every night but formal if you want. On formal night, you have to wear a coat, pants.

If your husband doesn't want to do that, then you choie is the buffet area. However, it is really worth going to the dining room on those nights! Putting on a coat and pants is a very small price to pay to enjoy prime rib, lobster and filet mignon that is offerred in the dining room and you won't those things sitting in the steam table of the buffet (yuck!).

 

No jacket required, Dress pants and dress shirt are the minimum. Jackets are suggested but not required.

 

Bill

[1tuckersmom]

We went on one of our Alaskan cruises and only ate in the dinning room once,

not because the food wasn`t good but our table mates were a couple that we just prefered not to dine with.

 

We either ate at the Lido buffet or took food from there and ate on our balcony.

 

Just go and enjoy your Cruise, there are lots of eating choices and things to do without having to dress for dinner.

[Chigirlcruzin]

Actually, the Liberty is testing flexible dining times starting November 1. They've been doing this on the Legend for a few months and are expanding the test to a ship with two dining rooms. This way you could still eat when you wanted, and it could just be the two of you if you wanted. I'd check with your TA/PVP about this option.