What to wear on a cruise?

Question

I'm going on my first cruise with the hubby, kids, and some friends in August. What do you wear to the various dinner events...adults and children? is it all evening gowns and suits, or can you dress down a bit...like a nice shirt and slacks for the guys and summer dresses for the ladies?

Answer 1

I have been on about 20 cruises with 4 different cruise lines and so here's what I recommend based on my experiences.  

The dress on ship is casual all day until 6:00PM, so take for everyone:

-swim wear (at least 2),

-shorts, tank tops and "T's"

-sandals,  beach shoes, good walking shoes,

-a cap or big hat for the sun,

-a book if you are a reader,

-your music player,

-sneakers and clothes to workout in if you like to use the gym,

After 6:00 PM they request that you wear "sports or resort casual" attire.  For adults, that's attire that you would expect a person to wear in a business office, (like a bank employee), shirt with a collar, and  slacks for men and boys; skirt, blouse, sun dress, etc. for the women and girls.  You can still wear shorts and swim wear in the pools and spas but not in public areas like dining rooms and restaurants, show rooms, bars, casino, etc.  There is no need to buy anything special just wear casual clothes and dress neat and clean; that applies to adults and kids.   Don't over pack , take clothes that you can mix and match tops and bottoms and plan to wear each piece twice. If you are going to the Caribbean you will likely be in shorts and/or swim wear most of every day so evening clothes don't usually get much wear.

Your cruise will have a formal night or two when you can wear your best stuff and get pictures taken, and maybe meet the ship’s Captain. 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. How much you dress up is strictly up to you.  Some people will dress "to the 9"s" with a  gown or party dress for women and a suit or tux for men.  Some will just do "Sunday church clothes".   Some people dress up both formal nights, some don't. We always take the formal stuff off after dinner and a photo or two and go back to casual stuff.

As long as you or the kids do not try to go to the main dining room with tattered and torn or faded jeans and flip flops and swim wear you and the kids can pretty much go as you want and will fit in OK with the rest of the people; and not stand out as different.

Here are some more tips for the first time cruiser:

- Its best to pack using soft-sided luggage because with space limited in your cabin it fits under the beds better if its not hard sided luggage.

- Pack using the vacuum clothing bags (about $20 for 3 at Target) so that you can get more in your bag AND so that if the TSA at the airport opens your bag they can see what's inside without rummaging through your things.

-Take a small carry-on bag for the last night of the cruise. On the last evening you will be required to put your luggage outside your cabin by about 2:00 AM so that they can start taking it down to the lower deck for offloading the next morning. So you will need a small bag for your toiletries and your clothes that you sleep in.

- If you can take a six-pack of bottled water and soft drinks in your carry-on for your cabin. You will have to pay for both on the ship and its nice to have those handy in the cabin.

- If you are taking your cell phone, MP3 player or other item that needs to be plugged in take an extension cord as the plugs in the cabin are generally not in the best places and there are usually only one or two.

- Take a small bottle of hand sanitizer and/or hand-wipes. There are generally sanitizer dispensers at the entrances of restaurants, the buffets and dining room, but some times the are not there or not working. The sanitizer helps prevent the spread of the Norwalk Virus that sometimes occur on cruise ships.

-If you plan to get into the pools or hot tub as soon as you get on ship (they will be open), bring those clothes in your carry on bag; you other luggage may not get to your cabin until much later in the afternoon.

- Take a can of air freshener for your cabin bathroom. The bathrooms do not have exhaust fans.

- Take a few zip lock bags of various sizes; they always come in handy.

Answer 2

The cruise that we took  made suggestions for each evening - i.e. one night noted formal (which meant tie for the men) while others were semi-formal (shirt/slacks and summer dresses) would be ok, while yet another was noted as casual.  You may want to check cruise itinerary to see if it is noted.

Answer 3

It really depends on the length of your cruise and which cruise you are boarding with. On 3-4 day cruises there's basically only one night where you have to dress up like that and it's called Captains Night. Other days you could wear sundresses for girls and a pair of slacks for boys. But they usually specify which nights you have to dress up.

Answer 4

It depends on the cruise line you are going on and how long the cruise is. I've been on 2 7-night cruises, both had 2 formal nights, where a man would wear a tux or suit, and a woman would wear an evening or cocktail gown. Other nights are more casual. If you look at the cruise line website it will give you the specfic dress code and what is acceptable. Have fun!