Do I have to get dressed up?

[JBird77]

Hi, all! We've been viewing some YouTube videos about the restaurants on the Disney Dream. We are not going to Palo or Remy, just the regular restaurants. I noticed that a lot (maybe most) of the women in the restaurants are wearing dresses or at least something other than a t-shirt and capri pants (which is what I'd been planning to wear)...is there an unwritten rule to dress up for dinner? I don't want to be the weirdo! Thanks!

 

[DisBNewB]

Not that I noticed. I mostly wore jeans or capris and t-shirts, and while some folks were more dressed up, I didn't feel out of place at all.

 

[cruisehopeful]

You don't need to dress up. I didn't on my first couple cruises, but often do now just because it makes it more fun for me when I have the time to change. I just come in whatever I have been wearing if I am coming back from an excursion or an activity.

 

[MomOTwins]

The official dress code is cruise casual with one optional dress up night. Years ago, it used to be the case that cruising required dressing up for dinner, and although that has not been the case on most cruise lines for years now, for some people old habits die hard. We still dress up for dinner every night because for us it is a fun part of the cruise experience. But there are also plenty of people in shorts and t shirts. So you do what makes you happy. There is no wrong answer.

Here is the official Q&A from the DCL website as to dress code on 3/4 night cruises on the Dream:

Q.​

Are there dress codes or guidelines regarding dressing for dinner?

​

A.​

In general, most onboard dining locations are "cruise casual,” so casual attire, such as shorts and T-shirts, is permitted, with the exception of swimwear and tank tops. Most cruises have special theme nights that provide opportunities to dress up for a one-of-a-kind family photo. Here's a breakdown of special dress events by cruise itinerary:
3-night cruises:

• One cruise casual night—no swimwear or tank tops
• One pirate night themed deck party
• One optional “dress-up night"—jacket for men, dress or pantsuit for women

4-night cruises:

• First night is cruise casual—no swimwear or tank tops
• One pirate night themed deck party
• One optional dress-up night—jacket for men, dress or pantsuit for women
• Final night is cruise casual—no swimwear or tank tops

 

[MarkLT1]

On our first cruise, we usually ended up dressing up a bit for dinner... but not because we wanted to be all gussied up. Rather, we'd do the show right after dinner, and we all found the theater A/C to be a little chilly. Being first time cruisers from a cold state in the north, we figured "We don't need any of those warm casual clothes!" so our long sleeve shirts were dressier.. and we ended up changing into the few dressier shirts we brought for dinner, in order to be warmer during the shows.

For our next cruise, I'll definitely be bringing some less dressy long-sleeve shirts for this very reason.

Edit: and by "we" I mean "me" as my wife, the uber-prepared one, had plenty of warm casual clothes for her and the kiddos... my comments of "Why are you packing so much?? You always way over-pack" did not age well at all on that trip .

 

[jrabbit]

As a prior poster noted: BOTH the Main Dinning Rooms and the Theater are pretty chilly. And back in the day people did dress "up" more ... not the tux / suit / jacket to every dinner ... but those were "expected" but not enforced on Formal and Semi Formal nights. Today its almost anything goes So wear what you want.

But to put the Dinner Close discussion to bed years ago (didn't work ) I created this list YEARS and YEARS ago ....

Looking at this "list" it, it's amazing how much DCL has changed with regards to dress code for dinners over the past 20 years. (because all of these items were brought up - and never in a good way)

And I did not even mentioned Jeans back then (dress, skinny, normal, low riders (plumber), ripped (stylishly or just old!) )... because well, just NO! (back then). Jeans are now very common to see in the MDR's.
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THE Clothes Hierarchy
The Tuxes look down upon the suits
The Suits look down upon the sport coats
The Sport Coats look down upon the dress shirts
The Dress Shirts look down upon the polo shirts
The Polo Shirts look down upon the tee shirts
The Tee Shirts look down upon the tank tops
The Tank Tops look down upon the shorts
The Shorts look down upon the swimming suits

and so it goes

 

[Calantha]

I dressed up but it was a chance to wear some stuff in my closet that had been neglected. We were also doing pictures every night - so I wanted to look nice for those too.

 

[JARNJ3]

I "dressed up" in that I didn't wear a T-shirt, but a nice casual shirt\blouse & capris. We took the Med cruise - and it looked like most people did this. I didn't want to be out of place with our table mates.

To contrast this - in WDW, I live in T-shirts\shorts for most every dinner (unless its CA Grill - where I wear my nice shirts & capris).

They always say - where what you think would be comfortable. I live in sneakers - so I wore those, unless it was semi-formal, formal night.

 

[squirk]

Hi, all! We've been viewing some YouTube videos about the restaurants on the Disney Dream. We are not going to Palo or Remy, just the regular restaurants. I noticed that a lot (maybe most) of the women in the restaurants are wearing dresses or at least something other than a t-shirt and capri pants (which is what I'd been planning to wear)...is there an unwritten rule to dress up for dinner? I don't want to be the weirdo! Thanks!

I have to echo what everyone else has said. You don't have to dress up. Plenty of people don't dress up. You will not stand out if you don't dress up.