Smart Casual Night

Do most men wear a jacket on smart casual night or will just a nice shirt be OK? We have been on one RC cruise but I don't remember about this particular night.

RCCL prefers, and states in their daily Cruie Compass newsletter, that men wear jackets. Whether you do or not is up to you.

My DH wears his sportcoat with dark slacks, tie and shirt, on formal night, and wears it without a tie, but with a collared shirt, on smart casual nights.

There are lots of folks who will quote you the dress code, however in answer to your question - a nice shirt and slacks is perfectly fine.

Popcorn anyone? :p

But in answer to your question, my DH and teen sons always wear a nice collared shirt (DH is Tommy Bahama style etc..) and dress slacks. They look handsome! The only time they wear jackets is with their Tuxes and suits.

On our 9 night Grandeur cruise this past July, I was surprised that there was NO "smart casual" night as was originally expected from the documents I had read. There were the two "formal" nights, but all the rest were casual.

I'm sure that if you have a "smart casual" night, a collared shirt and slacks will suffice, as has been posted.

Doreen

Personally I consider a collared shirt and slacks what you should wear on casual night, but that's just me...

Though if that's what you want to wear I highly doubt you will run into any issues.

Personally I consider a collared shirt and slacks what you should wear on casual night, but that's just me...

 

Though if that's what you want to wear I highly doubt you will run into any issues.

We completely agree. But, like darla723, we have also been on several RCCL cruises when they did not have any smart casual nights. On those sailings, wev'e been on, that did observe smart casual only a small percentage of the guys wore jackets.

I still pack my tux for formal nights but have stopped taking a jacket. With the airlines charging more and more for luggage smart casual may become a thing of the past.

Most people (like me, I'll admit) don't differentiate between casual and smart casual. I saw a few jackets on my last smart casual night, but most people simply wore what they would on other non-formal nights. Quite frankly, I don't see the point of smart casual nights when a) a lot of people don't know what it is, and b) it is not enforced.

Thanks for all the replies. DH will be happy to hear that a jacket is not necessary. He will, of course, take his tux for the formal nights but did not want to have to take a sport coat as well. Nice shirt and slacks it is!!!

Most of the time it's the what the women are wearing that is dressier. My DH wears his jacket if I want to dress up. It's the same clothes he would have worn anyway: collared shirt and slacks; however, he adds the jacket if I'm dressing up more.

Another option for smart casual is wear a tie, no jacket, as the tie will take up much less space in the bag.

Most people (like me, I'll admit) don't differentiate between casual and smart casual. I saw a few jackets on my last smart casual night, but most people simply wore what they would on other non-formal nights. Quite frankly, I don't see the point of smart casual nights when a) a lot of people don't know what it is, and b) it is not enforced.

This has been my impression as well. Most people regard smart casual and casual as the same thing, and wear dockers and golf shirts, or capris/trousers and a nice top.

This has been my impression as well. Most people regard smart casual and casual as the same thing, and wear dockers and golf shirts, or capris/trousers and a nice top.

Well, I wouldn't say "most" people, but a goodly number do. I was on the Enchantment 9/15 - 9/20 and there were some women wearing floorlength jersey gowns on casual nights. Quite a few go dressier on non-formal nights, no matter what the suggested dress is for the evening. Pretty much wear what's decent and comfortable. I just like to dress up more on smart casual nights.

Dockers and a polo shirt are fine for smart casual

Just off the Voyager, most men did not wear a jacket on smart casual night.

dj

The times, they are a changin'........ First cruise over 10 years ago, smart casual was tie and sports jacket for men. Last couple of cruises there was no observable difference in casual and smart casual nights.

I prefer the adherence to dress code that was in place when DH and I started cruising. But I would not stretch the truth - when someone asks - just to perpetuate that history.

Rather, DH and I have decided to sail with Celebrity for the first time in January to see if it is more like the atmosphere we remember. I know people say Celebrity is also experiencing the same cultural changes as RCI. But since they were always more formal that RCI, I figure maybe now they are at least what RCI used to be......

On the Adventure last month, on the Smart Casual nights, in the Cruise Compass

it stated: "Sport shirts and trousers for gentlemen". Very few men wore a jacket, and basically, on both smart casual nights we had, attire in the dining room appeared to be the same as the casual nights.

We were on Freedom earlier this year and dined in Portofino where the suggested dress is smart casual every evening. The night we dined, other than the staff, I was the only man wearing a jacket.

I don't think it's truth stretching to state that jackets are suggested for smart casual. The RCCL web site gives that PLUS TIES as the definition, but I agree most do not dress up that much.

I think it's purely up to the individual, and all sorts of dressing up and down occur on all cruises. It doesn't necessarily mean times are changing, or jackets are unacceptable. It just means there is a broad interpretation of the definition of smart casual.

We leave next week for our next cruise, and I have a very dressy pantsuit that I want to wear on a smart casual night in the dining room. Like I said, DH will be nice and wear his jacket without a tie, because he likes to be nice to the love of his life!!:D

Most people (like me, I'll admit) don't differentiate between casual and smart casual. I saw a few jackets on my last smart casual night, but most people simply wore what they would on other non-formal nights. Quite frankly, I don't see the point of smart casual nights when a) a lot of people don't know what it is, and b) it is not enforced.

My husband is the same way. He wears a collared shirt and slacks every night but formal night when he wears a suit. Casual night or smart casual are the same to him...and we haven't seen any men at our table wearing a jacket on smart casual night either.

My DH usually wears dress slacks (like Claiborne or Geoffrey Beene type), a dress shirt and tie on smart casual nite. On casual nites he wears Docker type pants and print, not necessarily tropical, shirts, sometimes knit collared shirts.

Do most men wear a jacket on smart casual night or will just a nice shirt be OK? We have been on one RC cruise but I don't remember about this particular night.

A few men will wear jackets but the vast majority will not. Personally I wear khaki pants and a shirt with collar and sandals in the Caribbean. Wear whatever you find comfortable.

I have never seen jackets on casual nites..........dockers, jeans and polos is what I have seen;)

We completely agree. But, like darla723, we have also been on several RCCL cruises when they did not have any smart casual nights. On those sailings, wev'e been on, that did observe smart casual only a small percentage of the guys wore jackets.

 

I still pack my tux for formal nights but have stopped taking a jacket. With the airlines charging more and more for luggage smart casual may become a thing of the past.

On all of my past cruises, I have worn a tux and intend to do so on our next cruise. I'm gald that I can wear a collared shirt and slacks on smart casual night. In fact, except for the formal evenings, I have always worn a shirt in lieu of polo shirts. This way I don't have to being an extra jacket and wearing the tux jacket would not work for me.

Last few cruises I have been on, there were not smart casual nights at all. I think most Caribbean cruises are starting to do away with smart casual. We had 2 formal, and the rest all casual, with the exception of one night where they said to wear our best surf attire, and shorts were permitted in the dining room that night.