Alaska dining room attire

[bandit and babycakes]

Can you wear jeans in the dining room for dinner on Alaskan cruises? As you are touring all day if you get back late can you just go to the dining room with what you had on? We did this in Europe and we did cruise excursions that got back close to dinner time. IF not are cotton docker pants ok?

[1 HappyCruiser]

That's exactly what I did on the Alaskan cruises as long as my pants weren't covered in mud. Some people will probably want to change before dining but it's not necessary.

[fl.princess]

We did an Alaskan cruise and always changed before going to the dining room. I did see "a few" people that didn't change, but the dining dress code is supposed to be "smart casual". I guess they didn't turn them away for not being dressed. My husband just wore Docker type pants and polo or button down shirt (no tie). I wore black pants with a sweater. It only takes a few minutes to change and we felt better by abiding by the dress code.

[chipmaster]

We did and had no problems.

 

Can you wear jeans in the dining room for dinner on Alaskan cruises? As you are touring all day if you get back late can you just go to the dining room with what you had on? We did this in Europe and we did cruise excursions that got back close to dinner time. IF not are cotton docker pants ok?

[DocM4]

We had the early traditional dining and always had time after touring all day, to quickly change clothes, dockers were find - I did not really see many people in jeans - there are a few ofcourse - but actually, it felt good to clean up a bit after being on tour for hours.

[cruisehappi]

Jeans are allowed in the dining room, as long as they don't have holes, etc. I don't remember the exact wording on the dress code, but they are definetely allowed. I usually wear jeans on port days, and as long as they're not dirty, I wear them to dinner that night too.

[ONT-CA]

If the Maitre d' or whomever stands at the doorway to the dinning room cannot now discern who is or is not wearing jeans, how on earth do you expect him/her to assertain if the jeans have holes or not....

[EKELLEY]

Jeans are fine in the dining room. Here is what is listed under the frequently asked questions on the Princess web site

 

Smart Casual

Passenger attire should be in keeping with what they would wear to a nice restaurant at home.

• Skirts/dresses, slacks, and sweaters for ladies
  
• Pants and open-neck shirts for men
  

Inappropriate dinner wear such as pool or beach attire, shorts, ball caps and casual jeans (with fraying and/or holes) are not permitted in the dining rooms. Shoes must be worn.

[Luckyroot]

Just returned from the southbound Coral Princess sailing on 6/11/11 and we wore jeans to dinner every night except formal night, as did 90% of the passengers.

[Akheila]

we found on our Alaskan cruise that people were generally more casual in all of the venues. It may have to do with the baggage fees. with heavier sweaters to stay warm there's less room for the extra clothes that everyone would change into for the evenings.

but as always, it boils down to if the Maitre D' will let you in, if not there are other places to eat.

[Terre]

We just returned a couple of weeks ago and I took a really nice pair of jeans just for the dining room. They aren't faded and are actually what I call my "dress" jeans. I wore them most evenings to dinner with a nice sweater or top with no problem. There were people in the dining rooms dressed a lot more casual than I was and in jeans that didn't look as good.

 

I'm sure some came to dinner straight from and excursion. This cruise did seem to be very casual most nights.

[doublemm16]

Just returned from the southbound Coral Princess sailing on 6/11/11 and we wore jeans to dinner every night except formal night, as did 90% of the passengers.

 

We had early traditional dining on this same cruise and we not only saw jeans, but sweatshirts, etc. This was a much more casual experience than my other cruises. As a matter of fact, the waitstaff informed us that they go easy on formal night given the luggage restrictions of the airlines. They encouraged us to come to dinner even if we did not have "formal" wear, and not to be upset by what others were wearing. We wore nice clothing for formal night, and changed into dinner wear most other evenings. However, we did go in jeans a few times and never felt out of place. I enjoyed the dining room, and I did not feel that I ruined the experience for others....I had no interest in what others were doing....just us.

 

Mindi:D

[Hoyaheel]

We were in the 2nd traditional seating on the Pacific Princess in Alaska, and I don't recall seeing very many people wearing jeans at all. WAY below 50%. Of course, on that cruise I saw a lot of tuxedos, but someone else on the same cruise - at the EARLY dinner seating - didn't see nearly as many tuxedos. Go figure:p

 

That cruise was not any more formal or less formal than other cruise destinations, from what I saw (and how I dressed). And personally, I don't travel with jeans at all:D

 

Though none of this matters. Jeans are allowed, people wear jeans - there's the answer OP was looking for.

[tampafish]

Thank you for posting all your comments! I'm in the middle of packing for our cruise next week and now I know I don't need to worry if I can only fit in my formal night outfits and one pair of pants. If I end up in jeans one night then it sounds like I'll fit in just fine. Takes a weight off my mind trying to figure out how many different pants/shirts I need to take to eat in. Yeah - more room for warmer clothes....I'm so afriad I'm going to be cold!

 

Always good (and timely) info here at CC!

[Jenna109]

Wow!! We have never been on a cruise where jeans were allowed in the dining room. WE have just been on the Queen Victoria - everyone was expected to dress after 6 pm. This meant that gentlemen wore a jacket every evening - no tie on casual nights.

We are on a 22 night cruise later this year and my husband was thinking of taking his tux, one suit (for Sabatinis) and smart trousers for evenings. He would always wear a tie if he had a suit on. Are we going to 'stand out' for being too dressy?:eek:

[LARGIN]

Wow!! We have never been on a cruise where jeans were allowed in the dining room. WE have just been on the Queen Victoria - everyone was expected to dress after 6 pm. This meant that gentlemen wore a jacket every evening - no tie on casual nights.

We are on a 22 night cruise later this year and my husband was thinking of taking his tux, one suit (for Sabatinis) and smart trousers for evenings. He would always wear a tie if he had a suit on. Are we going to 'stand out' for being too dressy?:eek:

 

Probably not, however FYI, Sabatini's is smart casual on formal nights.

[1 HappyCruiser]

Wow!! We have never been on a cruise where jeans were allowed in the dining room. WE have just been on the Queen Victoria - everyone was expected to dress after 6 pm. This meant that gentlemen wore a jacket every evening - no tie on casual nights.

We are on a 22 night cruise later this year and my husband was thinking of taking his tux, one suit (for Sabatinis) and smart trousers for evenings. He would always wear a tie if he had a suit on. Are we going to 'stand out' for being too dressy?:eek:

 

You won't stand out but Princess isn't anyways a formal as what Cunard is. Most people do dress formally for dinner on formal nights but as soon as dinner is finished many change into comfortable clothing. You might see a few stay dressed for any of the shows but the others head back to the cabin for a quick change. Most people who go to Sabatini's dress casually even on formal evenings to avoid the formal attire clothing altoghter.

[Terre]

We were in the 2nd traditional seating on the Pacific Princess in Alaska, and I don't recall seeing very many people wearing jeans at all. WAY below 50%. Of course, on that cruise I saw a lot of tuxedos, but someone else on the same cruise - at the EARLY dinner seating - didn't see nearly as many tuxedos. Go figure:p

Could be because with 2nd seating people had time to get back from excursions and change before dinner. When we book traditional dining we always choose the 2nd seating so we don't have to rush back for dinner.

[jody]

We had the 5:45 dinner seating on the Island Princess recently (June 8-15). Our table was just inside the entry to the dining room and there were VERY few people who wore jeans to dinner from the people I saw walk past our table either on the way in or out of the dining room. I ran into quite a few Brits on the trip, and I think they tend to dress nicer for dinner, so that might have been an influence too.

 

Even with our excursions (and a 4 year old in tow), we always had time to change out of our jeans before dinner into something more appropriate for a multi-course nice dinner. I rue the day that the MDR looks like a Chili's with everyone in jeans, and I'm worried the 'it's my vacation I can do whatever I want' might be taking us there.

 

Formal nights were definitely less dressy that on the warmer cruises I have been on. I personally left my floor length ballgown type dresses home and brought shorter cocktail dresses instead.

 

I do know that a young adult in a ballcap was asked to remove his hat before he was allowed into the dining room. That was on a smart casual night.

[nwwinelady]

Cruisers appeared to adhere to the stated dress code on our past Alaska cruise. I do not remember ever seeing jeans in the dining room at night. We did "Anytime Dining". Formal nights, men were in blazers & nice pants, suits & ties, and even tuxes. Women dressed nice, a wide range of nice pants & tops to evening gowns.

Enjoy!

[sunsetbeachgal]

My experience with Alaska (we were on the Coral) dining is that folks dressed the most casual for dinner in the DR than I have ever experienced (or have ever experienced since) and that the Anytime Dining Room always seemed overwhelmed with people and lines....

[Jenna109]

Cruisers appeared to adhere to the stated dress code on our past Alaska cruise. I do not remember ever seeing jeans in the dining room at night. We did "Anytime Dining". Formal nights, men were in blazers & nice pants, suits & ties, and even tuxes. Women dressed nice, a wide range of nice pants & tops to evening gowns.

Enjoy!

 

Thank you - I hope the Diamond Princess will be the same - we are travelling from Vancouver to Beijing - 22 nights. Even though we have to fly from England with restricted luggage we do intend taking formal wear and nice evening wear for other nights. Jeans/sweaters for day wear will have to be restricted - but easily laundered. For us dressing for the evening is part of our cruise experience.