formal nights

[delgirl]

on p and o website for our cruise it says 1 black and white night and 1 tropical. On cruise personaliser it says 2 black tie evenings. Is tropical classed as a black tie evening. Confused!!!

[Monorail Orange]

Tropical is one of the casual themed nights. Expect lots of Aloha shirts.

 

 

[terrierjohn]

29 minutes ago, delgirl said:

on p and o website for our cruise it says 1 black and white night and 1 tropical. On cruise personaliser it says 2 black tie evenings. Is tropical classed as a black tie evening. Confused!!!

Black and White night is a themed version of the black tie evenings, the other one will not be themed.

[Denarius]

4 hours ago, delgirl said:

on p and o website for our cruise it says 1 black and white night and 1 tropical. On cruise personaliser it says 2 black tie evenings. Is tropical classed as a black tie evening. Confused!!!

As well you may be. P&O do not make things clear.

There will be two black tie evenings, one of which will be themed "black and white". On the "black and white" evening passengers are encouraged to wear clothes which are black and/or white but this is not oblgatory. So "black and white" is both a black tie and a themed evening.

"Tropical" is a smart casual evening on which passengers are encouraged to wear bright coloured clothing.

Hope this helps clarify the situation.

[darknightsdespiser]

We have 4 formal in the 2 weeks, one of which is black and white; will the tropical be in addition to these?

[Mim Lloyd]

We've booked our first P&O cruise after many on RCI and Celebrity. How formal are the formal nights? We don't 'do' formal. We don't mind smart casual which is perfectly fine on RCI and Celebrity, but we certainly don't waste our flight luggage allowance by packing frocks, suits and proper shoes. My husband spent all his working life as an accountant having to wear a suit and tie for work every day and just wouldn't do it on holiday! 

[terrierjohn]

49 minutes ago, darknightsdespiser said:

We have 4 formal in the 2 weeks, one of which is black and white; will the tropical be in addition to these?

Yes but tropical is always casual, that's when we men get to wear outlandish shirts.

[wowzz]

48 minutes ago, Mim Lloyd said:

How formal are the formal nights?

Ideally men need to wear a suit plus tie, but the code only applies to the mdr and certain bars. If you don't want to dress up, you can use the buffet, or the speciality restaurants, but no shorts anywhere on the ship in the evening. 

[Jennizor]

My husband also wore a suit for work every day. We started cruising long before we retired and he accepted I wanted to dress up for the formal nights, he even bought a dinner suit. Now he has retired, he really enjoys getting into a suit again. The only other times are the usual, weddings, christenings, funerals etc. I take it you are also not wanting to go formal. All I can say is that when you see the ship with loads of people dressed up for a special evening you may regret your decision. It  quite acceptable for men to wear a smart suit and tie and you will see ladies in smart trousers, or skirts with a sparkly top. Enjoy.

[Mim Lloyd]

My husband's now retired too and now owns just one suit that's worn for funerals and weddings only. I'm semi retired not a 'dressy up' person and haven't worn a dress or skirt for over 30 years. Black pants and a nice top is my dressy limit, I actually hate being invited to main wedding receptions as I'm forced into making more of an effort!  Oh well, probably the buffet for us on the Azura on formal nights! 

[majortom10]

21 minutes ago, Mim Lloyd said:

My husband's now retired too and now owns just one suit that's worn for funerals and weddings only. I'm semi retired not a 'dressy up' person and haven't worn a dress or skirt for over 30 years. Black pants and a nice top is my dressy limit, I actually hate being invited to main wedding receptions as I'm forced into making more of an effort!  Oh well, probably the buffet for us on the Azura on formal nights! 

Sorry but IMO you will be missing out on so much by going to the buffet instead of MDR on formal nights. Certainly worth the effort to dress up and I wore a uniform with tie all my working career as a firefighter and even though now retired look forward to dressing formally as it is the only chance I have these days and makes the cruise so more enjoyable.

[terrierjohn]

24 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Sorry but IMO you will be missing out on so much by going to the buffet instead of MDR on formal nights. Certainly worth the effort to dress up and I wore a uniform with tie all my working career as a firefighter and even though now retired look forward to dressing formally as it is the only chance I have these days and makes the cruise so more enjoyable.

I quite enjoy it as well, but not 4 times over a 2 week cruise, you can have too much of a good thing.

[majortom10]

12 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I quite enjoy it as well, but not 4 times over a 2 week cruise, you can have too much of a good thing.

I dont think 4 times on a 14 nt cruise is excessive.

[snaefell]

29 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

I dont think 4 times on a 14 nt cruise is excessive.

Like some others I absolutely hate getting dressed up,it really is something that puts me off cruising,on our first cruise we had our picture taken on the first formal night & my Mother loved the pic of her 'baby boy' all smart & dressed up,I look at the picture & just see one thing...Blooming Uncomfortable!!

[annieuk]

The ship certainly takes on a different atmosphere on a formal evening and there is an enhanced menu in the main dining room on that evening.  It's a pity to miss it but if that's your preference there is, as you say, the buffet.  If you can bear to dress up for the dinner then you could always go and change afterwards if you wish but there are still bars you won't be able to go into.  

[snaefell]

I don't know whether or not to say sadly but I actually haven't missed any of it,because it is there I get dressed up for it,I really do not enjoy it though!

[tartanexile81]

18 hours ago, Mim Lloyd said:

My husband's now retired too and now owns just one suit that's worn for funerals and weddings only. I'm semi retired not a 'dressy up' person and haven't worn a dress or skirt for over 30 years. Black pants and a nice top is my dressy limit, I actually hate being invited to main wedding receptions as I'm forced into making more of an effort!  Oh well, probably the buffet for us on the Azura on formal nights! 

 

Your husband doesn't have to wear a DJ - his  smart suit would be fine and you too could wear your black trousers. You could just dress them up with a dressy top and accessories. There's such a great atmosphere around the ship on formals and the vast majority of people do conform to the dress code. 

[the english lady]

On 7/1/2019 at 10:05 PM, darknightsdespiser said:

We have 4 formal in the 2 weeks, one of which is black and white; will the tropical be in addition to these?

The tropical night if you have having one will be one of the smart casual nights. Lots of brightly coloured shirts about.

[the english lady]

On 7/1/2019 at 10:13 PM, Mim Lloyd said:

We've booked our first P&O cruise after many on RCI and Celebrity. How formal are the formal nights? We don't 'do' formal. We don't mind smart casual which is perfectly fine on RCI and Celebrity, but we certainly don't waste our flight luggage allowance by packing frocks, suits and proper shoes. My husband spent all his working life as an accountant having to wear a suit and tie for work every day and just wouldn't do it on holiday! 

We are all different . We love the dressing up on Pando. One thing we wouldn't like on celebrity et all is from what we have read it is not so dressy. I don't get the chance to wear lovely floaty things anywhere else so I float on pando. I am always surprised when people say formal is not comfortable. I make sure all of my floaty things are comfy (including the shoes) OH gets around being too hot in a jacket by always wearing a short sleeved shirt underneath. Nobody else would know, just looking at him.

[Bazrat]

 My posts seam to be disappearing I am obviously upsetting someone.

I find it interesting how people are so different my father-in-law was an underwriter at a well known insurance company,wearing a suit was part of his life we just celebrated my sixtieth birthday so we went for a meal,we were smart casual he was wearing a suit I asked him why his reply it was a special occasion and wished to dress accordingly.

[peteukmcr]

1 hour ago, the english lady said:

We are all different . We love the dressing up on Pando. One thing we wouldn't like on celebrity et all is from what we have read it is not so dressy. I don't get the chance to wear lovely floaty things anywhere else so I float on pando. I am always surprised when people say formal is not comfortable. I make sure all of my floaty things are comfy (including the shoes) OH gets around being too hot in a jacket by always wearing a short sleeved shirt underneath. Nobody else would know, just looking at him.

Don't believe all you read about Celebrity not being dressy on Elegant Chic evenings. If you haven't sailed Celebrity since this was implemented then you are being misinformed.

[AndyMichelle]

20 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

Don't believe all you read about Celebrity not being dressy on Elegant Chic evenings. If you haven't sailed Celebrity since this was implemented then you are being misinformed.

Very smart Pete, lovely picture.

Unfortunately we are being misinformed as recent posters have said evening chic guidelines were designer jeans and smart top. 

To me this is t shirt and jeans and I wouldn't be happy wearing formal wear alongside this.

I don't mind smart casual but feel it should be separate from black tie.

Andy

[peteukmcr]

28 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Very smart Pete, lovely picture.

Unfortunately we are being misinformed as recent posters have said evening chic guidelines were designer jeans and smart top. 

To me this is t shirt and jeans and I wouldn't be happy wearing formal wear alongside this.

I don't mind smart casual but feel it should be separate from black tie.

Andy

Perhaps I should have said misled. Yes, Elegant Chic does allow designer jeans and smart top, but from experience I can vouch for the fact that many still dress up. OK, it's not 100% compliance, but still makes the evening have a more formal ambience.

Even RCI, although the dress code is only a suggestion, many still dress formally. Don't believe all you read on CC about 'it's too hot in the Caribbean' or 'I wear a suit at work so don't want to on my vacation' or 'costs too much in excess baggage'. Many still do it. May not always be purely black tie! And this was taken in the Caribbean on Oasis of the Seas, outdoors.

 

Edited July 3, 2019 by peteukmcr

[AndyMichelle]

1 hour ago, peteukmcr said:

Perhaps I should have said misled. Yes, Elegant Chic does allow designer jeans and smart top, but from experience I can vouch for the fact that many still dress up. OK, it's not 100% compliance, but still makes the evening have a more formal ambience.

Even RCI, although the dress code is only a suggestion, many still dress formally. Don't believe all you read on CC about 'it's too hot in the Caribbean' or 'I wear a suit at work so don't want to on my vacation' or 'costs too much in excess baggage'. Many still do it. May not always be purely black tie! And this was taken in the Caribbean on Oasis of the Seas, outdoors.

 

Very dapper Pete.

Thanks for clarifying.

Andy

 

[snaefell]

Just to claify another thing,on Black & White nights you will see people wearing other colours,including kilts,so it can still be colourful!