Dress code and offending people

[1prissydog]

I just returned from my first round trip on cunard...

Beautiful ocean liner..

Felt like being sent to my room for

NOT dressing up.I can understand no shorts or jeans in dinning room..but who is to say what is dressed up in ladies wear.. the cunard fashion police

Service slow in dinning room 2 hours to eat...would rather eat in buffet..

Avoid room 5219... across from where they gather dishes and laundry ..worse room i have ever had.....AVOID PURSER desk rudest people i have met on cruise....

nicest and most patient staff in computer room..

Best way to travel across Atlantic... will do again

[Sybaris63]

Wife and I just crossed on the QM2 from Southampton to NY. For evening wear I took a tux and 3 suits. My wife had 8 gowns/dresses. There were 4 formal and 4 informal nights. Additionally, neither of us brought blue jeans or shorts. It was nice to be in an environment where most everyone dressed well. I noticed only one person whose attire probably would have been more appropriate on another ship and coincidentally he tried to order a beer from the champagne server during afternoon tea.

[Tampa Girl]

Thanks for sharing your information. Flights are no problem, we have 30kg allowance but it's only 20kg on the ship according to the information I have read.

 

 

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I missed that part about 20kg on the ship. Where did you find it? But, as I understand it, the luggage is not weighed by the ship?

[Tampa Girl]

 

DH and I tried HAL once and much prefer Cunard. Once you sail, you might easily feel the same way. Have a wonderful voyage!

 

Out May TA on the QM2 will be our first Cunard experience, and we are eagerly looking forward to it. We have always sailed on HAL and have always enjoyed it. Why do you prefer Cunard? The more formal atmosphere? It seems that the QM2 and HAL are different sailing experiences.

[Host Hattie]

I missed that part about 20kg on the ship. Where did you find it? But, as I understand it, the luggage is not weighed by the ship?

 

You can take as many bags as you like onto the ship but each one should weigh less than 20 Kg. It's for health and safety reasons, the crew have to handle a lot of bags on turnaround days.

I don't think they weigh them but if one is obviously too heavy to handle easily you could be asked to repack I suppose.

[Tampa Girl]

I am curious, would your husband be American? if so it would answer a few questions.:confused:

 

Would you care to explain that? We are a very large and diverse country, and not susceptible of a broad brush stroke. And, my DH and I greatly enjoy dressing formally.

[Solent Richard]

You can take as many bags as you like onto the ship but each one should weigh less than 20 Kg. It's for health and safety reasons, the crew have to handle a lot of bags on turnaround days.

I don't think they weigh them but if one is obviously too heavy to handle easily you could be asked to repack I suppose.

 

Fair cop that, most are only little.

[Solent Richard]

Would you care to explain that? We are a very large and diverse country, and not susceptible of a broad brush stroke. And, my DH and I greatly enjoy dressing formally.

 

Hi Tampa Girl.

 

May I offer my strongest support to you.

 

Having sailed with Cunard on too many occasions to count on my fingers I have always been delighted to see your countrymen, and ladies, dressed for the occasion.

 

God bless America.

[Tampa Girl]

And . . . thank you, Solent Richard! Most appreciated.

[Sybaris63]

"Looking smart" is subjective. The time, money and effort it would take to dress up is simply something in which I have no interest. I am not being critical of those that get a kick out of such things, it is just not me.

 

 

Therein lies the rub. Most of the passengers on Cunard do spend the time, money and effort to look befitting of the environment and appreciate others who respectfully do the same.

 

There are well established and published guidelines pertaining to dress for men and women for all occasions and environments. Debrett's Guide to Etiquette and Modern Manners being one of the most recognized references.

[navybankerteacher]

I missed that part about 20kg on the ship. Where did you find it? But, as I understand it, the luggage is not weighed by the ship?

 

I had never heard of that limit until yesterday when I received the luggage tags from Cunard for our November crossing: in very fine print on the tags, next to the warning against hazardous materials, is the notation of the 20kg limit.

[GUT2407]

I had never heard of that limit until yesterday when I received the luggage tags from Cunard for our November crossing: in very fine print on the tags, next to the warning against hazardous materials, is the notation of the 20kg limit.

 

20kg per bag, for OH&S reasons so staff aren't lifting 50kg trunks.

[Number34]

Therein lies the rub. Most of the passengers on Cunard do spend the time, money...

 

Don't forget you can rub both ways! I am spending my money to be transported to New York and back (I do not fly). I do not like dressing formally although I nearly always wear a sports jacket of sorts. Reading this thread it strikes me that Cunard do not offer enough alternatives, especially as the buffet gets mostly negative reviews.

That said I may buy a cheap DJ from M&S, or is that not good enough? Should I go to Harrods instead? Also means having to take black shoes and they take up too much space!

More seriously how good are the hire options for formal wear? And do they need to be booked in advance?

Edited October 29, 2015 by Number34

[mil5156]

Number34, don't believe everything you read. We just returned from our cruise on QV, I was really concerned about the dress requirements as we also don't dress formally very often. I can report that it was not over the top snobby, we met lovely people who, in a lot of cases were dressed similarly to us. Formal night does require a suit but informal nights required a jacket and no tie. We saw some people not so well dressed as well as some very dressed up.

 

We ate in the buffet and could not complain, the food and service was good - don't know how people could can it.

 

For what it's worth that's my say. Bon voyage.

 

 

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[Lakesregion]

Don't forget you can rub both ways! I am spending my money to be transported to New York and back (I do not fly). I do not like dressing formally although I nearly always wear a sports jacket of sorts. Reading this thread it strikes me that Cunard do not offer enough alternatives, especially as the buffet gets mostly negative reviews.

That said I may buy a cheap DJ from M&S, or is that not good enough? Should I go to Harrods instead? Also means having to take black shoes and they take up too much space!

More seriously how good are the hire options for formal wear? And do they need to be booked in advance?

 

Back in the day, there were several classes on board and all were using the line as transportation. Yet those people all managed to find a decent suit and tie. Look at the photos of steerage. They all were dressed. Not to the quality of first class but they made the effort.

 

Today, Cunard has made it even easier to enjoy first class. All you need is a suit and tie for formal nights and if you are clever a black sports jacket and black slacks of the same material will pass as a suit. Not my idea of the best way but since you are not of the suit wearing workaday group and are using Cunard to transport you to your next job, it will work.

[mariposa777]

We did a TA last year - our first and quite possibly our last as we have to travel half way around the the world to do it. We were dressed more formally than some and less than some … we felt pretty comfortable.

 

The Mr chose the dark suit option as we come from a (sadly) very casual culture/lifestyle and we are unlikely to sail with Cunard again in the near future. A very nice, good quality, fine light wool suit will get multiple wearings (and did on the land segments of that trip) whereas a dinner suit would not. As a larger gent he likes a well cut suit which will not too get hot like a synthetic cheap one might. A good dinner suit would have cost a pretty penny for little wear (He did try one and I'm a bit sad we don't travel in the circles where it would get worn.)

 

Cunard is unique in that it offers a formal cruising product not only in the black tie/dark suit code but the fact that it is an all night code covering a large part of the ship. It seems (from my reading at least) that other lines have a dress code for the dining room which is discarded after dinner … change for dinner, then change again for later.

 

Enough people book with cunard for the formal product to support it's continued offering. It was a large part of our reason for taking the TA - although our wardrobe was tempered by the needs of long distance air travel somewhat.

 

 

The number of people wanting to travel casually is presumably less and mostly met by the buffet offering .. you can bet if this balance shifts that the formal/casual balance will shift.

 

Luckily (for the fans of formal) there are a lot of frequently sailing formal fanatics here.

[luckymal]

Don't forget you can rub both ways! I am spending my money to be transported to New York and back (I do not fly). I do not like dressing formally although I nearly always wear a sports jacket of sorts. Reading this thread it strikes me that Cunard do not offer enough alternatives, especially as the buffet gets mostly negative reviews.

That said I may buy a cheap DJ from M&S, or is that not good enough? Should I go to Harrods instead? Also means having to take black shoes and they take up too much space!

More seriously how good are the hire options for formal wear? And do they need to be booked in advance?

 

I am sorry you do not like to dress formally. I can not understand people who complain about the dress code after they have booked , Cunard are well known for the dress code and have been going for over 175 years, I would call in at M. & S. I not sure what they charge to hire, but it will not be cheap, and who knows you may enjoy it.:D

[BlueRiband]

Don't forget you can rub both ways! I am spending my money to be transported to New York and back (I do not fly). I do not like dressing formally although I nearly always wear a sports jacket of sorts. Reading this thread it strikes me that Cunard do not offer enough alternatives, especially as the buffet gets mostly negative reviews.

That said I may buy a cheap DJ from M&S, or is that not good enough? Should I go to Harrods instead? Also means having to take black shoes and they take up too much space!

More seriously how good are the hire options for formal wear? And do they need to be booked in advance?

 

To book Cunard (for the itinerary) when one distains dressing for formal nights is like booking Disney (also for the itinerary) when one distains being around a lot of young children. The opposite would be true if I booked Azamara - known for zero formality - and insisted on showing up for dinner in formal wear. It would show disregard for the established practice on their ships and fellow passengers.

 

Many experienced travelers follow "When in Rome do as the Romans.."

[navybankerteacher]

Back in the day, there were several classes on board and all were using the line as transportation. Yet those people all managed to find a decent suit and tie. Look at the photos of steerage. They all were dressed. Not to the quality of first class but they made the effort.

 

Today, Cunard has made it even easier to enjoy first class. All you need is a suit and tie for formal nights and if you are clever a black sports jacket and black slacks of the same material will pass as a suit. Not my idea of the best way but since you are not of the suit wearing workaday group and are using Cunard to transport you to your next job, it will work.

 

We are crossing on QM2 next week - I anticipate my dark suit with white shirt will suffice, as on our previous crossing close to 50% of men wore suits rather than dinner jackets. It is interesting that Cunard, with its British tradition, is so much more formal than the British are generally - who are distinctly more casually dressed than, say, Italians and French. At the theatre yesterday the overwhelming majority were in blue jeans, with fewer than a dozen, out of hundreds of men, wore a jacket - much less a suit ---- far less formal than would be the case in New York.

[Number34]

To book Cunard (for the itinerary) when one disdains ...

 

I booked Cunard knowing what the dress code is as I do not fly and there are not many other options available. My gripe is that there do not appear to be many other options if I choose not to dress up.

[R'man]

We are thinking about doing a TA cruise in October and it seems that the Queen Mary is the only ship that goes from New York (or Florida) to England. ...My question is, could we survive without getting dressed up??? ...I don't want to be offensive, but surely there are some areas where folks like us can eat? No?

 

Yes, you can "survive" on Cunard without getting "dressed up." As others have pointed out, folks with a preference for the informal may, on formal nights, eat in the buffet or take room service. On "regular" nights, if it's not too dressy by your husband's standards, the dining room only requires gentlemen wear a jacket. Have a great crossing. It is a unique experience that is unforgettable.

[robbie_3]

Yes' date=' you can "survive" on Cunard without getting "dressed up." As others have pointed out, folks with a preference for the informal may, on formal nights, eat in the buffet or take room service. On "regular" nights, if it's not too dressy by your husband's standards, the dining room only requires gentlemen wear a jacket. Have a great crossing. It is a unique experience that is unforgettable.[/quote']

 

Sage advice R'man, sometimes not everybody wants to dress up. I lost a twin brother some years ago and all I wanted was a rest, QM2 had already been booked and I appreciated the option to dress informally where allowed. To us though, dressing up is the fun of the trip and Cunard is the line to choose as one of the last bastions of dress code. The upcoming trip allows me to take 4 jackets and a tux while my wife gets to buy new dresses for the trip, 7 full gowns, 7 informal cocktail dresses and other assorted. Probably not enough changes though but I don't think there is enough time for more shopping now. God bless Cunard. :)

[Underwatr]

As long as those who don't care to dress up understand the restrictions that places them under on formal nights. It's not just the dining room.

[Csardas]

I would "like" too if I could.

 

Gentlemen-take a look in the mirror. I truly believe that men look their all time best in Dinner Jackets/kilts! Why wouldn't you want to wear it when it's so flattering?!?

[Csardas]

Sorry, the "like" was about a post several pages back.