How formal is formal night on Carnival on a 7 night Caribbean cruise ?

Great, thank you both so much! I bought the mister 2 pairs of dark dress sandals so i may grab the dress socks in case.

I doubt that anybody will notice if the sandals are dark, if you wear dark socks with them even better. When your sitting at the table your feet are under it. The last few Carnival cruises I have been on, I wore nice jeans, a nice dressy embroidered shirt and dark shoes on the "Fancy" night.

I'm not sure, but I would think it's okay. I think they would pay more attention to the shirts & pants that people wear.

Can guys wear a dress sandal on formal nights? With the slacks and dress shirt of course. :)

I usually wear dress pants with a shirt & tie & nobody says anything.

Frankly formal night has gone the way side. You pretty much wear what you want but you still see people dressed to the nines. Personally, I prefer to wear dress pants and a nice shirt. I usually ditch the tie cause I have to wear one everyday. You do see the odd person in penguin suits.

Formal nights , Carnival is calling it Smart Casual now days

It does bother me when passengers don't follow the dress code not just on formal infighter but on other nights as well. Wearing baseball caps in any restaurant is not considerate. I am happy to read that the kid took his off, BAK1061. I have seen Carnival employees turning away diners inappropriately dressed but many more manage to escape notice. They have really relaxed their dress codes. On my last recent Carnival Liberty cruise they actually announced in the dining room that baseball caps were not permitted in the MDR. They were permitting nice shorts on casual nights. I saw them even on formal nights albeit on the night we left Gran Turk later in the evening. There were plenty of baseball caps on the first night but few after that. You are right people feel that because they pay for their cruise that they can dress as they like. Year by year, I think that things are getting less formal. Gloria

It's Carnival

nothing formal or elegant about it.

regardless of what is suggested, people do what they want, and wear what they want.

we were in the steakhouse on the Glory on elegant nite a few years ago. Myself,my wife, my cousin and her husband were all dressed very nice. In walks in a father and son. Son wearing shorts ( not nice ones either ), father wearing jeans and polo shirt. Both had on deck shoes, old and worn......and they were seated !!!! In the steakhouse ! On elegant night !!!!! At least the son took off his ratty baseball cap.

I thought about complaining to the mgr., but my wife stopped me. It didn't ruin our dinner, so what was the point.

Technically, no jeans on formal nights but I do remember seeing people wearing them to dinner. I go with slacks and a nice shirt, sometimes a jacket; I always pack a tie but never use it on Carnival. We never pack jeans for the Caribbean – it’s too hot and they just make the luggage heavier. Here’s the official word from Carnival:

Cruise Elegant Dining Dress Code: Gentlemen - Dress slacks, dress shirts. We also suggest a sport coat. If you wish to wear suits and ties or tuxedos, by all means we invite you to do so. Ladies - Cocktail dresses, pantsuits, elegant skirts and blouses; if you‘d like to show off your evening gowns, that's great too!

Not permitted in the dining room during the Cruise Elegant dinner for ladies and gentlemen: shorts, gym shorts, T-shirts, beach flip-flops, bathing suit attire, jeans, cut-off jeans, sleeveless shirts for men, sportswear, and baseball hats.