Dress Code - yes again!!

[Tarquin]

Am I right in thinking that P&O have or were at one time intending to relax the dress code, particularly on formal nights?

I would only have read about it on here and may be getting confused with another cruiseline?

 

We've recently booked a 7 nighter which we are told has 2 formal black tie nights which sort of flies in the face of my opening question.

[Scriv]

3 minutes ago, Tarquin said:

Am I right in thinking that P&O have or were at one time intending to relax the dress code, particularly on formal nights?

I would only have read about it on here and may be getting confused with another cruiseline?

 

We've recently booked a 7 nighter which we are told has 2 formal black tie nights which sort of flies in the face of my opening question.

 

Not heard that, Tarquin. In fact they have tightened up on dress code in the last couple of years.

[Pennbank]

I would have said that P&O Have relaxed the Dress Code.

Jackets /Ties are no longer required except for formal nights.

https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/life-on-board/dress_code

 

Edited January 14, 2019 by Pennbank

[P-L-B]

1 hour ago, Tarquin said:

Am I right in thinking that P&O have or were at one time intending to relax the dress code, particularly on formal nights?

I would only have read about it on here and may be getting confused with another cruiseline?

 

We've recently booked a 7 nighter which we are told has 2 formal black tie nights which sort of flies in the face of my opening question.

Not aware of a relaxing of formal night dress code.

2 formal nights on a 7 night cruise is the normal arrangement regarding P&O and has been for a while now.

[P-L-B]

1 hour ago, Pennbank said:

I would have said that P&O Have relaxed the Dress Code.

Jackets /Ties are no longer required except for formal nights.

https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/life-on-board/dress_code

 

That's correct but that's not a result of a recent change of their dress code.

If I recall there used to be 3 dress codes formal, smart casual and casual.

They dropped the smart casual some time ago.

[yorkshirephil]

There have been many "dress codes" over the years. I remember the furore when semi-formal  came to an end for Caribbean cruises, the reason was because of reduced airline hold luggage allowances which did make it difficult to pack for several different codes with only 23kg hold allowance. This then seemed to trickle down to other area  cruises. Personally I would like to see the dress code enforced on all P&O ships as I think the balance is about right now.

[Millers]

The dress codes are part of what attract us to cruising. We enjoybeing, and seeing everybody else, in their finery. The codes are made clear in the brochures and  every travel show. If people don’t want to dress up, fine, but accept that the majority of others do. Alternatively don’t cruise.

[Josy1953]

It is Celebrity who have relaxed their formal nights, they now have "Evening Chic" which is what I call smart casual.

On our Ventura cruise in December we saw the same couple turned away from the MDR on formal nights because the man was not wearing a jacket and tie.

[Pennbank]

12 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

It is Celebrity who have relaxed their formal nights, they now have "Evening Chic" which is what I call smart casual.

On our Ventura cruise in December we saw the same couple turned away from the MDR on formal nights because the man was not wearing a jacket and tie.

 

On Formal nights yes, However at one time a Jacket /Tie was needed for most nights, The removal of this to Smart Casual and Formal means relaxed dress code in my mind.  Three dress codes to two is relaxed surely? 

Edited January 15, 2019 by Pennbank

[jaydee6969]

15 hours ago, Tarquin said:

Am I right in thinking that P&O have or were at one time intending to relax the dress code, particularly on formal nights?

I would only have read about it on here and may be getting confused with another cruiseline?

 

We've recently booked a 7 nighter which we are told has 2 formal black tie nights which sort of flies in the face of my opening question.

Going back to your original query, and in particular if P&O had relaxed the formal nights, no, they are very well observed with the majority on board participating.  This is based on our experience on a 7 nighter last year, and definitely 2 formal nights.

Edited January 15, 2019 by jaydee6969

[Tarquin]

Thank you all.

 

Looks like a bit of Tux shopping is on the horizon 😉

Edited January 15, 2019 by Tarquin

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, Tarquin said:

Thank you all.

 

Looks like a bit of Tux shopping is on the horizon 😉

 

Get in there quick while the sales are on ;-)

 

You'll have a great time - on our first formal night in 2010 we felt likes ducks out of water (had NEVER done the formal dress stuff before apart from getting married) until we saw that everyone else looked the same as us . Ha ha. Love it now and love seeing the whole ship all dressed up. Just seems to make it feel special.

[Tarquin]

We've done the P&O black tie nights 3 times on short cruises, the first a harrowing experience back in 2012, a thread that encouraged over 7,000 views! Things could only get better...and they did. 🙂

 

My current Jacket fits fine now but i'm on a mission to lose weight so by the time we travel I hope to be 3 stone lighter. 😉

[Harry Peterson]

On 1/15/2019 at 5:43 PM, Tarquin said:

Thank you all.

 

Looks like a bit of Tux shopping is on the horizon 😉

Or you could of course just wear a dark suit, which is entirely within 'the rules'.  I can assure you that you won't feel remotely put of place or uncomfortable. 🙂

[ozzysdad]

On our next cruise I'm packing a dark suit for formal nights, do most men wear a tie with a suit or is a bow tie an option. 

[Harry Peterson]

7 minutes ago, ozzysdad said:

On our next cruise I'm packing a dark suit for formal nights, do most men wear a tie with a suit or is a bow tie an option. 

Most men still wear penguin suits, but a substantial and growing minority wear dark suits.  Some wear light suits, but that's not technically 'allowed' - yet white DJs are!

 

Wear what you feel most comfortable in.  I wear a suit because I like to look smart but hate dressing up - and I've never felt remotely uncomfortable in a suit.

[yorkshirephil]

17 hours ago, ozzysdad said:

On our next cruise I'm packing a dark suit for formal nights, do most men wear a tie with a suit or is a bow tie an option. 

In general a tie, sometimes no tie, I don't remember seeing many men with suit and bowtie. 

[daiB]

18 hours ago, ozzysdad said:

On our next cruise I'm packing a dark suit for formal nights, do most men wear a tie with a suit or is a bow tie an option. 

 

Its up to you, there are some very nice formal ties or there are plenty of bow ties.