sdlong329 said:
1) For men, a suit on formal night is perfectly acceptable. While there will be many men wearing tuxedos, there will be plenty wearing suits. While there will be many women wearing gowns or sequined dresses, there will be plenty wearing pant-suits.
DCL will NOT, I REPEAT, WILL NOT relax ANY code, merely because it is a T/A. It is a code ... not a requirement or an option. There is NO WAY (nor a reason) to relax anything, merely for a single cruise. No matter, if someone shows up in jeans, sneakers and a polo shirt ... THEY WILL look out of place.
As an aside, I think many are worrying too much about luggage. People are spending LOTS of money to go on a cruise they may likely never go on again. While cameras and camcorders will be plentiful, purchasing gifts and momentos are part of the trip! If I have to pay $25 to check an extra bag of travel goodies, gifts and momentos, I will ask myself what I will remember 10-20 years from now ... the $25 spent to check the baggage, or the gifts and momentos themselves?
While I understand about dress codes, and I perfectly understand the need for one, I guess I'm naive about feeling or looking out of place. Of course, I'm "old school" and don't believe in wearing jeans to dinner anyway, but I've seriously never felt out of place with my attire. This includes formal night or cruise casual. When I'm dining at my table (which will likely be just the four of us - unless others want to join), I see three other faces, and we're dressed alike.
Disney's not going to stop me at the door if I'm wearing a dress shirt and khakis and tell me I can't eat that night. Additionally, I don't see what harm I'm doing to myself or others when I'm not wearing a tux. It's something that I might have agreed with you on when I was younger, Steven, but as I grow older, there's greater things in the world to worry about than a dress code.
As an aside, on my Transatlantic from 2007, there was a Franciscan Brother that was my age on board. It was a
Royal Caribbean ship, and he needed a way to get from Texas back to a mission he was ministering to in Europe. The cruise cost me all of $340 (it was a last minute special, and there was no surcharge for single passengers), as it did him, but it allowed him to travel there cheaply with about 200 pounds of goods he was bringing back. Ah, the good old days on Royal Caribbean when 200 pounds was your weight limit.
For a cheap passage to Europe, seriously, you couldn't buy a plane ticket and transport 200 pounds of cargo for that!
Anyway, he went to dinner every night very modestly dressed, with simple shirts and pants. Someone at the table asked him why he didn't dress up, and he simply replied that, "dressing modestly meant that there was more to give to others." Some food for thought, and it shook me up for a while. I seriously had to look at what all we were consuming, and see that there's a whole lot of things I worry about that maybe I shouldn't. Again, personal enlightenment rather than a message to the world!
I'm still not dressing up for formal night. The first one we've got Palo reservations. The second one we're planning to do the Palo brunch, and try the dinner buffet, as I'm sure we'll be stuffed from brunch.
Luggage -> I'm not worried about luggage as much as I am about having to carry everything. I don't think it's a monetary (or even a capacity) issue, as we're allowed to have 3 50 pound bags for each of us. However, dealing with 12 bags and 4 people is a logistical nightmare when you consider transit choices, so I'm definitely not planning on using all of that! I'm always reminded of "Romancing The Stone". If I feel like I'm going to chuck my luggage because I can't handle carrying it...maybe I've got too much.
I think mementos are very important. I think they can evoke very strong emotions, especially when there's sentiment and history involved. I'm very careful about my purchases for that reason, so that I'm not buying some cheap-o trinket that was made in China (unless I was visiting China). Definitely agree about saving some space for those items, because memories are important to us as well. Thanks for sharing that, Steven.
-Steve
Please take me off the SM list (sorry, this really stinks! stupid trains stupid planes)
You're going to pack everything into carry-ons? 
in their choices ...I know I will. I am still excited about both SMs and FEs (being a NOOB on the disboards community I cannot help myself
)....
It doesnt matter to me who else (my own party included) dresses up. We are spending an extra week in Italy after the cruise and then my DH will fly back to Iraq while we come home, which means I will have his suitcase to bring home as well as my own. But I dont care, this is a once in a lifetime trip for us. 
I was out perusing light, packable, unwrinklable outfits to dress up in..... nothing yet but I put it out to the universe...
