Packing formal clothes properly and safely?

How does everyone recommend packing a cocktail dress and a suit for formal night I don't want them to get wrinkles or messed up.. I've also hear the horrors of luggage falling in the water so I wonder if formals should be carried on ship by us ?

Does anyone have any advice ?

I've never heard of any bags falling into water. Rained on maybe? They are brought on in big luggage cages.

Suit carrier with a $$ budget for pressing.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-pack-a-suit-2013-10

For a cocktail dress, I would choose something that doesn't tend to wrinkle and just pack it normally like everything else. Black pants or a black skirt and sparkly top is sufficient.

Frankly, since you are going on Carnival, you should know that people don't dress up all that much on Carnival these days. There are typically 2 formal nights in a 7 night cruise. The first formal night some might dress up, but many won't. The second formal night, even fewer people will dress up. If you go to the specialty restaurants on formal nights you need not dress up at all.

Rarely luggage ends up in the water - as in almost never. I only know of one incident in the past 20 years.

Carrying your formal clothes onboard would just be a pain and annoyance. Usually when you board, you go to lunch and don't get into your cabin until after 1pm. So you would have to drag the clothes around for several hours before you could drop them off in your cabin. But again, I don't see any benefit to this. The formal clothes are the least important of what you will be bringing on the cruise.

There are many U-Tube vids and websites on packing clothes to prevent major creases and big wrinkles. You can google them. Remember , though, it's no longer "formal" night. It's now called "Elegant" night and gowns and tuxes are not de-rigor. You can pack your clothing in a separate garment bag. DW does this, but it goes with the checked luggage. There's not a limit for ship luggage, just airline luggage. Luggage dropping into the water is a rare event. Whether or not you can walk your garment bag through security is something some one else needs to opine on.

Wrinkles in good quality garments will often shake out on their own. As a back up to wrinkles, bring a small bottle of spray called "Downy Wrinkle Release" . When you get your luggage, take out the elegant clothes and spray with Wrinkle Release and hang outside of closet while you finish unpacking so release has an opportunity to work in the open air.

And in the end, don't panic over any wrinkles. Cruisers aren't going to point fingers or mock you for having a few wrinkles in your clothes. Most won't show up pictures, especially those in the back. And you'll more than likely find yourselves much better dressed than many of your cruisemates.

I've never heard of luggage falling in the water!! That would be horrible. We use a garment bag to pack our formal outfits. You could always carry that with you on board if you chose to!

garment bag works just fine for us. i usually dont pack what goes into the garment bag until the night before or morning of leaving, to prevent wrinkles. then its the first thing i unpack and hang up the moment we get on the ship (FTTF, luggage already in room before we get there) so its not sitting for hours longer.

and, as someone else suggested, the Downy Wrinkle Release spray for just incase

My husband just keeps his suit (and accessories) in the suit protector that he uses in our closet. He lays the suit out flat in the bottom of the suitcase. And hangs it up immediately on the ship. Works fine.

My formal dress has a skirt that already has wrinkles as part of the design, and I just fold it at the waist, and lay it out on the bottom of the suitcase, tucking in the extra around the edges.

I also have a cocktail dress that I bring on some cruises. While I didn't know it when I bought it, it turns out I can fold it down to zip-loc bag size, stuff it in the zip-loc, squeeze the air out and seal it. And it doesn't wrinkle.

I've never heard of luggage falling in the water!! That would be horrible. We use a garment bag to pack our formal outfits. You could always carry that with you on board if you chose to!

Sadly we saw this happen firsthand....

We were standing on our cove balcony on the Carnival Dream (Deck 2) watching them load luggage. They had one bin stacked so high that two suitcases fell off the top of the pile and went right into the water...:eek:

The dock workers seemed to find it amusing as they took hooks and fished them out and placed them on the ship. Water was pouring out of both suitcases so whatever was in there was ruined I am sure.

I am sure it doesn't happened often, but it does happen....

I've never heard of any bags falling into water. Rained on maybe? They are brought on in big luggage cages.

 

Suit carrier with a $$ budget for pressing.

Believe it or not I have seen this happen.

I remember seeing them lift them with a crane and the cage fell into the water.

Keith

How does everyone recommend packing a cocktail dress and a suit for formal night I don't want them to get wrinkles or messed up.. I've also hear the horrors of luggage falling in the water so I wonder if formals should be carried on ship by us ?

 

Does anyone have any advice ?

We use a suitcase with a suiter which allows us to hang each of these garments individually on hangers and we place a dry cleaner plastic bag over each item and it works perfectly.

Keith

How does everyone recommend packing a cocktail dress and a suit for formal night I don't want them to get wrinkles or messed up.. I've also hear the horrors of luggage falling in the water so I wonder if formals should be carried on ship by us ?

 

Does anyone have any advice ?

I didn't know people still dressed like this for elegant night.

Bill

A few years ago I bought a rolling garment bag. It holds my tux and a whole lot more without the pain of having to carry it.

Even stuffed, it has never came in at more than 40 pounds either.

A good way to go. Keeps everything unwrinkled.

I take a completely different approach. If I know that I am going to use my tuxedo on an upcoming cruise, I just don't send it to the cleaners after the last time I wear it.

Take it aboard nicely wrinkled. Give it to you cabin steward and have the ship clean and press. Roughly the same cost as if you had it done at home.

Now, you have a crisp, pressed suit ready to go. No worries about touch-up or wrinkles. Ditto if I want a blazer or suit. Why dry clean at home, then pack and hope it "survives"? Just have the clean/press done at the destination (ship) in the first place.

And for those that don't want "dirty clothes" with their clean stuff, a large plastic bag can segregate the two. And FWIW, have been using this technique for at least a dozen years.

Just a bit of thinking outside the box (or outside the suitcase).

Thanks for the advice will look into getting a garment bag

How does everyone recommend packing a cocktail dress and a suit for formal night I don't want them to get wrinkles or messed up.. I've also hear the horrors of luggage falling in the water so I wonder if formals should be carried on ship by us ?

 

Does anyone have any advice ?

one dress is a jersey knit with fancy embellishments( crystals etc) than can be crushed rolled twisted and otherwise mangled and still falls out easily. Macys or Dillards I forget where

the other outfit is wool and matches DH's kilt. it's on the stiff side so wrinkles are less of an issue over keeping the pleats crisp which is done by having it dry cleaned right before.

still a third option is a pair of machine wash safe palazzo pants and two different knit tops that are spangly. these can also be roled into regular luggage with no ill effect.

DH's Mess dress jacket( uniform) and kilt are stored in the garment bag which is checked. the only time we have had issues is when he spilled shrimp cocktail sauce on the tux shirt the first formal night.

I have used a rolling garment bag (has lots of room and large pockets so I used it for my suitcase for *all* my clothes, not just formal wear). For the items that were on hangers, I had a plastic bag over each one - you know, the plastic bags that your clothes are in when you get them back from the dry cleaner. I think I didn't have quite enough bags for everything so I put a couple casual dresses in between the nicer dresses that were in bags. Nothing wrinkled at all.

I didn't bring any formal wear on my last cruise. I think if I were to bring a cocktail dress again, I'd put it in a dry cleaner bag and then fold it up carefully and not worry about using a garment bag. Just hang it up as soon as you unpack in your cabin.

I no longer "fold" any of my clothes when I pack, I ROLL them, including my dress clothes! Rolling takes up MUCH less room, and everything arrives with very few wrinkes - and Downy Wrinkle Releaser will be on hand if I need it, but I rarely do.

I googled how to "roll" a mens suit and there are a couple different methods. watch the you tube vids. The one I used was the one where you turn half the jacket and one sleeve inside out and stuff that sleeve into the other sleeve. I also took dry cleaning bags and stuffed the sleeve to give it some volume. I carried an entire suit rolled in my CARRY ON bag to a wedding in florida and it came out looking great, people couldn't beleive it!

In my last 5 day trip to ATL, I literally fit ALL my clothes in a backpack, using the rolling method. I'm amazed how much of a difference rolling clothes makes. If you want to pack light, try rolling your clothes.

You're Welcome!

Jeff aka Recovery Dude

On a recent Med cruise a couple from the states had spent a few days in Rome first. One of their day trips included a little retail therapy to provide formal night attire. Great idea. May try it myself next time I have a city break pre cruise!

To some of these posts does no one dress up for formal night in formal wear I spent all this money on a powder blue party dress based off of cinderella's ball gown

And now I can't return it

To some of these posts does no one dress up for formal night in formal wear I spent all this money on a powder blue party dress based off of cinderella's ball gown[ATTACH]361153[/ATTACH]

Fear not - your dress is lovely and I'm sure that you will look beautiful in it! Many of us do continue to dress up and I take long gowns or dressy cocktail every cruise.

I bought a rolling garment bag - not a super size one but a thinner one and all that goes in it is DH tux, suite, etc. and my fancy dresses. Last cruise I took four long gowns - I hand carry that bag onto the ship so no worries about it being lost.

I take each item and keep them covered with a long plastic from the dry cleaners - this helps prevent wrinkling. I also take several 40 lb, magnetic wall hooks (cruise cabin walls are metal) and I hang my gowns from those as the closets are usually too short and because I over pack - too full. :D

I didn't know people still dressed like this for elegant night.

 

Bill

We do.

A few people will dress up. It's not like it used to be though where the majority of ladies were in ball gowns and men in tuxes. You almost never see a tux anymore on Carnival. If you really want a cruise that is true formal nights you might consider sailing on Cunard - they really do have true formal nights.

I like your blue dress! It's very pretty!

A few people will dress up. It's not like it used to be though where the majority of ladies were in ball gowns and men in tuxes. You almost never see a tux anymore on Carnival. If you really want a cruise that is true formal nights you might consider sailing on Cunard - they really do have true formal nights.

 

 

 

I like your blue dress! It's very pretty!

As someone with two tuxes that now hang in the closet more often then they did before retirement, let me offer readers of this thread a suggestion:

Find yourself a worthwhile local charity or two - the kind that have a big annual $xxx/plate formal dinner. You get to wear the tux, DW does the smart black dress or whatever, and no one has to pack all that formal stuff in a suitcase that will be weighed at the airport.

After having our luggage delayed and not being able to go to the main dining room on formal night, we began packing our formal wear in our carry-ons. I have learned how to pack DH's tux in a large zip-lock bag from youtube:

It works like a dream. I use the same method to pack my sparklies and we have not had to miss a formal (or Elegant) evening since.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)