Formal Night on the Cruise? For Soverign?

Question

My boyfriend and I have decided not to go to the formal night on the cruise because he don't have a tuxedo, and frankly, the amount it would cost to buy one is like paying for the dinner, are we really missing out on much besides a good dinner. We still get to eat at a buffet right...this is for Soverign of the Seas Royal Carribean

Answer 1

On most formal nights a suit will do. You don't need to buy a tuxedo. Or you could just rent a tuxedo which would be alot scheper than buying one.

Answer 2

You dont need to be formal for the formal night, maybe just a nice cocktail dress for you or dressy pants, and a dark jacket and pants with a white shirt and black tie will do for the bf.

Answer 3

Usually a suit and tie is fine but it is nice for the pictures to be really *gussied* up on that one night. You can make arrangements to rent (through your travel agent and the ship) a tux IF you feel that you need one..Sorta like renting a tux when you get married...

Answer 4

I always enjoy the formal nights, even with fighting 2 kids into respectable cloths on vacations lol. My husband just always wore a black suit jacket with dress pants though.

On a note, our first cruise was a BIG family thing. 10+ of us. My husband didn't want our crew to be the only ones not at those dinners. So we looked into it more. Most cruise lines will have suits/Tux's available for rental. You just have to let them know so far in advance. The first time we looked into it, it was about $75 to rent all the pieces he would need for each night (2 formals on board though).

If you want to go to the formal nights, look into the phone book for some men's stores. We did a little bargain hunting. We picked up my husbands FULL suit, including, 3 s***s, 3 ties to match my outfits, socks, AND shoes for less than $175. This also included all the tailoring for him.  It is useful to have also. We can now go to the theater or a really fancy restaurant w/o worrying about his cloths :)

Answer 5

i havent been on soverign,  but plenty of other ships.

Your not missing much,  you can probably go to the windjammer and get th same food,  but the whole formal night is good,  getting your picture taken,  seeing others dressed up,  better food.   it is different.

Answer 6

I have been on many many cruise with Royal Caribbean and several cruise lines and here's the deal.

Formal nights are REQUESTED attire nights, NOT REQUIRED.  Most people do dress up, some in tux or formal dress/gowns, but many also just wear things like suit and tie or sports coat, no tie, for men and a nice dress for women.  You will not be denied access to the dining room or anything else if you are not dressed formal.  In fact on formal nights half of the people are walking the ship in formal or dressy clothes and the other half are still in casual stuff.  That is because there are two dinner seatings and half of the people dress for the first seating at 6:00 PM and the other dress for their seating at 8:00 PM.  So if you are not dressed you will not stand out as there will be plenty of other people walking around the ship who are also not dressed.  We usually go take off our formal stuff after dinner anyway.

So if you do not want to dress up, just wear sports casual stuff, shirt with a collar for your friend, maybe a jacket; a skirt and blouse or dress for you.

Now the other option is not to dress and just go to the Windjammer Cafe for dinner, or order room service.  But you should not do that and miss out on the meals for formal night which are usually lobster tail or Prime rib, or fillet mignon.  And they they will usually have cherries jubilee and/or Baked Alaska for desert.

Answer 7

I went on  a Royal Caribbean Cruise last year and I'm going again in two days and the formal night was the best evening and hardly anyone was in tuxedos if you can find a nice dinner jacket and a tie that's perfectly acceptable too. It's the one night of the cruise not worth missing...It stuck in my memory. But if you don't want to go there's lots of other nice restaurants on the boat without formal evenings so you'll have a good time anyway.

hope it helps

xx

Answer 8

It is a good meal and fun to get dressed up.  It doesnt need to be totally formal either.  A suit could easily pass instead of a tuxedo.  Also, dress pants and dress shirt wont be out of place either.  I would bring some kind of clothes to wear for it just in case (without buying new clothes) then 15 minutes before dinner time go take a walk down and see what everyone else is wearing.  You will see that not everyone dresses up totally fancy.  Then make your decision.  I'm sure the buffett dinner will be good also.  Dont buy a tuxedo cause your right it would be too expensive, even renting isnt cheap (which the ship does), but there is always alternatives

Answer 9

I was on the RC Sov, and we only went to one of the formal dinners. I wore a black, tea length dress, and my husband wore a charcoal suit. We were not the only couples that were not in black tie by any means.

As to missing out, it was nice to attend one formal dinner, but we also ordered the same dinner from room service one night, and had just as much fun hanging out in the cabin and enjoying the same meal that the formal diners were enjoying.

If you are interested in enjoying formal night, check with RC. I don't remember if they offer the rental service that Carnival Cruise Lines does, but they might. They actually rent the tuxes and formal women's wear on the ship.Hope you guys have a blast either way.

Answer 10

Yes, you can eat at the buffet on formal nights.  

However, don't feel you have to dress formally in order to go to the dining room on "formal" night.

If you are going on the Sovereign of the Seas, you are on either a three night cruise (leaving Friday) or a four night cruise (leaving Monday).  The short cruises tend to be more casual than a one week or longer cruise.  So you would likely be okay with just nice clothes, like you would wear to church on Sunday.

Here is Royal Caribbean's dress code ...

Life Onboard

Q:   What are the dress codes onboard?

A:   There are three distinct types of evenings onboard: casual, smart casual and formal. Suggested guidelines for these nights are:

Casual: Sport shirts and slacks for men, sundresses or pants for women

Smart Casual: Jackets and ties for men, dresses or pantsuits for women

Formal: Suits and ties or tuxedos for men, cocktail dresses for women

3 to 4 - night cruises include one formal night and the remainder nights are casual.

5 - night cruises include one formal and the remainder nights casual.

6 - night cruises include two formal nights, one smart casual and the remainder nights casual. 7 to 9 - night cruises include two formal nights, one smart casual night and the remainder nights casual.

10 to 13-night cruises include three formal nights, two smart casual nights, and the remainder nights casual.

14+ - night cruises include three formal nights, four smart casual nights and the remainder nights casual.

We appreciate your usual parental guidance and cooperation in observing these easy guidelines with your children.

Please note ice skating on our Voyager Family ships & Freedom of the Seas requires that all skaters wear long pants and socks for their own comfort and safety. Capris and long shorts are permitted.

Here is a link to the website ...

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersu...

However, once you board you will find that this code is not strictly enforced (on some lines it is, but not on Royal Caribbean).  If you ask your waiter/waitress you will find that most likely, if you are dressed in a manner that would be acceptable at a church on Sunday morning, you will be fine on a short cruise on formal night.  

The idea is to enjoy yourself.  Also, formal night usually has the best food in the main dining room (lobster and/or a prime cut of meat).

Or, if you wish, you can dress very casually and eat at the buffet, or dress even more casually and order room service.  While the food is free, the person who brings you your food to your cabin will expect a tip (usually $2 per person when ordering dinner in your cabin).

Answer 11

You do not need a tux. Look at it as you might a formal dance or prom. While many go out and rent a tux some don't and it really is not required. He will need a suit (Or Sport coat and tie) If he doesn't have one it would be a good investment anyway for he will need it for job interviews, your friends weddings, etc. The formal night is really a good time as not only will you get a great meal but you will get a chance to be photographed in a variety of settings in formal attire. A nice inexpensive souvenir. However if you are still not interested the cruise does feed you 24/7 so you will be able to eat elsewhere on the ship. Many people do not like the formals and skip them so you will not be out of place if you decide not to go.

Answer 12

Hardly anybody goes in a tux.  If he wears slacks and a tie he will feel right at home.  If you decide to pass on going to it, you aren't missing too much.  I suggest that you go, though.  They are a lot of fun.