What is dress code for semi-formal night?

[garyss7]

Was wondering what the dress code is for semi-formal night? Can the man wear tux's and
what kind of suit jacket if thats more appropriate. Cheers, gary

 

[jeleann]

Tuxs are for formal. Suits and slacks with sports coat is more semi-formal. But I guess you could wear what ever you wanted.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Don't worry about it too much. On our Magic cruise last March, on the formal night, some men wore a tuxedo, but more wore a dark business suit -- either of which are completely appropriate. From there, men's attire ranged from sportcoat-with-shirt-and-tie all the way to those who made no effort at all.

"Semi-formal" is one of those undefined cruise terms that means different things to different people. In the strictest sense, semi-formal is a different kind of tuxedo than formal -- but nobody goes by this definition. Some people really dress up, while others think semi-formal means casual. My advice? For men, just wear whatever you wore on the formal night. If you wore a dark suit with a white shirt and elegant tie on formal night, consider a blue shirt and sportier tie on semi-formal night. If you rented a tux, get your money's worth out of it.

Remember, you're requested to wear a jacket at Lumiere's and Palo, so you'll probably want to bring a sportcoat for that. I can't imagine bringing a tuxedo and a suit and a sportcoat, although undoubtedly some men do.

 

[TnRobin]

Hubby said that he had to pay to rent a tux. He was wearing it a 2nd time. Me - I wore a gown on formal night and a nice basic black dress on semiformal night.

 

[ducklite]

Formal= tuxes or dark conservative suit and tie.

Semi-formal= suit and tie.

My DH brought a suit, sport coat, dress slacks, three dress shirts, and rented a tux. He wore everything at one point in time or another.

Anne

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by ducklite
My DH brought a suit, sport coat, dress slacks, three dress shirts, and rented a tux. He wore everything at one point in time or another.

That's excellent. I'm sure he was very well dressed.

But people who are concerned about packing for their first DCL cruise should know that this is neither mandatory nor widespread.

If a man wants to bring a suit and rent a tuxedo, that's fine. The formal night will undoubtedly be a memorable experience, and the formal pictures will be great. But if a man would rather wear the same suit on the fomal and semi-formal night, that's fine too.

And is someone wants to interpret "semi-formal" as another opportunity to wear a tuxedo, that's fine. Or if someone wants to interpret "semi-formal" as a dress shirt and blazer with no tie, that's not a problem either.

I agree that ducklite's definitions are a good starting point, but there's room for a range of attire.

Unfortunately, some people make no effort... but that's another story.

 

[Denine]

DH will be wearing his tux 3 times: formal night, semi-formal night and Palos.

I will wear a gown on formal night and semi-formal night and a short, black velvet dress to palos.

It is so fun to get dressed up. You feel so special.

 

[GeorgiaVol]

On our two cruises thus far, we have seen a grand total of 1 tuxedo being worn. Suits and jackets seem to be the most common for formal and semi-formal nights, respectively.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by GeorgiaVol
On our two cruises thus far, we have seen a grand total of 1 tuxedo being worn. Suits and jackets seem to be the most common for formal and semi-formal nights, respectively.

I assume you cruised on 3 or 4 night cruises on the Wonder, which don't have formal nights. The 7 night itineraries on the Magic have a formal and a semi-formal night. There were plenty of men wearing tuxedos on those nights (but I wasn't one of them).

 

[GeorgiaVol]

No tuxes found in Palo's, either. But, hey, so what. Everybody looked nice and had a good time. Didn't see any jeans in the evening mentioned in other posts.

7 Day, Jan 2002
4 Day, April 2000
3 Day, Nov 2002 (eight more weeks!)

 

[kimtenn]

On our 9/7 cruise, there were probably about 25-30% tuxes and many ladies in gowns on formal night, which made the atmosphere seem so much more festive. DH and I have business casual dress at work, so we took the opportunity to wear our best to formal night. Then on semi-formal night, DH wore a sport coat and I wore a royal blue evening pantsuit, which fit in just fine. I saw no tuxes on semi-formal night, but many suits and sport coats for the guys. Ladies were in everything from formals to church dresses down to very casual pants.

 

[Werner Weiss]

Originally posted by GeorgiaVol
Nope, Did a 7 last January

No tuxes found in Palo's, either. But, hey, so what. Everybody looked nice and had a good time.

I suppose it's possible, but it seems unlikely that there were absolutely no tuxedos on formal night on a 7-night Dsieny Magic cruise -- unless you were only counting white tails or some other very distinct type of formalwear.

Most tuxedos that I saw were classic, black, suit-like tuxedos, typically worn with formal wing collar shirts and black bow ties. Perhaps they just looked like black suits to you.

I'm not surprised that you didn't see tuxedos in Palo. The suggested dinner attire in Palo is simply "jacket requested." There are people on this board who enjoy wearing a tux to Palo. That's fine, of course, but it's the exception and certainly not the rule. Palo is a stylish place where stylish clothes are very appropriate. But stylish doesn't have to mean formal. A sportcoat and dressy shirt, with or without a tie, is appropriate, as is a business suit.

 

[Werner Weiss]

Originally posted by Horace Horsecollar
There were plenty of men wearing tuxedos on those nights (but I wasn't one of them).

Yes, it appears that Horace Horsecollar wasn't wearing a tuxedo.