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Formal nights in Europe - leave the tux at home


TandPfromDE
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We were on the K'Dam July 1-8 for a cruise to the fjords of Norway. The cruise fell in the middle of a 14 day trip to Europe, and the only time we needed nice clothes was for the two formal nights on the cruise. I very reluctantly packed a coat and neckties, being mindful of the airline luggage weight limits and the small space in the trunk of our rental car in Europe. I should not have bothered. We saw ZERO tuxes on board, and very few suits. My guess is that only about half the male guests in the MDR were wearing sport coats, and only about half of them had neckties. This was even more casual that our last cruise (Panama Canal on Princess).

 

I recognize that some people want to dress up on cruises, but it appears that the vast majority of cruisers are opting for more casual dress. There is no point in dragging along formal clothes for fear of being conspicuous. Wear whatever is presentable and travels well.

 

I do support having at least some standards for the MDR. I saw a few T-shirts in the MDR, but mercifully no shorts or baseball hats.

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Interesting report.

 

Generally on my European cruises, I find people dress nicely. No need for a suit or tux of course, but they are certainly seen - especially suits, jackets and/or ties.

 

Just goes to show that experiences vary on different cruises. I'm not sure if the shorter length of yours had anything to do with it or not?

 

We got off in June so our experience (which was consistent with other European cruises) was a recent one.

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We don't have many opportunities to "dress up" in our daily lives, so we really look forward to it on cruises. We are going on our 4th trans-Atlantic in October and DH will happily bring along his tux and I will bring my sparklies for the gala evenings. I pack the tux in a large zip-lock that goes into his carry-on along with his shoes, which leaves our checked luggage a bit lighter. To each their own.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

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Cruise Junky was correct - the evenings were described as Gala. I mistakenly took that to mean Formal. Now that I have correct name for the evening, I find there were previous posts on this subject. I don't think HAL gave us any advice on the matter in the pre-cruise correspondence.

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We don't have many opportunities to "dress up" in our daily lives, so we really look forward to it on cruises. We are going on our 4th trans-Atlantic in October and DH will happily bring along his tux and I will bring my sparklies for the gala evenings. I pack the tux in a large zip-lock that goes into his carry-on along with his shoes, which leaves our checked luggage a bit lighter. To each their own.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

Exactly. We always take fancy dress. It's fun!:D

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We will be on a Mediterranean and TA cruise in October and will be bringing both tux and long dresses. Tux takes no more room than a suit and both of us enjoy dressing for dinner. Just one of those things that makes the cruise special and different from being at home.

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Just goes to show that experiences vary on different cruises. I'm not sure if the shorter length of yours had anything to do with it or not?

That, and the ship OP was on. Certainly the Prinsendam, which is what you sailed and which has longer cruises, tends to have passengers who dress up more.

On my Prinsendam cruise a year ago, sailing in the OP's area, many if not most of the men were in tuxedos on Gala night. I expect the same on my upcoming cruise.

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We don't have many opportunities to "dress up" in our daily lives, so we really look forward to it on cruises. We are going on our 4th trans-Atlantic in October and DH will happily bring along his tux and I will bring my sparklies for the gala evenings. I pack the tux in a large zip-lock that goes into his carry-on along with his shoes, which leaves our checked luggage a bit lighter. To each their own.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

A Tux and shoes would not fit in our carry on. We only have 7kg carry on limit and once you put Ereader and iPad, medications, Documentation, Change of clothes, not much room for anything else.

I am sure baggage limit is one of the reasons dress requirements have lessened over recent years.

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That, and the ship OP was on. Certainly the Prinsendam, which is what you sailed and which has longer cruises, tends to have passengers who dress up more.

On my Prinsendam cruise a year ago, sailing in the OP's area, many if not most of the men were in tuxedos on Gala night. I expect the same on my upcoming cruise.

 

This implies complete compliance or else bring the wrath of the Fashion Police upon you. No one is forced to wear a tux.:confused:

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I always find these discussions interesting. The most dressed up group I have ever seen on a cruise ship were a lovely family with 2 teen girls dressed to the hilt in lovely full length prom type gowns on a Carnival 7 days cruise out of LA. They were a picture. The most dressed down was the same cruise, same gala night, a man in painters jeans, complete with paint, and a trucker ball cap. A good time was had by all it seemed and somehow the convergence of such disparate fashions did not rip a hole in the space time continuum and we made it safely back to port.

 

To be honest, should I see someone in the MDR in a rainbow tutu and horsehead mask, I won't blink... though I might stare a bit as the mask might make eating surf and turf a bit difficult.

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We were on the K'Dam July 1-8 for a cruise to the fjords of Norway. The cruise fell in the middle of a 14 day trip to Europe, and the only time we needed nice clothes was for the two formal nights on the cruise. I very reluctantly packed a coat and neckties, being mindful of the airline luggage weight limits and the small space in the trunk of our rental car in Europe. I should not have bothered. We saw ZERO tuxes on board, and very few suits. My guess is that only about half the male guests in the MDR were wearing sport coats, and only about half of them had neckties. This was even more casual that our last cruise (Panama Canal on Princess).

 

I recognize that some people want to dress up on cruises, but it appears that the vast majority of cruisers are opting for more casual dress. There is no point in dragging along formal clothes for fear of being conspicuous. Wear whatever is presentable and travels well.

 

I do support having at least some standards for the MDR. I saw a few T-shirts in the MDR, but mercifully no shorts or baseball hats.

 

You were fortunate not to see baseball hats worn in the Main Dining room...........we see them each cruise.(but we have not cruised in Europe).

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That, and the ship OP was on. Certainly the Prinsendam, which is what you sailed and which has longer cruises, tends to have passengers who dress up more.

On my Prinsendam cruise a year ago, sailing in the OP's area, many if not most of the men were in tuxedos on Gala night. I expect the same on my upcoming cruise.

This makes me even more glad that I’ll have one opportunity to sail on the Prinsendam!

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Ruth,

You may be disappointed. For men, collared shirts and slacks, for women, dresses, skirts and slacks.

We're all aware of the minimal acceptable level of dress. But what do you know that indicates that the Prinsendam, on a longer cruise, no longer rises to a higher level? I doubt it's changed that much since my last, and especially since kazu's last, cruise on that ship.

There has always been a large range of dress over the fleet, from one cruise to another, ship to another, and based on length of cruise.

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This implies complete compliance or else bring the wrath of the Fashion Police upon you. No one is forced to wear a tux.:confused:

 

Interesting that someone who could not tolerate the actually appropriate reference to New Coke is inclined to use the empty cliche: “Fashion Police” - which entity exists solely in the imaginations of people who do not like to dress for dinner.

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Interesting that someone who could not tolerate the actually appropriate reference to New Coke is inclined to use the empty cliche: “Fashion Police” - which entity exists solely in the imaginations of people who do not like to dress for dinner.

 

And you know that I don't like to dress up for dinner how? I do like to dress up.NEXT!!:rolleyes:

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And you know that I don't like to dress up for dinner how? I do like to dress up.NEXT!!:rolleyes:

 

I said nothing about how you dressed - rather I commented upon your use of a cliche catch-phrase which was truly meaningless —- after you made a big stink about a highly relevant catch-phrase used in valid comparisons.

 

If, in fact, you do dress for dinner, I hope you enjoy it - but the term “fashion police” still refers to a fictitious group which has no existence - except in the imagination of people who do not like to dress.

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That, and the ship OP was on. Certainly the Prinsendam, which is what you sailed and which has longer cruises, tends to have passengers who dress up more.

On my Prinsendam cruise a year ago, sailing in the OP's area, many if not most of the men were in tuxedos on Gala night. I expect the same on my upcoming cruise.

This sounds very appealing.

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You were fortunate not to see baseball hats worn in the Main Dining room...........we see them each cruise.(but we have not cruised in Europe).

On our Celebrity TA our table mate wore a warm up suit gala night

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