Elegant/Formal Night Kaput on Carnival

[LisaT12]

I think the more relaxed atmosphere takes away from the cruise experience. I wish all of the nights were truly formal. "Formal" may have a different definition for some people....but if you are nice and clean...with ironed clothes....and not wearing jeans, shorts, sweats, t-shirts, baseball hats, sneakers or flip flops....that is perfectly acceptable. It is the blatant disregard for the dress request that is in poor manners. Enjoy your cruise...but if you want to look like you just walked in from some hang out - go eat on the Lida deck and enjoy your dinner there.

[Shelbyjane56]

Just returned from our second and very last voyage on Carnival. Our first Carnival experience was over the Christmas holiday in 2008 and the passengers dressed reasonably well, probably due to the holiday season. Yesterday, we left the Triumph in New Orleans with the conclusion that the "Elegant Night" is really a joke on Carnival. Out of 3,500 passengers on board (1,100 of them children), only about five percent made any attempt to dress well in the dining room on "Elegant Night." Most were in jeans, shorts, T-shirts, and other very casual attire. I even saw some folks wearing flip-flops and one fello wearing gym sweats to the dining room. I did see about 20 men and boys wearing a tux. My son and I were two of this 20 or so. My wife and our two daughters were dressed appropriate for a formal dinner. This was really a let down to our family and is not what we expected. I know that many of you out there like this new super-casual dress standard, but it is not for us and we will be booking our future cruises on more upscale cruise lines where the passengers dress up more. I just cancelled a NCL booking this morning as we did not want to encounter the same lax dress code as we saw on Carnival. This is an FYI to all those new cruisers looking to book future trips. I will be booking Celebrity to replace the cancelled NCL booking.

 

 

Why worry what others are wearing , unless they are just total slobs?? We sail on Carnival and a few other lines too, but we dont go durning spring break, we did it one time a longggg time ago and have not cruised on any cruise during spring break it just wasnt to our liking, so we stick with May Sailings. Anyone sailing durning spring break should know there will be a lot of kids, of all ages!by the way, we do enjoy getting dressed up for us, and with the exception of complete slobs, what one wears doesnt bother us, there will always be people who think they are so much better than others...Kick back and enjoy yourself, we find celebrity to be on the "snotty side ourselves with mostly older people..and yes, we are older, 3 kids youngest in college, but we dont act old!

[ottasha]

I'm not sure if spring break had anything to do with people dressing down. I've been on Carnival and RCCL at both spring break and non break times and there's always people not "dressed up". I don't let it bug me because the way I figure, the people dressed down just make me and my family who are dressed up look a whole lot nicer.

[GreenZolie]

Even on land vacations, we get asked "OH, you gotta special occasion today"..THAT annoys us... we dont ask them "OH, you chillin out today"...

 

Funny!

 

It wont stop me chatting with someone in jeans etc.. perhaps they spend their lives in a business suit.

 

Exactly. Other folks may not be dressed as well as I am or as someone else is, but they may be infinitely more interesting to talk to!

 

Being Scottish of course he wears full highland dress..and always will on any formal/elegant night.. and my problem there, is I am wasting my time as HE gets all the attention...

 

Ah, but they notice you, too.

[Chris41]

Celebrity won't do it for you. Yes, you won't find jeans in the dining room, maybe, maybe, but you also are not going to find men in black tie. In fact, the higher up you go in cruise line scale, the fewer men in black tie you will see. On Seaborne, you will see men in silk or linen shirts and dress slacks, no ties, rather than overly dressed. At my yacht club, the only men one sees dressed formally are the servants.

 

 

You should find a better club

[LaJollaCruiser]

The only reason Carnival even has a "Cruise Elegant" night now is to sell more formal portraits. Carnival is even so brazen as to announce this during the day of the elegant evening telling passengers to be sure to dress up and have their formal portraits taken before dinner. Good for Carnival! I'm a stockholder. The dining rooms rules are hardly enforced because there is no benefit to Carnival to annoy those passengers who don't care about the rules.

 

In La Jolla and Santa Barbara these days one hardly sees a gentleman in a coat and tie anymore unless he is on the way to a meeting with a new client or a day in court. Times have changed and formal nights on board ship have now become costume parties for those who want to relive their high school proms.

[tarheelmjfan]

This is disappointing. Even Carnival fans seem to agree tuxes are too dressy. This will be our first Carnival cruise. I wasn't anticipating having to buy my son what is apparently CCL's idea of elegant. He already has a tux, w/a few shirts & accessories. (You buy it once, & it's paid for to wear on as many cruises as you desire.) Now, we'll have the added expense of buying suits/dress clothes. We actually like dressing up & the atmosphere in the restaurant definitely affects the experience. It's hard to appreciate a nice meal when people are dressed for Chili's. No, I don't make a habit of looking to see how people are dress. If the majority are dressed very casually, it's impossible not to notice though. We do think CCL will be more fun for our 19 yr. old than X is, so I guess I'll just go clothes shopping & spend money I wasn't planning to spend.

 

OP, in our experience, the majority of people dress formally on Celebrity ships. Most people were dressed appropriately on my cruise to Alaska with NCL, as well. Although, I'd never sail on another NCL ship w/o planning to eat my meals in the specialty restaurants. The food in the MDR is severely lacking.

[golfb4cruzing]

Captain, Icebergs ahead.

 

Tell the band to keep playing and bring me a brandy.:D

[asb2164]

I think I have said it before and I will repeat it.

Formal nights are so the women can show off the fancy dress that they probably paid way to much money for, Most guys could care less they only dress up to please the women.

I simply refuse to bring fancy clothes on my vacation it is Khakis and a nice shirt for me if that offends anyone tough.

[LaJollaCruiser]

You should find a better club

 

The point is that members of private clubs are usually not trying to impress their friends so they don't have to "dress up" for them, they can just enjoy each other. They all know how to dress appropriately.

[cdamion]

This is disappointing. Even Carnival fans seem to agree tuxes are too dressy. This will be our first Carnival cruise. I wasn't anticipating having to buy my son what is apparently CCL's idea of elegant. He already has a tux, w/a few shirts & accessories. (You buy it once, & it's paid for to wear on as many cruises as you desire.) Now, we'll have the added expense of buying suits/dress clothes. We actually like dressing up & the atmosphere in the restaurant definitely affects the experience. It's hard to appreciate a nice meal when people are dressed for Chili's. No, I don't make a habit of looking to see how people are dress. If the majority are dressed very casually, it's impossible not to notice though. We do think CCL will be more fun for our 19 yr. old than X is, so I guess I'll just go clothes shopping & spend money I wasn't planning to spend.

 

OP, in our experience, the majority of people dress formally on Celebrity ships. Most people were dressed appropriately on my cruise to Alaska with NCL, as well. Although, I'd never sail on another NCL ship w/o planning to eat my meals in the specialty restaurants. The food in the MDR is severely lacking.

 

Why buy new clothes? Unless you are on a 3 or 4 day cruise, there will be a few others with tuxes on. Why go buy a suit in order to dress down? If he already has the tux, by all means wear it. Also, you can dress down a tux by wearing a long tie and/or vest, or one of those shirts that don't require a tie (cant remember the name). Those are much cheaper options.

[golfb4cruzing]

Skipper and Gilligan were on the same boat, just had different hats:eek:

[Unknown Survivor]

The only reason Carnival even has a "Cruise Elegant" night now is to sell more formal portraits. Carnival is even so brazen as to announce this during the day of the elegant evening telling passengers to be sure to dress up and have their formal portraits taken before dinner. Good for Carnival! I'm a stockholder. The dining rooms rules are hardly enforced because there is no benefit to Carnival to annoy those passengers who don't care about the rules.

 

In La Jolla and Santa Barbara these days one hardly sees a gentleman in a coat and tie anymore unless he is on the way to a meeting with a new client or a day in court. Times have changed and formal nights on board ship have now become costume parties for those who want to relive their high school proms.

- So funny and too true.

 

“Sauer-kraut” makes a good point with the cost of bringing bags on the airlines (and weight matters) most of us try to streamline our luggage (including clothes). I make every effort to pack appropriate clothes for dressy night, but I gaurentee (sp?) that it is probably not as dressy as some might expect.

 

 

When I do get dressed up it is for me and not for other passengers...I could really care less what others think of me, as I assume they could care less what I think of them (and rightly so). Since there are so many levels of dress for the dining room (including dress up night) I never feel out of place.

 

 

It is not my place to judge other people on what they do or do not wear. There may be all sorts of reasons they choose to wear what they did...If the opportunity arises - I simply try to get to know the person (I have made a lot of really good friends this way).

 

Cindy

[GreenZolie]

Times have changed and formal nights on board ship have now become costume parties for those who want to relive their high school proms.

 

Look how cool you are to come up with a "clever" insult. That is one practice that will never change, as there will always be plenty of people on message boards who love to see their skillful slams in print.

 

Edited to add - I realize my comment to you makes me just as guilty of what I am criticizing you of, but really, your comment just incensed me enough to cause me to forget my usually better manners. My apologies.

[asb2164]

If you really want to get laughed at dressing up too much for dinner I suggest going to Aspen, Co. And some of the richest people in the world are there they go out to eat in jeans and a sweater.

As a matter of fact when I go there I have never been turned away from even the fanciest of restaurants wearing jeans.

[Haoie]

Ah, the world is very far from a classless society.

[cdamion]

...

 

In La Jolla and Santa Barbara these days one hardly sees a gentleman in a coat and tie anymore unless he is on the way to a meeting with a new client or a day in court. Times have changed and formal nights on board ship have now become costume parties for those who want to relive their high school proms.

 

A couple of notes (to this quote and LaJollaCruiser's other comments):

 

-California dress is very much more casual than the rest of the country.

 

-My experience in dealing with some very wealthy clients in California is that they tend to dress very casually and comfortably. They are just living and not trying to impress anybody. If they go to a formal affair, then they will wear a tux. If it is an important business meeting, then suits. Day-to-day though, or at their clubs, just comfortable casual clothes. Again, they are not trying to impress anybody.

 

-In the midwest, and on the east coast, things are a bit more formal. Those that do dress up all the time tend to be up and comers that are trying to establish themselves. They (me included) are taken more seriously when dressing up in business situations. I have to wear suits more often here in the midwest than when I am in California.

 

-I agree, formal nights sometimes does feel like prom night, but isn't that part of the experience that people are purchasing on a cruise?

 

-I will dress up for formal nights on a cruise, but really don't prefer to. I have to dress up for business meetings and court all of the time. To me having to wear the suit relates to work. On a cruise, I would prefer to be comfortable and relax. Whenever I am lucky enough to retire, I imagine I will burn every tie I own and ban them from my life - even if I am heading out on a cruise ship.

[Tbay-eh]

We do go dressy on elegant nights but that is our choice. But it does sadden me that your children will probably have your attitude toward people as you do - if what other people wear is a deal breaker then I would hate to know what other deal breakers you have. It has always been "what is on the inside - not the outside" that is important to us. Hope other cruise lines rise to your standards whatever they may be

[Vanessa L]

LMAO... a little extreme, don't ya think? :confused:

 

Not so much :p When we were on the Miracle in December as I noted before, the guy in line in front of us had on ragged, torn blue jeans, flip flops and a wife beater T-shirt. On formal night. He was in line to get into the dining room. Now, the hostess came out and told him he was going to have to have sleeves on to enter the dining room. Said NOTHING about his jeans or flip flops. I did not see him again so have no idea if he put on a sleeved T-shirt to go with the jeans and flip flops. If anything, it was just another amusement in the overall cruise experience. It truly does take all types. Really.

 

OP, I hope you find what you're looking for. I second the motion for Cunard. I think they'd be more up to your "standards".

[familycruzer]

If you can afford it, go for it. I agree about the attire taking a nose dive on formal/elegant night but how other people dress does not ruin my meal. To each his own.

[nikki8]

I also just returned from the Triumph. My observation was the majority of people were dressed in formal attire. There were also some more casually dressed. So sorry it ruined your cruise!

[cdamion]

Thinking further, in defense of OP, I realize that when I am traveling with my kids, dressing up on formal/elegant nights is more important to me because while I do have to dress for business functions all of the time, I really do not do much in the way of dressing up with the kids.

 

When we go on a cruise, the formal nights is one time where we do get to all dress up as a family, have some great food and entertainment, and the kids can practice their table manners in more elegant surroundings so that they have experience when they have important meetings when they are adults.

 

Really, where else can families do this? There are so few restaurants out there anymore that really have strict dress codes - and even when you find one, the cost ends up approaching the cost of a deposit on a cruise.

 

I still don't know how others' dress really affects how my family and I choose to dress on a cruise (absent a tank top with really sweaty hairy armpits or something).

[travelntreats]

If passengers do not wish to follow the suggested dress codes in the MDR, thats ok, just use the Lido Buffet where the dress is much more relaxed..... Pretty simple request in my eyes !

[Rottweiler Puppy]

Main line cruise lines are mass market cruise lines and that is who the target market it. The classless aristocrass who like to insult the majority are free to open their wallets and cruise with more snobbish and narrow minded cruise lines.

 

So obeying the rules is being snobby and classless. got it.

 

Silly me, all this time I thought those who broke the rules and didn't give a crap were the classless ones.

 

Expecting the rules to be enforced does not mean they are insulting them. Though personally, I think them to be classless as they feel the rules are not for them. Part of being a civilized human is respecting others. If the rules say how to dress, its entirely appropriate for a paying person to expect those rules to be enforced. I don't really care how folks dress. It wont make me barf up my meal or ruin my vacation, but there are folks who appreciate the atmosphere and to let folks say screw it and break the rules, it effects other peoples good time (as silly as that may be to some folks). Like I mentioned before, I see folks here whine about chair savers and stuff like buffet and tender line skippers. Why complain about that if you are willing to break the rules as well and affect another persons experience. You are just as guilty IMHO.

 

If the rules say how I have to dress on certain nights, I will dress that way. If I don't like it, I can eat elsewhere. Treat and respect others well. Is it so hard? apparently so.

[Scobandit]

You sound like a snob.... Why do you care how other people dress there not in the picture with you. have fun on the other ship