How Many Actually Dress Formal At Dinner?

[disney-lover]

I am actually quite relieved to hear that people wear proper formal outfits. I only found out about this site a few weeks ago and we go our our Med Cruise in May so I have been buying lovely dresses for myself and DD. I have brought myself 3 long evening dresses and a couple of shorter smart/casual dresses. Since coming on here I started to get a bit worried that I might be over doing it a bit with my dresses because a lot of the talk is about how casual people are.
So thank you for putting my mind at ease

 

[brucechase]

Comments like this are completely out of line.

 

[LMCmom25kids]

Generally on the shorter cruises even a smaller % of guests get all dolled up.
That said - 'don't worry, be happy'....if you want to get some formal wear & have photos...'just do it'! It's your vacation do what you like! Don't worry about what anyone else is or isn't doing or feeling out of place...make it you're own place!

HTH

I couldn't agree more! It's your vacation..... if one wants to get dressed up.... go with it! You know what they say anyway.... "It's always better to be over dressed than under dressed!" Have fun everyone!

 

[ayumac]

On MR 2008, I saw a lot of people dressed up and many in tux and formal dresses. On recent Eastern, I did not see any men in tux, except for my DH. DH said he saw some Ladies in nice dinner dress, but not very many in formals.

I wore a formal long dress, but this time, I did away with purse to go with it since I always had to have 2 thick autograph books with me with pens for each. They do not fit in my tiny formal purse.

We went to Palo on formal night, and did not see any tux or formal dress.

Our server even said, the night before, "if we did not feel like wearing formal, that is fine." We took that as "not very many people do formal nights."

We will keep doing formal since the picture we take become Christmas cards and also, we do not have many chances to do formal in our daily life.

 

[LMCmom25kids]

No reason to put others down just bc they may opt to wear "nice shorts and a "sequin tank." I'm sure that it WOULD BE "perfectly fine". Please be nice. I think we all need to just agree to disagree on this topic. SOme may dress up a bit while others will wear "nice" shorts and cute strapy sandals with a beaded or sequin top. Nothing wrong with that in my book. Oh, they sell these items at many other places other than Walmart.

 

[LETSGOFAM]

In our last 2 7-night cruises, my daughters and I dressed up with cocktail & floor length dresses and my son and husband wore suits for the semi and formal nights. On the other nights, we wore summer dresses and the boys wore khaki pants with short sleeve dress shirts. On our first cruise we looked around, there was variation on this but not generally by much. I never noticed anyone dressed inappropriately. Everyone, including us always seem to be preoccupied with the dinner presentations, picture taking and our families. This time we will be going on a 5-night, so I will be taking a cocktail dress, a sports coat and slacks for son and husband and similar "dressy" dresses for our daughters for the semi/formal night - I'm assuming they will have. The rest of the nights, again, summer dresses/skirts for us girls, and khaki pants with short sleeve tops for my guys. I have tried to coordinate the dresses so to limit the amount of shoes. Especially now, yay frontier, we pay for luggage. And I sooo like shoes

I also remembered that I noticed some people who didn't dress up, were doing something else for dinner, maybe room service or buffet?

 

[RLP817]

We are going on the Mar 20th Western Cruise on the Magic. My husband wants to know if he needs to bring a suit, tux, and/or sports jacket. We have a 7 night trip, a formal, semi-formal and dinner at Palo planned.


If you have been on a DCL before:
1. Is it ok to go to dinner in a casual button down shirt Tommy Bahama style and casual pants on a regular or semi-formal night? I have seen several different answers out on the boards and it just raises more questions.

2. What do you think the percentage of men who dress in a suit or tux on these more formal evenings is?

Please let me know, thanks!

Hi DarleneAnne... we are on the same cruise.. from NE Pennsylvania! I have to tell you .. my husband wears a suit/tie to work every day so he hates having to do so on vacation. We were on the Wonder and for 'dress up' night he wore a sport coat. I would imagine if may do the same on the Magic.

 

[sbell111]

I prefer to not wear a suit on vacation and I really don't enjoy paying for my suit/tux to fly anywhere, so I wear a blue blazer over a golf shirt or a 'tommy bahama-like' casual shirt.

(It's only fair to note that I actually bought a suit from Wal-Mart once. I had to go to a funeral and at the last minute I discovered that I no longer fit my black suit. (Curse you fried foods!) A quick trip to Wal-Mart and I was presentable at the funeral. It's cut wasn't awesome and the material was cheap, of course, but it served it's purpose.)

 

[Sleepyluke]

I get to wear a suit a good bit at work too, and don't just love it on vacation, but we have been on 2 7 nights on the magic and it semmed like there were more dressed up than not. Now there were probably only a couple dozen tuxes, but most had on a jacket of some kind, and several military dress. Now we have always been second seating as well, so i don't know if that matters. I may get the big flame of death here, ( i will even flame myself if that helps) but I don't understand why so many people try to do the bare minimum for things. DCL sets it as a formal night, puts the requests in writing, and trys to keep it as a "higher" class evening and ship for that matter. I fully understand that not everybody has money to go buy a new outfit just for the one time they will wear something on the cruise and that is not at all where I am going with this. But just because they will still let you come into the dining room and eat, serve you as well as everyone else, does not mean that I think you should show up in flip flops and t shirt, even high dollar nice ones that cost more than some dress clothes. That being said, I take a suit and a couple of shirt tie combos. Last time i did not wear the tie for semi formal night, but did wear the jacket. And i am another that really likes the formal atmosphere of everyone being dressed up for the evening, kids, parents and all together. It just helps give some of that feeling that makes up exactly why we cruise on disney and not some of the other with no formal anything.

 

[DarleneAnne]

Hi Renee,
Maybe we'll catch up onboard. Have you visited the Cruise Meet thread for our cruise? We are planning to meet up on embarkation day. If you haven't definitely check it out.

I think my husband would be fine in a tux or suit but didn't want to take them if he was in the minority. He plans to bring a sports jacket, tie dress shirts and pants from what I can gather from him. It is so simple for me, I went for a gown and then I have some other dresses for other nights. Plus we will be dressing pirate clothing for that night.

Are you flying down to FL the night before the cruise from PA? We are, not taking any chances!

Darlene

 

[DarleneAnne]

Thanks so much for all of the input. I feel like we have gotten a good feel for what to do. I am looking forward to dressing up since it's something I enjoy and don't do too often except for a special occasion.

 

[RLP817]

Hi DarleneAnne..

We are actually flying down Saturday morning. We are traveling as part of a group from my husbands company and they make all the arrangements. We are driving down to Phila. (about 2 hours from home) on Friday night and then have an early a.m. flight on Saturday. I have been following the cruise meet. Not sure if I will get to that as we also have some 'company' events going on. Just about 2 weeks and getting super excited!!!!

 

[DarleneAnne]

Have a good flight! We are staying in the Port Canaveral area on Friday night. Sounds like you will have your time filled with some activities with the group, but if you get a chance stop in.
I am very excited too, I can't wait to be warm!

 

[sbell111]

I get to wear a suit a good bit at work too, and don't just love it on vacation, but we have been on 2 7 nights on the magic and it semmed like there were more dressed up than not. Now there were probably only a couple dozen tuxes, but most had on a jacket of some kind, and several military dress. Now we have always been second seating as well, so i don't know if that matters. I may get the big flame of death here, ( i will even flame myself if that helps) but I don't understand why so many people try to do the bare minimum for things. DCL sets it as a formal night, puts the requests in writing, and trys to keep it as a "higher" class evening and ship for that matter. I fully understand that not everybody has money to go buy a new outfit just for the one time they will wear something on the cruise and that is not at all where I am going with this. But just because they will still let you come into the dining room and eat, serve you as well as everyone else, does not mean that I think you should show up in flip flops and t shirt, even high dollar nice ones that cost more than some dress clothes. That being said, I take a suit and a couple of shirt tie combos. Last time i did not wear the tie for semi formal night, but did wear the jacket. And i am another that really likes the formal atmosphere of everyone being dressed up for the evening, kids, parents and all together. It just helps give some of that feeling that makes up exactly why we cruise on disney and not some of the other with no formal anything.

I'll answer your question.

• I wear a suit six days a week and don't much care for it. On my vacation, I'll not wear one.
• DCL does not require me to wear a suit, so I'll not wear one.
• Baggage fees are becoming a not insignificant cost of travel. Minimizing the amount of clothes that are packed for a trip is prudent. The first thing to be cut is the suit that I would only wear to one or two meals.
• Shlepping the suit halfway around the world and then dealing with making it look presentable and sending back out to be cleaned just so I can wear it to a meal or two seems like a great waste of time, effort, and money.
• The fact that others prefer to get all dressed up doesn't require me to do so.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

I get to wear a suit a good bit at work too, and don't just love it on vacation, but we have been on 2 7 nights on the magic and it semmed like there were more dressed up than not. Now there were probably only a couple dozen tuxes, but most had on a jacket of some kind, and several military dress. Now we have always been second seating as well, so i don't know if that matters. I may get the big flame of death here, ( i will even flame myself if that helps) but I don't understand why so many people try to do the bare minimum for things. DCL sets it as a formal night, puts the requests in writing, and trys to keep it as a "higher" class evening and ship for that matter. I fully understand that not everybody has money to go buy a new outfit just for the one time they will wear something on the cruise and that is not at all where I am going with this. But just because they will still let you come into the dining room and eat, serve you as well as everyone else, does not mean that I think you should show up in flip flops and t shirt, even high dollar nice ones that cost more than some dress clothes. That being said, I take a suit and a couple of shirt tie combos. Last time i did not wear the tie for semi formal night, but did wear the jacket. And i am another that really likes the formal atmosphere of everyone being dressed up for the evening, kids, parents and all together. It just helps give some of that feeling that makes up exactly why we cruise on disney and not some of the other with no formal anything.

Which cruiselines would that be? I haven't cruised on NCL in about 30 years and I hear they're pretty casual these days. I have in the past 10 cruised on Celebrity, Carnival, RCL, and Princess. The trip I took on the DCL Magic was the most relaxed atmosphere in the dining room out of any of those other lines. I have never seen so many people not even wear a shirt with a collar on a semi-formal night or people just wearing polos on a formal night. And jeans and shirts of any kind were the norm and not the exception for the other 5 nights. I felt overdressed because of my experiences on other cruise lines.

 

[dwtraveler]

Count us among the "Dressy" set. Hubby has a tux and you'd better believe he wears it! I wear a formal gown as well. We travel with friends alot and they also dress up. Where else can you get so many formal pictures taken, they are part of my picture gallery for sure. DH may wear a suit to work, but I don't get to be with him when he looks so nice. I don't think it is asking to much of him to make an effort to look nice for me for a few hours when we are vacationing together.

Most people at least dress very nice for formal dinner. Last cruise I was on in July, one table of people didn't dress up at all. I was surprised by the number of coments I heard from fellow dinners about the lack of respect these people were showing to the other passengers by not following the dress code. I say, at least make an effort or eat someplace casual, not the dinning room. This is one of the unique experiences of your vacation, have fun with it!

 

[brucechase]

My only question to this is - if Disney doesn't care, then why should anyone else?

As to people making comments about not dressing up showing lack of respect for others, that is laughable. Maybe they should think that making comments about other people is the ultimate in lack of respect and class.

 

[peteysmom]

We do not dress formal. My husband wears nice pants and a sweater or a nice top and I wear a nice pant outfit. We were considered actually middle of the road as there were a lot more people dressed not as nice and some dressed much nicer. We had told our waiter that we would not be there for the formal night and would be eating at the buffet since we did not have nice clothes. We were told that was crazy and to come as we wanted so we did. It was fine as many were dressed like us.
We went with the plan not to attend the formal night.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Thanks so much for all of the input. I feel like we have gotten a good feel for what to do. I am looking forward to dressing up since it's something I enjoy and don't do too often except for a special occasion.

Enjoy your cruise and dressing up for dinner! We've always enjoyed the formal and semi-formal nights on the Magic.

 

[Angelhalo]

We dress up because it is fun to get dressed up and have a fancy meal. I love seeing my husband dressed up. I also like to see everyone else dressed up as well. It adds to the feeling of the old fancy steamliners with their elegant cruisers enjoying an evening of splendor. It's kind of a bummer when you're all dressed up enjoying your formal evening and the guy at the table next to you is wearing jeans. I don't think that he is a bad person, or look down on him. It just kind of spoils the ambience. I just enjoy the gradeur of the evening and seeing how everyone took the effort to look so nice and add enjoyment for everyone. Not the end of the world if everyone doesn't dress up, it's just so much fun when the majority of the people around you look so elegant

Just my personal opinion.