Does anyone skip formal night?

[Boo Mc]

OK, I know that formal night is the high point of the trip for many people. I'm wondering, though, has anyone opted to skip it? I have to say, the thought of getting new outfits for the four of us, packing them, ironing etc. seems like a bit of a hassle. I'm sure DS would be happy to skip it and DH doesn't seem that interested either. To tell the truth, I feel like I wouldn't be too upset about missing it either. So, has anyone skipped it? Any regrets? Anything to convince me that this is a "not to be missed" event? Thanks!

 

[ohMom]

at this moment i'm planning on booking our Palo dinner on formal night, unless I become convinced via your thread Our last cruise we used the laundry service for ironing and it worked out very well; I did iron the first night's clothes myself though. I found I had too many items ironed and didn't wear them all. another reason I thought of booking Palo that night is we'd be dressing up twice, rather than three times if we do Palo, Formal and semi-formal.

from what I understand "Formal night" simply refers to the dress for the evening, correct? or are there other perks or happenings in the dining room for formal/semi-formal night?

 

[S. C.]

We skipped formal night on both the wonder & magic. On semi formal night we wore nice pants/slacks & shirts/blouse. We are not dress up people so this was dressy enough for us. On the wonder on formal night we chose to dine in our room and relax. On the magic on formal night DH & I enjoyed a very nice enjoyable dinner at top siders while GS chose to stay in the lab & eat there. Topsiders is very nice for dinner The lights were low, there was tablecloths and servers and we had a window seat. There was only a few other people eating at topsiders and we had a table to ourselves.

 

[tvguy]

Yes, people skip formal night, that's the beauty of a cruise, you have options.
I wish the folks 2 tables over from us had skipped formal night, they wore matching sweatsuits to dinner!!!!!!!
We chose to skip Palo, sounds like a great place, but we found the dining room to be perfect because we WANTED to eat dinner with our kids, something we don't often get to do at home with their school/soccer/baseball schedules. Let's just say there are a lot of Taco Bell/McDonalds/Burger King/Wendy's/KFC/Jack In The Box/Carl's Junior/A&W runs in our house.

And besides, now we have reasons to go again. Eat in Palo, eat breakfast in the dining room (other than the last morning when they have a limited menu), eat dinner at Topsiders, swim in the pools, try the spa, watch the talent show, go to the clubs after dinner, all the things we never found time to do on our first 7 day Eastern.

 

[aprilgail2]

I am trying to book Palo on formal night.....not only because I don't want want to dress up (I really hate that but would do it if I had to) but because there is nothing I like on the formal night menu....seems like an awful lot of trouble dressing up for food I don't even like LOL!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

We skipped formal night on both the wonder & magic.

It's easy to skip the formal night on the Wonder, because there is no formal night on the Wonder.

 

[LoveMyBaby]

We will be skipping formal night on our upcoming cruise in lieu of watching the Superbowl!

 

[jweiss]

We skip formal night and will again this year. No regrets AT ALL!!!! We are not dress up people. Just the thought of packing all that stuff....and ironing on a cruise.... YUCH!!!

 

[TooPure4u]

I will dress up for formal night but not for semi formal night....I will just find somewhere else to eat. I hate dressing up but do want pictures with my son in our formal attire...otherwise I would just have skipped both....

 

[aprilgail2]

I will dress up for formal night but not for semi formal night....I will just find somewhere else to eat. I hate dressing up but do want pictures with my son in our formal attire...otherwise I would just have skipped both....

I would skip that one too but the person I am going with wants lobster tails and that is when they had losbster tails on the menu last cruise!

 

[two-foxes]

I would never skip a formal night!!! I, too, am not a "dress up" kinda person, never much of an opportunity to get dressed up here. But that is probably why I love it so much on vacation! Formal night on the ship does not mean all the women are in ball gowns and all the guys are in tuxes...you will see some women in ball gowns or slacks or nice dresses, and some guys in nice shirts, ties and slacks or tuxes...I wore two simple, yet nice black dresses for either night and DH has a basic black suit with a black tie that he wore both nights.

Oh, and ironing is not an excuse, IMHO. If you have an extra 5 bucks or so, you can send your stuff out to be ironed. Or you can use my handy dandy Downey wrinkle releaser......that is my idea of ironing!

 

[wdwoldtimer]

So what you're saying (and I'm glad to hear this) is that you can be semi-formal on formal night and still feel comfortable and not out of place. I'll enjoy wearing a suit and tie. But I don't own and am not going to go through the trouble to rent a tuxedo.

 

[two-foxes]

So what you're saying (and I'm glad to hear this) is that you can be semi-formal on formal night and still feel comfortable and not out of place. I'll enjoy wearing a suit and tie. But I don't own and am not going to go through the trouble to rent a tuxedo.

I posted this on another thread....this is what I wore on semi formal night, and DH wore the same exact thing on for both semi and formal nights. You will not be out of place in a suit and tie!!!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=716992

(helps if I actually post the link, huh?)

 

[wdwoldtimer]

Whew! There's a load-off.

Now if I can just come to grips with this pirate thing...

 

[Tarquin]

We just got off of the 1/8 eastern - I was surprised to see that there were 2 semi-formal nites, not 1 semi formal and 1 formal as I had expected-
plus Palo has a new sign up saying that they "suggest" a jacket (i.e. it is not mandatory)-
as someone else wrote, even the semi-formal nites showed a variety different levels of "dressy"- I had bought a long dress at Filene's on clearance, and felt kinda too dressed up- next time we will definitely go more towards the "casual" side on semi-formal nites as well as at Palo's-

CathyM

 

[Tarquin]

Just a retraction- I see that according to the Navigators, 1/9-Sunday, it was considered a "formal" nite - I guess it shows how wide of a variety of levels of dressy there were , because I don't even remember it as being formal!

 

[njdrumrun]

Let's just say there are a lot of Taco Bell/McDonalds/Burger King/Wendy's/KFC/Jack In The Box/Carl's Junior/A&W runs in our house.
.

you forgot pizza delivery...sounds like my house TV...my daughter learned in school that a happy meal...was not a food group. who has time to cook after working 9 hours and a 45 min. commute????

 

[njdrumrun]

we are taking stuff to dress up(suit/tie/dresses) in case we decide we to go but i am not counting on it.

 

[buster478]

We didn't skip formal night or semi formal night. We just didn't dress up. I don't think we upset anyone. I still had dress pants on and a nice shirt. So did my DW, DD and DS. It is your cruise and you do what you want. However, I don't suggest to dress down at any of the dinners. There are just some nights we didn't want to sit down for a 1 1/2 hour dinner. Pizza or burgers sound good once in awhile. Room service is fun. Do that formal night. If you order the pizza, it is small. It is eoungh for one person.

 

[mmouse37]

On 13 DCL cruises we never missed a dinner in the dining room exept for one or 2 times at Palo....we love going to the dining rooms and love the Semi and formal nights.

We have never had to iron and my hubby and son both wear dark suits and just change the shirt and tie for the special nights and our DD's wear their prom/homecoming gowns and get some use out of those. I wear a long black dress and just change the jacket for the special nights or I wear a black pant suit on semi-formal...it really is not a big deal to get dressed...it is not like you have to pack the sequined ball gown and look like scarlet o'hara!! It is a classy night and a lot of fun...all the Cruise Staff are dressed in tuxes and they look very dashing....one of the those nights they are even free drinks in the Atrium....seeing everyone dressed nicely milling around and sipping drinks and mingling is fun and my idea of cruising!!!

Here are some links to our formal/semi formal nights.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/48196942/48728383IIyrEs

http://community.webshots.com/photo/48196942/48728853GWewMZ


MJ