British Cruise Dress

[roverix]

WE are going on a British 12 day cruise in May 2020. I am starting to think about packing. I know I will need a raincoat and layers. I am wondering if people dresss in the morning for their tours and remain in the same clothes for dinner or do people change every evening. How many formal nights are there on this itinerary? 90% of our cruises have been in the Carribean which I believe are less formal. Any information you can provide would be very helpful.

[Steelers36]

8 minutes ago, roverix said:

WE are going on a British 12 day cruise in May 2020. I am starting to think about packing. I know I will need a raincoat and layers. I am wondering if people dress in the morning for their tours and remain in the same clothes for dinner or do people change every evening. How many formal nights are there on this itinerary? 90% of our cruises have been in the Caribbean which I believe are less formal. Any information you can provide would be very helpful.

Your Travel Summary in the Cruise Personalizer will tell you the number of Formal Nights.  I think it is 2 for your length, but not looking it up.  If we were coming back late and going to the buffet, we might just go as we are.  Generally, I would be showering and changing before dinner - even for the Smart Casual nights.  People do all kinds of things on a cruise ship and to be honest, unless I was dining with the same people I was touring with all day, I wouldn't have a clue whether people had changed clothes or not.  I am sure 99% are the same.

 

[satxdiver]

You will have two formal nights on a 12 day cruise.  Most pax change their clothes for dinner after a day at sea or in port.  Casual nights are open for any type of dress while formal night can be a bit more dressed up.  The British will dress more formally than the American/Canadians.  On the several times we have sailed out of Southampton I wore dockers and a long sleeved shirt on formal night and certainly was not alone.  

 

We arrived at Gatwick and took the National bus to Southampton for $62 for both of us. We bought the ticket online before we left the US.  We have been staying at the Holiday Inn which is right beside the old city making it easy to walk over there.  There are other hotels in the immediate area.  There are three different piers.  Last cruise in June we did a b2b and the ship arrived after the first cruise at a different pier than we had left earlier.  So the ships move around. 

 

We had gone several days early and one day took a bus down to Portsmouth, about an hour drive, and they dropped us off at the port.  The Holiday in is in easy walking distance of the National bus terminal in Southampton.  

[paul929207]

There are 2 formal nights on a 12 day cruise.

 

People change clothes for dinner 

[skynight]

We always clean up and change for dinner and the evening. 

[1965]

Do what you're comfortable with. 

[BigGuy25]

This is totally up to you and really depends on what you plan to wear (as well as how active you’ll be) on your day in port. 

[ian441672]

11 hours ago, roverix said:

WE are going on a British 12 day cruise in May 2020. I am starting to think about packing. I know I will need a raincoat and layers. I am wondering if people dresss in the morning for their tours and remain in the same clothes for dinner or do people change every evening. How many formal nights are there on this itinerary? 90% of our cruises have been in the Carribean which I believe are less formal. Any information you can provide would be very helpful.

May in the UK can be changeable, sometimes quite mild by day perhaps with a cool breeze, though cooler by night. The further north you go, obviously the colder it is. I go to Scotland for a week in May - sometimes it is raining and miserable, other times, the sun shines down and it is a lovely day. As you say, dress in layers, a rain coat and a more heavy coat just in case. All in all though, May can be quite a nice month - hope you enjoy!

[Reina del Mar]

Layers for daytime..weather could be chilly, wet or warm.

 

Why would you even consider going to dinner without bathing/ showering and changing ??

[MissP22]

Depending on what time we return to the ship we might just go straight to dinner. 

[fishnchips]

Most people have standards...

We would dress for dinner and look presentable...

[TW6cruiser]

We mostly would change (to either nicer casual or formal if formal night) but we did have one night when we got back very close to dinner time from an excursion and I only changed to nicer shoes for dinner and we went more casual.  It was no problem.  It is not "hot" there so you are not coming back from a long day out in the sun.  We noticed a few days others did the same.  You will see people in a lot of clothing depending upon what they did for the day or what excursion they are on.   One other night we came back too late for our early traditional dining and we went to the buffet in our "travel" clothes and many people were more casual like us up in the buffet. 

[jondfk]

It should be noted that I have no standards 😉.  That said, time permitting, I'd prefer to wash up and change before dinner.  

 

However, I absolutely refuse to forgo a served meal for the buffet in all but the most extraordinary occasions.  Sorry, I just don't enjoy the buffet though I recognize that some enjoy taking many or even all of their meals there.  If my tour return time necessitated that I go directly to the dining room, to intersect a fixed seating reservation, so be it.  Naturally I'd make the appropriate apologies to my table mates, and in fact might well telegraph the possibility the evening ahead, but skip the meal - not likely.

 

More generally, having worked with and for British folks for some years and having visited there dozens of times, I'd agree that the standard of dress is at a higher average level than we American's.  Your May sailing is unlikely to attract many British families as school will still be in at that time, expect the majority to be from the U.S. or Canada with some British retirees rounding out the manifest.  

 

[cynbar]

We did this cruise a couple years back, also in May. Although most passengers seemed to be American, the atmosphere overall was a little more formal than we have seen on cruises closer to home. There were 2 formal nights, and most people seemed to observe them (although not all, of course.) Not too many tuxes but we saw more suits on the gentlemen, few "gowns" but nicer attire for the ladies. As far as going directly to dinner after a tour, I think it depends on what you are wearing for the tour. We did not see passengers in tee shirts, old jeans, or sweatshirts, all of which we saw on our fellow passengers during the day. But if you are wearing chinos and a polo shirt or nicer jeans with a neat top, no one will know if you changed or not. Princess is not like NCL, where anything goes and many people go to dinner in the clothes they have worn all day. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's not the norm.

 

While talking about clothes, I'll add that one of the best purchases we made were fold up rain jackets, the kind that you can quickly roll up into one of the pockets to make a light, compact package.. Several times, we were caught in an unexpected rain shower, and our jackets were so easy to transport that we always had them with us. We got them at LLBean, but other companies carry them. So glad we made that purchase for our cruise.

[neverbeenhere]

Your kilt will cover for any evening. 

[john watson]

15 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

Your kilt will cover for any evening. 

 

They may be worn every evening but they never cover you in the same way as skirts do for ladies. If you wear a kilt and it's windy at least gentlemen's underwear never is seen.

 

Regards John

Edited January 1, 2020 by john watson

[john watson]

On 12/31/2019 at 2:49 AM, roverix said:

WE are going on a British 12 day cruise in May 2020. I am starting to think about packing. I know I will need a raincoat and layers. I am wondering if people dress in the morning for their tours and remain in the same clothes for dinner or do people change every evening. How many formal nights are there on this itinerary? 90% of our cruises have been in the Caribbean which I believe are less formal. Any information you can provide would be very helpful.

 

I think most British people on a cruise get up shower and put their day clothes on appropriate for whatever they are intending to do on excursions etc.  On returning to the ship there may be time to do things of a general nature but if dinner is looming most immediately go and shower for the second time and change into the evening wear.  This I feel is most British people's regime.  If there is not enough time to shower before dinner you do it anyway and turn up late and apologise.

 

Regards John

[flamomo]

I have only gone to dinner in the dining room in the clothes I wore on an excursion IF the excursion returned to the ship later than scheduled and it was already past my assigned seating time in the traditional dining room. In that event, I do quickly freshen up a bit before heading to the dining room.

[polmcs]

On 12/31/2019 at 2:40 PM, ian441672 said:

May in the UK can be changeable, sometimes quite mild by day perhaps with a cool breeze, though cooler by night. The further north you go, obviously the colder it is. I go to Scotland for a week in May - sometimes it is raining and miserable, other times, the sun shines down and it is a lovely day. As you say, dress in layers, a rain coat and a more heavy coat just in case. All in all though, May can be quite a nice month - hope you enjoy!

I find that when visiting Scotland, I experience 2 kinds of weather. It’s either raining and miserable, or it’s miserable and raining! 😉 

 

Actually I tell a lie, when I landed at GLA yesterday morning, it was blooming freezing. We’ve been rather lucky with the weather this trip though. It’s been a lot milder than we’d expected and not too much rain. Looks like we missed some chilly overnight weather back home in San Diego too.

 

I’ve yet to take a UK cruise. There is just something about having to travel back to the UK  first in order to take a vacation. Even flying back to Europe seems like a pain to me as I did travel around a bit doing tourist things when I lived over there. From meeting other Brits on the US focused itineraries, or on the South Pacific ones, we Brits do like to dress up for dinner, so I would imagine that there is a higher uptake on dressing up for formal nights on a UK focused cruise. 😉

Edited January 1, 2020 by polmcs

[ian441672]

44 minutes ago, polmcs said:

I find that when visiting Scotland, I experience 2 kinds of weather. It’s either raining and miserable, or it’s miserable and raining! 😉 

 

Actually I tell a lie, when I landed at GLA yesterday morning, it was blooming freezing. We’ve been rather lucky with the weather this trip though. It’s been a lot milder than we’d expected and not too much rain. Looks like we missed some chilly overnight weather back home in San Diego too.

 

I’ve yet to take a UK cruise. There is just something about having to travel back to the UK  first in order to take a vacation. Even flying back to Europe seems like a pain to me as I did travel around a bit doing tourist things when I lived over there. From meeting other Brits on the US focused itineraries, or on the South Pacific ones, we Brits do like to dress up for dinner, so I would imagine that there is a higher uptake on dressing up for formal nights on a UK focused cruise. 😉

Lol, I know what you mean, but December/January is always going to be a bit 'damp' anywhere in UK, especially in Scotland. In saying that, they just experienced their 'warmest' December temperature (albeit 3am in the morning) on record last week, so anything can happen!

 

I live in south east UK and it is changeable for sure, but summer months can be very warm indeed.

 

We feel the same about travelling to the USA for our cruises, but once we land and get a good nights rest and knowing we have a cruise to look forward to, the distance is not too bad (at least till we have to go home again!). Wearing a suit all day for work, I don't always enjoy dressing up for dinner on a cruise, but you are right that the majority of us Brits like to have the opportunity to dress up where we can. I know my DW always enjoys that part of it, not overly formal, but certainly smart/casual.