Formal nights?

[SarasMommy]

I have never sailed on a river cruise before, but am considering one for next October. So I have a silly question - do they have formal nights on board, similar to large cruise ships?

[paul929207]

I have never heard of a formal night on a river cruise. Check on what ever line you are thinking about or book with.

[letsgo39]

No they don't, river cruises are very casual. Not even suits or ties. People wear jeans during the day. Everybody changes for dinner IF they have time if not they just wear what they wore touring during the day.The men wear Docker type pants and collared shirts. The women wear slacks or capris with a nice blouse or casual skirt. The only river cruise company I heard of where people dressed up was Deilman and they are going out of business.

[SarasMommy]

I remember my mother telling me that on her Nile cruise in 1990 they had a "djellabah night", where they dressed in traditional Egyptian robes... but it wasn't a mandatory thing. That was probably the closest they got to a formal night.

[caviargal]

I plan on packing nice slacks and a couple of dressy tops for my December river cruise, same as I do when we travel to Europe. We like to dress for dinner and the evening so will do so on our cruise as well.

[npphotog]

Usually have two so called formal nights. Captains dinner and farewell dinner. We have been on two river cruises and those nights my wife had on a nice dress and I wore a

sport coat with a tie. I think most of the men did likewise. Some wore a nice sport shirt and slacks. Your choice but we felt it was nice to dress up a little. Willard

[letsgo39]

Usually have two so called formal nights. Captains dinner and farewell dinner. We have been on two river cruises and those nights my wife had on a nice dress and I wore a

sport coat with a tie. I think most of the men did likewise. Some wore a nice sport shirt and slacks. Your choice but we felt it was nice to dress up a little. Willard

 

I guess it depends on the company and maybe the age of the passengers.I think the older people tend to dress up more than the younger ones do. DH is 60. Not that any of us are young anymore!!:eek:.I don't think a sportcoat is formal though. Formal is a tux and a fancy dress for the ladies!

On our Avalon Budapest to Amsterdam cruise and the French waters cruise there was maybe a couple of guys with sportcoats,no ties at all for those 2 nights. They were definitely way in the minority. My DH was so happy as he didn't even bring a sportcoat or tie and 98% of the men were dressed just like him in Docker type pants and a nice shirt..Not that he would lose sleep over it anyway!!:D There was also people in jeans and Bermuda shorts so I guess it really does not matter what you wear.That is one of the things I just love about rivercruising. It is very casual.