If there is a 'formal night' on the cruise...?

Question

what's acceptable clothing? Is it NECESSARY to 'dress up' or is it optional?

Answer 1

If you are planning to eat in the main dining rooms then yes, it's necessary.  Most ships have some sort of informal venue for eating, maybe burgers or pizza, and those wouldn't require dressing up.

Answer 2

If you want to eat in the dining room on formal night, then you will want to dress up.  Cruise lines vary in how much they "enforce" the dress code, but most people will be dressed up.  [You can always eat in the buffet or any of the casual venues without dressing up.]

For women, you can get by with dressy black pants or long black skirt and a couple of dressy [maybe "sparkly"?] tops.  [On a 7-day cruise there will be two formal nights.]  Men should wear a suit and tie - some men will be wearing tuxes [which you can rent on board, if you wish - reserve ahead of time, however].

If you want to get a long dressy dress, you can go to a quality consignment shop and pick up something for very little money.  

For shoes, bring an easily-packed pair of strappy sandals; you won't need a bag [just give your room key to your husband to carry! - sorry to be "sexist"!].

For lots of hints about this and other cruise subjects, go to CruiseCritic.com and click on "Boards" and then your favorite topic.

Answer 3

Okay, I go on a lot of cruises.  They DO have formal nights. The formal nights are usually twice a week. if you go on a seven day, on the five days, i have no clue. But you might want to 'dress up' because you eat with the ships captain. You dont have to wear like fancy dresses, you can wear a jean skirt with some leggings and a nice tanktop. Cruises are really nice to go on, when you have a dress up night, the workers might sing to you, and you can get up and dance around. We did the Cha-Cha and the Macarana. If you didnt know, you have the same waiter EVERY night. You have a waiter that serves you your food, a waiter that serves you breads and stuff, and another that serves your drinks. They will know your name like, by the first day. When you eat, they bring you some DELICIOUS breads, and then you get a drink. You have a salad, and appetizer, the meal, and dessert. For the dessert, i would STRONGLY reccomend the Melting Cake. I had it every night, also, if you want more of something..all you have to do is say, can i have another one of these, or can i have what shes having, or something. They will bring you whatever you want. You will enjoy it, and i hope i helped. Have Fun.         Written By: Kim!

Answer 4

The formal nights are REQUESTED not required attire. You will not be denied entry to the main dining room if you decide not to dress up, as long as you are at least sports/resort casual.  But most people do dress up; a suit or tux for men and a gown or party dress for women. But some men just wear slacks and a shirt with a collar and the women wear a skirt and blouse, or something casual.  If you are going on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship most of the people will not dress up.  And, if you don't want to go to the main dining room with all of the dressed up people, there are always other casual eating places on the ship.

Answer 5

On the formal nights you will see everything from this:

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/in...

to this:

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/in...

men wear tuxes and suits.

you mainly want to remember that irons aren't allowed so don't pack something that will wrinkle easily.

i saw a pressing service onboard, but you can save money by just buying a dress that doesn't wrinkle.