Formal Nights - Yes or No

I am ambivalent about formal nights. I enjoy seeing everyone dressed to the nines. It makes things festive. Mostly ships make formal nights occur on sea days which is nice. On my last cruise on Carnival liberty, though, a formal night occurred on the day we were in Grand Turk. Passengers were still returning from port in beachwear when we left for the MDR. When we entered the dining many passenger were wearing casual shorts and tops. They made no attempt to look nice. I almost couldn't blame them as we were docked until 6 pm. Everyone was hot and tired from their day at the beach. No one as far as I could see enforced the dress code. I myself didn't feel like dressing formally either but I did.

i also like to see the MDR reflect the formal mood by offering a special menu to complement the formality. Most times this happens -not always. I do always follow the suggested dress code. I wonder if ships will become less formal as time goes passes? Gloria

Thank you GTVCRUISER for the nice photo of you dressed as formally as you get on a cruise. A picture is worth a thousand words. What fun! Gloria

I don't mind it but personally am not a great fan. I've never been a very formal dressing person. It would not bother me if they went away.

We do enjoy the formal nights (very much) but we’ve learned that “formal” has different meanings on different cruise lines.

I like wearing my tux (Mike typing now, Amy always looks good). Have you ever seen a James Bond movie? Tuxes are cool and the ladies love ‘em – there’s no argument against that! But I never pack the tux for a Carnival cruise. Carnival gets a jacket and open-collar shirt (I always pack a tie but rarely use it). Same for short Royal Caribbean cruises but we’ll dress nicer on the week-long or more sailings.

Celebrity always gets a tux on the first formal night because that’s one of the secrets to getting invited to an officer’s table for the second formal night (shh, don’t spread that around).

We intend to dress well on our upcoming Princess cruise but it’s been five years since our last week-or-longer Princess sailing. Hopefully that will still be the appropriate attire.

Formalwear means different things to different people, be that a military uniform, a kilt, or a nice pair of Wranglers with a leather vest and a bolo tie. We love seeing the different outfits and as long as you’re respectful of others, you’re always welcome at our table no matter how you’re dressed!

Happy cruising!

Hmm, I don’t think we’ve ever equated the menu to the wardrobe. That’s really interesting and I’ll think about it on future formal nights. (Of course I can always find something I like on any menu. And while I enjoy lobster let’s be honest, drawn butter can make anything taste amazing!)

This is as formal as I get

I could live without formal nights , I would not miss them

I also get a bit peeved when I get formally dressed only to go to the MDR and the menu is nothing special. If cruise lines expect us to dress, they should have have special menus. Thanks everyone for contributing. It was fun to hear from each of you.

I had surf and turf on RCCL on the 14 night Transatlantic cruise and on the 3 night Carnival. Why punish those of use that do not want to pack a tux for a short cruise and make us eat at the buffet? I think we pay the same amount as you do. I suggested having the same food with waiter service in the buffet.

I do not force people to dress up or dress down........ on European Cruises on Celebrity I take my Tux and made the kid take a dark suite (Celebrity was good enough to send the Taylor to the cabin to hem the slacks for the kid) . For Carnival, why wear a Tux in Wal Mart ?

For those that want formal go Cunard, they enforce the dress code. For casual go Carnival, but do not try and make people dress up just to get the good food. I wore a suite and tie to the office for a decade, now I'm retired do not have to dress up if I do not want to. I can remember as a little kid mom saying " Stockings, girdles and heals are to much work for vacation" That was back in the early 70's when they started to cruise back on Sitmar, Admiral and Princes "The love boat".

Pick a Cruise line that fits your style and your mood. With all the cruise lines going for different demographics pic the one that fits you.

I don't agree that eliminating formal nights on even short cruises is the answer. It's not fair to the rest of the other passengers like myself that look forward to formal night. Carnival needs not only emphasize dress code in the dining room but need to also enforce it. Heck, I was turned away from the dining room on a Carnival vessel because my shirt didn't have a collar! I had to go back to my cabin and change shirts. No big deal. If luggage constraints are an issue, you are not forced to go to formal night. There ARE other options such as the buffet or even room service just to name a few. The dining room on a cruise ship is not the dining room at McDonalds. And Jusme, On a four night cruise aboard RCCL, there was a formal night but Surf & Turf was not on the menu that night. I was told by the waiter that RCCL eliminated Lobster on short cruises. As a matter of fact, the menu that night was almost a duplicate of the previous nights menu. Nothing "Formal" about RCCL's formal nights on short cruises.