Does Royal Caribbean pay attention to dress code?

[Tranquil Waters]

I will be wearing shorts each night on my next 2 cruises as they are fairly short (less than 7 days) and I have no intention of lugging my tux with me for 1 formal night.

I am on holiday and paid the same as the next person.

The MDR is the only option for a waiter service, so will eat in there.

BTW - my shorts are tailored ones, as opposed to sports shorts, and are the usual attire of many people at work, especially in warmer climates - so if they are fine for work, they are fine for the MDR of a mass-market cruiseline.

 

Sorry if this offends some people, but I have a right to relax and enjoy my cruise as I wish - after all my shorts are probably longer than most skirts on women - okay my legs are probably not as attractive!

 

Ahhhh, welcome to the new RCI. ;)

 

Does this mean you will feel the same when your table mates who work on a pig farm come to dinner in their torn cut off jean shorts and dirty, torn t-shirt with the sleeves cut off? After all, they are on holiday too and paid the same for their cruise. Oh, and they are wearing their usual attire for work. So if they are fine for work, they are fine for the MDR......... :D

 

My point, of course, is that any time you start saying that suggested dress should not apply then you have to accept that ANY dress is OK. :) You can't change the rules for yourself and then turn around and try to set up standards that bars some other style of dress. :eek: Well, I guess you can but I find that a bit hypocritical.

 

Which is why I personally wish RCI would have a dress code that they ENFORCED. I don't care what that code ends up being - even if it is more casual than the current suggested dress (based on the fact that many venues are more casual than they once were). But once the code was set, I would like to be assured that RCI would enforce that code for the MDR and specialty venues. At that point I could decide whether it was the style cruise I preferred or not. And I would know I was getting the product I paid for......

[trurocruiser]

I have no problem with it. I like dressing up on the formal nights, but feel free to be comfortable. After all, it is your vacation that you paid for. These other people that love to point out that there are other venues in which to dine should heed their own advice. If it really bothers them that much, you'd think they wouldn't mind paying the extra $$$ to eat at a specialty restaurant.

 

Well said. ;)

[lakelorain]

On our last 2 cruises on the Explorer, men were turned away for wearing shorts and/or sleeveless shirts in the MDR. Shorts were permitted in the MDR on "Caribbean Night". Capri length pants(on men and women) were acceptable. I notice some men wearing colored t-shirts to dinner on casual nights.

The paperwork for our cruise in April indicates less formal dress then on previous cruises. I posted it in message # 25. Here it is again.

 

"Casual: sundresses or slacks and blouses for women; polo

shirts and trousers for men.

Smart Casual: dresses or pantsuits for women; jackets for

men.

Formal: cocktail dresses for women; suits and ties or

tuxedos for men."

 

Note "polo shirts" are now acceptable for casual and no ties for smart casual.

[BeachChik]

i'm really excited at any chance to dress up. i have my outfits all planned out for each night. dh and i don't get many chances to dress up and i really like the feel of a fancy dinner. while it's not a super fancy, like zagat rated restaurant, there are extra forks and a bread waiter and they put your napkin on your lap (if you're a lady that is:D). i think that every one should be dressed appropriately - i'd like to see at the very least slacks/trousers and button downs or polo shirts. if i put all this time and thought into my cocktail dress, hair and makeup, and teeter down the steps on a rocking ship in 4.5" heels, then i think my tablemates should be dressed for dinner as well.

 

and of course, if you *don't* want to put that kind of time and effort into dressing (and walking in heels lol) there's always the windjammer or room service.

 

And until you can get the exact same food in the buffet as the MDR and be served by a waiter I wouldn't count on it.

[STANCPA44]

Saw the same on the Explorer in January, guy each night walk in dress as if he was a reject from skid row. Expected him to panhandle at the end of the meal.

[Ocean Boy]

i'm really excited at any chance to dress up. i have my outfits all planned out for each night. dh and i don't get many chances to dress up and i really like the feel of a fancy dinner. while it's not a super fancy, like zagat rated restaurant, there are extra forks and a bread waiter and they put your napkin on your lap (if you're a lady that is:D). i think that every one should be dressed appropriately - i'd like to see at the very least slacks/trousers and button downs or polo shirts. if i put all this time and thought into my cocktail dress, hair and makeup, and teeter down the steps on a rocking ship in 4.5" heels, then i think my table mates should be dressed for dinner as well.and of course, if you *don't* want to put that kind of time and effort into dressing (and walking in heels lol) there's always the windjammer or room service.

 

And when you start paying your tablemates' cruise fares I suspect that they will go out of their way to please you.

[marci22]

Saw the same on the Explorer in January, guy each night walk in dress as if he was a reject from skid row. Expected him to panhandle at the end of the meal.

 

That made me laugh.

[Wilda]

i'm really excited at any chance to dress up. i have my outfits all planned out for each night. dh and i don't get many chances to dress up and i really like the feel of a fancy dinner. while it's not a super fancy, like zagat rated restaurant, there are extra forks and a bread waiter and they put your napkin on your lap (if you're a lady that is:D). i think that every one should be dressed appropriately - i'd like to see at the very least slacks/trousers and button downs or polo shirts. if i put all this time and thought into my cocktail dress, hair and makeup, and teeter down the steps on a rocking ship in 4.5" heels, then i think my tablemates should be dressed for dinner as well.

 

and of course, if you *don't* want to put that kind of time and effort into dressing (and walking in heels lol) there's always the windjammer or room service.

 

I get it---my vacation is all about your expectations, correct?

 

All of these recommendations that anyone who does not follow the recommended guidelines be banished to the WJ is getting old. Personally, I think that RCI is not enforcing the dress code because the current clientele is moving away from the traditional cruise experience when it was expected that you dress for dinner and creating their own definition of a vacation (holy run on sentence Batman!!!)

[douflaginc]

I actually felt quite out of place when I had dinner in the MDR on the Oasis during formal nights. I wore a dress shirt with a tie, slacks, and dress shoes. It seemed like 90% of the people there were wearing suits and cocktail dresses.

[Cruising89143]

I think it varies by ship but most just simply don't care anymore.. I no longer do formal nights as I don't like to dress in formal. Been there and done that. With that said, we also stay away from the MDR on formal nights to allow those that choose to dress in formal to enjoy their evening in a formal setting.

 

Last August we cruised on the Freedom. We only ate in the MDR one night and on that night (casual) there were many with shorts on and wearing baseball caps. Add to that a nearby table of eight young twenty somethings drunk from a day in Cozumel and food that equated to a high school cafeteria meant that we only made it half way through the meal when we decided that we had enough.

 

We have decided that on RCI the dining room is a waste. We now book specialty dining just about every evening with maybe one evening of full room service thrown in. RCI is not going to tick someone off over the way that they are dressed. They want to fill large ships. That is their number one priority.

[Retired LEO]

Saw the same on the Explorer in January, guy each night walk in dress as if he was a reject from skid row. Expected him to panhandle at the end of the meal.

 

How do you think I pay for my cruises? Sheeesh :D

[backspring]

We are booked on Jewel Of The Seas in June this year and was rather looking forward to wearing my Dinner Suite on formal nights,now after reading accounts of people turning up in casual wear,its making me think that i will be overdressed.please somebody reassure me that this wont be the case.:o

[Aquahound]

We are booked on Jewel Of The Seas in June this year and was rather looking forward to wearing my Dinner Suite on formal nights,now after reading accounts of people turning up in casual wear,its making me think that i will be overdressed.please somebody reassure me that this wont be the case.:o

 

You won't be overdressed. The very vast majority will be dressed up on formal night.

[backspring]

You won't be overdressed. The very vast majority will be dressed up on formal night.

Thanks very much for your quick reply,i feel reassured,it can go in the case.

[didicruiser]

I'm on the Jewel in 3 weeks and I am Dressing Up!!

[didicruiser]

Double post

 

But I still love dressing up!!

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Just worthy of a mention; on our december cruise there was a sign (I posted it on another thread a few weeks back and can not find it right now) outside Portofino stating the dress code. I wouldnt recommend anyone wearing shorts, they request smart casual.

[CruiserChloe]

Mine certainly wouldn't. Maybe it's because of where I live. Here, nice shorts (not bathing suits or jean shorts) and a nice comfortable shirt, like a Tommy Bahama or something similar, is the norm for dinner wear. It's that way because of the tropical climate.

 

I want to live where you live!

[Tranquil Waters]

Just worthy of a mention; on our december cruise there was a sign (I posted it on another thread a few weeks back and can not find it right now) outside Portofino stating the dress code. I wouldnt recommend anyone wearing shorts, they request smart casual.

 

Oh, yeah, that'll do it....... :D I am betting there will continue to be shorts in the specialty venues - and more of them as time goes on.

 

And I am thinking those planning on wearing shorts will not pay much attention to your recommendations. ;)

[Alexis]

That would be fine for the casual nights. If you don't want to bring formal clothing, there are alternate places where you can eat the 2 formal nights. We usually go to one of the specialty restaurants on formal nights and I wear a sundress or jeans, nice top and heels and my husband wears slacks or nice jeans, button down shirt and loafers.

 

We don't bring formal clothes anymore and love it!:)

 

Same with us.

After 27 cruises we left the formal clothes home on the last ones and eat in the Windjammer on formal nights, MTD the other nights.

Our reasons: The airlines are charging too much now for luggage,

dragging all those extra clothes for 14 night cruises just got to be too much at our age.

One can still look nice without being formal.

We also love it. :D

PS: I have to add. We would never eat in the Dining room on formal nights if we were not dressed formal.

The Waiters always try to convince us and others, to come in anyway and we refuse.

We still respect the dress code. ;)

But, I do not care what others wear. To each his own.

[Ellen Dio]

I just finished packing and think I might have to go back and re-do. Last cruise we went on my husband wore his tux and I wore the outfit I wore or our wedding (very nice custom made outfit but NOT a wedding dress! LOL) for one formal night and I think we were in the minority in terms of how dressy we were so for the second formal night we toned it down a bit and felt more comfortable for a variety of reasons. So this cruise, although I couldn't talk my husband out of his tux for one night, my outfits are NOT as fancy - I'd consider them wedding guest wear for a day time wedding. Now I'm worried. I also hadn't even thought about the fact that my husbands linen shorts and Tommy Bahama shirt wouldn't fly in Portofino - pulling out another pair of linen slacks I guess...

[rubrrick]

We are booked on Jewel Of The Seas in June this year and was rather looking forward to wearing my Dinner Suite on formal nights,now after reading accounts of people turning up in casual wear,its making me think that i will be overdressed.please somebody reassure me that this wont be the case.:o

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic, and we welcome your comments. My DW and I, for many years have brought formal wear with us, and, when we have cocktails in the Concierge Lounge, and or, dinner in the MDR, we follow the suggested code of the evening...including formal nights.

 

In the Concierge Lounge......I would say that over 80% will be wearing.....tux's for the men, and evening gowns for the ladies.

 

Unfortanutely, some come in to the Concierge Lounge on formal nights, in jeans and t shirts, and they don't care. They have paid their fare, and feel entitled to wear what they desire.

 

Heck, the same thing happened in flying First Class, some years ago. I can remember when eveyone wore a tie in First Class, and that was the way that I was brought up. Today......I wear a Tommy and slacks, and am dressed better than 90% around me.

 

However, on long flights, I get out of that and in to pajamas, courtesy of the airline.........so if the airline is going to allow me to wear pajamas aboard their aircraft (they provide them) maybe it would be a good thing to allow pajamas in the MDR on formal nights........after all........it is night!!:D;)

 

Rick

[Retired LEO]

On the last TA on the Navigator there were 3 formal nights. We were going to skip the 2nd formal night and just do the 1st and 3rd. The night before the 2nd formal night the head waiter came to our table and invited us to the Captains table the next night for dinner. I was so glad I had a Tux and my wife had a couple of gowns. We ended up skipping the 3rd formal night instead.

[saporro2004]

there is no longer any dress code. About the only thing you cannot do is show up naked....I take that back...not sure they would even say a word to that person, after all, "It is their cruise"

 

I was on the Monarch last year on a 3 day. On formal night, a guy showed up wearing a really nice tie, long sleeve dress shirt, fancy loafers, underwear and belt. Notice how I did not mention pants of any kind. They made him go back to his cabin to put on pants. the word "enforce" can be descibed loosely.

[QTBabyNurse]

The most I've seen enforced on recent cruises is a ban in the MDR on hats. I actually do appreciate that.

 

 

When we were on the Liberty of the Seas this past fall, there was a gentleman sitting at the table next to us who wore a baseball cap to dinner every night. Some nights he even had on a sweat jacket to round out the ensemble! :eek: I remember on formal night though, he removed the hat! Quite frankly, however, it didn't make MY dinner any less enjoyable! :)

The majority of people in the MDR are presentable and I think people need to get over their own issues in regards to the ones who aren't dressed to their liking. It's becoming very expensive to fly with luggage full of formalwear not to mention how expensive it is to purchase all this extra clothing for some families. My feeling is that as long as people have on clean pants and a shirt (not tank top)...let them be. ;) You are on vacation.....no worries mon....:cool: (spoken in my best Jamaican accent!)