Princess Men's Formal Night Dress Poll

[Potstech]

That is your choice,of course.

Question is- do you dine in the MDR on formal nights or do you choose another dining area?

It seems that some cruisers object to those guests who do not follow the dress guidelines and insist on having dinner in the MDR on formal nights. This leads to the question - why have guidlines for diner dress anyway?

 

Why of course I eat in the MDR. Why wouldn't I? Princess allows a long sleeve shirt and tie and that is what I wear.

[Times Prince]

FINAL RESULTS – SUMMARIZED for 2014

The following is a summary of the results for Cruise Critic men who attend the Main Dining Room (MDR) on formal nights. Please interpret these as you would the “best cruise line” polling data on the main Cruise Critic pages, representing the opinions of CC members. The results may not be universally applicable to all Princess cruise itineraries, as some tend to be more formal than others, but should be used as a guideline for persons wondering what to pack for or rent for formal nights.

 

Top level conclusion: Although the percentage of CC men dressing formally remains high at 86%, there has been a 3.6% shift toward more casual wear since 2011.

 

Poll Data (total respondents = 516)

• Number of Cruise Critic men who attend the Main Dining Room on formal nights: 467 (Note: this affects the percentages compared with the bar chart data in the poll)
  

• % of Cruise Critic men who dress per the Princess guidelines = 70.9 %
  % of Cruise Critic men who dress in the spirit of the Princess guidelines = 15.2%
  (e.g. kilts, military dress, sport coat and tie)
  

• % of Cruise Critic men who do not dress per the Princess guidelines = 13.9%

• Bonus question: For those who choose not to dine in the MDR and responded to the poll approximately 1 in 3 (33%) still dress per the formal night guidelines.

CONCLUSIONS:

86.1 % of Cruise Critic men in the MDR dress formally or in the spirit of formal during Princess cruises. This compares with 89.7% per a poll in 2011. There is insufficient data (due to question #3) to infer any shift from tuxedo to suits.

 

13.3% of Cruise Critic men in the MDR wear sport coat and tie to the MDR, compared with 14.1% in 2011. 4.5% wear sport coat and no tie, compared with 4.0% in 2011.

 

There has been a shift in those reporting they do not wear a coat to the MDR from 4.7% to 9.4%, indicating more casually dressed men are attending formal nights. Of the 13.9% of the total who do not dress per the Princess guidelines, 7% have been queried about the dress code or turned away from the MDR by the Maitre’D at some point during their cruising history. This supports the assertions concerning lack of enforcement of the dress guidelines in the MDR.

 

Acknowledgements

Thank you, Cruise Critic, for allowing this type of objective information to be gathered and presented.

 

Thanks also to the 516 Cruise Critic members who made their preference known in this poll. You have made the results meaningful.

 

I doubt this is even very close to accurate, since most who don't care about dress codes are not going to answer polls regarding them, while those that DO care will always answer said polls. 'Intensity' is always a huge factor in issue polling in politics or any other social measurement.

 

Doug

Doug, After the previous poll I looked at all who were posting about formal dress (regardless of opinion) and found less than 40 CC members doing so, with less than 20 repeatedly posting their views. For that poll 672 Cruise Critic members participated, so as little as 3% of CC members were driving the discussion.

 

The nice thing about CC polls is they allow "one vote per member", and the 94% silent majority has a chance to be easily heard. I believe this feature, and the population represented adds validity, keeping in mind this is a poll of Cruise Critic members who have sailed on Princess, and not all Princess passengers.

[PrincessLuver]

The results are certainly not representative of the cruising population in general. You just have to take them for what they are.

 

We see the trend toward casual growing on all lines, including Princess. We used to participate but we no longer do. Formal evening lost their lustre for us some time ago. We usually combine cruises with land trips. We are light packers and have absolutely no desire to lug clothing along that we will only use for a few hours, few days, in an extended trip.

 

Having said that, we simply dine in an alternate venue. It is simply not a big issue for us to find an alternate venue. But of course, we certainly do not hide in our cabins on formal evenings. We are out and about....in casual wear.

 

I agree with you....it does not even pass the smell test as a valid statical sample....it was a survey done on a Princess cruise forum board where there is already a heavy bias towards how people SHOULDdress on formal nights......:D

[iancal]

Yup, it would be laughed out of a Stats101 course.

 

But people will believe what they want to believe. I really have no concrete idea what a statistically correct sample group would say. But I do not really care either.

[shredie]

Yup, it would be laughed out of a Stats101 course.

 

But people will believe what they want to believe. I really have no concrete idea what a statistically correct sample group would say. But I do not really care either.

 

I don't think the OP said it was supposed to be scientifically accurate, did he? Of course you are right about people believing what they want to believe. The pro-formal folks want to believe most people agree with them, and the anti-formal folks want to believe that no one really wants to wear a tux, ever, for any reason. In any case, I thank the OP for the effort even though he has taken a serious amount of grief for it. I found it interesting.

[MJSailors]

The Princess web site gives guidelines for dressing for formal night dinners in the Traditional and Anytime Dining venues and asks that these guidelines be followed for the enjoyment of the onboard guest-s. The men's guidelines are a tuxedo,dinner jacket or a dark suit with tie.I may have missed something in reading the guidelines,but I did not see shirt sleeves and tie listed as an option for formal nights

My DH has worn a tux or a dark suit for dinner on fomal nights.We usually have dinn-er in the Crown Grill on those nights.

While the Crown Grill does not require a jacket and tie for men dining in the restuarant, he wants to make an occasion for those nights and by dressing so nicely,he makes the evening special for us.

I guess in a way,he is not following the dressing guidelines for the Crown Grill,but he certainly looks handsome!

[Potstech]

The Princess web site gives guidelines for dressing for formal night dinners in the Traditional and Anytime Dining venues and asks that these guidelines be followed for the enjoyment of the onboard guest-s. The men's guidelines are a tuxedo,dinner jacket or a dark suit with tie.I may have missed something in reading the guidelines,but I did not see shirt sleeves and tie listed as an option for formal nights

My DH has worn a tux or a dark suit for dinner on fomal nights.We usually have dinn-er in the Crown Grill on those nights.

While the Crown Grill does not require a jacket and tie for men dining in the restuarant, he wants to make an occasion for those nights and by dressing so nicely,he makes the evening special for us.

I guess in a way,he is not following the dressing guidelines for the Crown Grill,but he certainly looks handsome!

 

And to come full circle in this discussion it also states that women should wear formal gowns or cocktail dresses but many do not follow that and all seem to be OK with that.

Edited May 14, 2014 by Potstech

[iancal]

We cannot change what other people wear or don't wear...so we simply don't concern ourselves with it. And it has no impact how much we enjoy our cruise.

[Susie51]

My DH enjoys wearing his tux on formal nights.

[LMaxwell]

I just received my 2014-2015 Princess Cruise Atlas. Various pages show couples and groups dining, both MDR and specialty dining, as well as lounges, entertainment, and casino. Not one single man has a tie on. The models are in sport coat and dress shirt with open collar. One is a sweater with dress shirt underneath. None are in full suits.

 

In 21 pages of catalog shots only one man has a tie and jacket and there are zero pictures of tuxedos. There are at least 10 photos of men in night time shots wearing slacks and short sleeve collared shirts (polo and button up). The Catalog is 145 pages (ship plans, itineraries) and there are no other pictures of suits or tuxes.

[iancal]

No surprise whatsoever on the marketing brochure.

 

This is an excellent indicator of where Princess thinks the market is going, or is, as well as the target market/lifestyle that Princess is aiming at.

Edited May 16, 2014 by iancal

[Times Prince]

No surprise whatsoever on the marketing brochure.

 

This is an excellent indicator of where Princess thinks the market is going, or is, as well as the target market/lifestyle that Princess is aiming at.

In that case we'll all be wearing sportcoats to dinner every night, as that's the predominant picture, with dark suit and tie for Formal night (pg 8).

 

That doesn't solve the packing problem many seem to have.

[iancal]

We don't have a packing problem. We do carry on.

[Potstech]

We have a packing problem as we fly to the ports. Bag limited to 50 lbs. Extra bag costs an additional fee we do not wish to pay.

[Rusty9]

DH has always worn his tux or a suit, but we are going on first Alaskan cruise this summer and heard they are more relaxed on those cruises. Is this true? Sport Jacket OK for Alaska?

[tip]

Is this true? Sport Jacket OK for Alaska?

 

It certainly is true not only for Alaska, but for other Princess cruises as well.