MR happy cruiser

[emam]

8 hours ago, UncleZen said:

The formal night on my upcoming 7 night cruise on ventura is the thing I am looking forward to the least. I dont have suitable wear for an event such as this, dont want to buy a tux and dont want to pack a suit and tie for a few hours of wear. Although I'll probably have to as my wife will probably want to go. In fact I would go as far to say that the whole idea of such a formal event puts me off cruising. I very much expect this cruise to be my first and last, tbh. But watch this space, I may be surprised, but I doubt it.

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I'm sure you will be pleasantry surprised and enjoy it. As you said it's only a few hours and if you really don't enjoy it, you can always change your clothes and enjoy a night under the stars on deck or use another part of the ship for the rest of the night. If you really don't want to take part and use the buffet for your meal, go later on when it's quieter around 8.30. Rather than putting a downer on it go with an open mind and give it a try. 🙂

Remember that although there are a few people on here who don't like them, the vast majority of people do. Why else would P&O still continue with them. Apart from my daughters wedding I hadn't worn or owned a dress in over 20 years. I now own several. Think how happy it will make your wife.

 

I am also sure that you will be come addicted to cruising once you have been. It's a fabulous way to holiday.

[Bazrat]

We had a very long debate on here about formal nights,the general consensus amongst those who have taken multiple cruises with p&o wished for them to be reduced or removed entirely my view was why stop something that is popular amongst the majority.

We have been on a dress to impress night on marella explorer 2,We was one of the few to make an effort hence why my beloved picked our next two cruises both p&o.

I also find it amusing reading the way people are recommended to choose other cruise lines by the long term p&o users on here, something you don’t find on other forums than have a discussion about buying shares in the company.

 

[Britboys]

15 hours ago, Denarius said:

I do not think it is a matter of ship, but one of itinerary. P&O have always stated that there will "usually" be 4 formal nights on a 14 night cruise, leaving the door open in principle for there to be less or indeed more. But in practice there have invariably been 4, sometimes resulting in formal nights being scheduled on port days or in very close proximity to one another. I suspect that P&O are now (sensibly) looking at the itinerary of each cruise and scheduling formal nights accordingly. This may result in some cruises having one less formal night than might previously have been the case.

That sounds very sensible - hope you are right!

[Vampiress88]

On 2/1/2020 at 6:48 PM, davemorton said:

Black and white is formal, and comes included in the amount of formal nights they have said you will have. 

so we are having 3 formals. But one of these is black and white. 
 

we have 11 casual. Two of these are 60s and tropical. 
 

am I right? 
 

where does the captain reception thing come in?

[AndyMichelle]

26 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

so we are having 3 formals. But one of these is black and white. 
 

we have 11 casual. Two of these are 60s and tropical. 
 

am I right? 
 

where does the captain reception thing come in?

Usually first formal night is captains welcome, but not always. 

Andy 

[Vampiress88]

3 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Usually first formal night is captains welcome, but not always. 

Andy 

but it is a formal night. So out of the three formal is should be captains and black&white plus one more ? 

[Britboys]

32 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

but it is a formal night. So out of the three formal is should be captains and black&white plus one more ? 

Yes.  If your pre-cruise info says three Formal nights, one of those three will be the Captain's Welcome aboard and one will be Black & White.  The third Formal is standard - i.e. no theme other than Formal 😀

[Vampiress88]

Just now, Britboys said:

Yes.  If your pre-cruise info says three Formal nights, one of those three will be the Captain's Welcome aboard and one will be Black & White.  The third Formal is standard - i.e. no theme other than Formal 😀

phew 😌 

 

why can’t they just put that on the email!

 

confuddles simple minded people (me 😁)

[Britboys]

You'll have a great time once on board I'm sure!

[Vampiress88]

1 minute ago, Britboys said:

You'll have a great time once on board I'm sure!

Oh yeah I don’t doubt that at all. I’m just one of those people who fret and fret. I just wanna make sure I am not stuck out like a sore thumb

[terrierjohn]

1 minute ago, Vampiress88 said:

Oh yeah I don’t doubt that at all. I’m just one of those people who fret and fret. I just wanna make sure I am not stuck out like a sore thumb

You will be quite at home with all the other sore thumbs.😉

[Elaine0138]

On our April cruise on Aurora we have 4 formal nights and 9 casual.  

[wowzz]

Three formal nights on Oceana, plus a black and white night, so four in total. What annoys me, is that on our current cruise, we have just had two formal nights in three days, when it would have bee quite easy to delay the second night until Saturday, which would have spread the four nights evenly through the fortnight.

[P-L-B]

6 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Three formal nights on Oceana, plus a black and white night, so four in total. What annoys me, is that on our current cruise, we have just had two formal nights in three days, when it would have bee quite easy to delay the second night until Saturday, which would have spread the four nights evenly through the fortnight.

Thanks for the clarification.

It appears that P&O are now separating the black and white night from the formal nights causing some confusion.

P&O regulars know that previously if they stated 4 formal nights on a 14 day cruise one of them would have been a black and white night.

[Denarius]

14 minutes ago, P-L-B said:

Thanks for the clarification.

It appears that P&O are now separating the black and white night from the formal nights causing some confusion.

P&O regulars know that previously if they stated 4 formal nights on a 14 day cruise one of them would have been a black and white night.

I am not convinced that anything has changed other than that some individual cruises may have one fewer black tie evenings than might previously have been the case.

As regards my own 4 April cruise on Ventura, I was informed by email that there would be 3 black tie evenings. This is consistent with P&Os website, which states that there will be 3 black tie and 11 smart casual evenings on the 14 night cruise. A separate list of theme evenings includes black and white but there is no indication as to which if any of these will be on one of the black tie evenings. I am assuming that black and white will be black tie as usual, and the other 3 casual.

[P-L-B]

21 minutes ago, Denarius said:

I am not convinced that anything has changed other than that some individual cruises may have one fewer black tie evenings than might previously have been the case.

As regards my own 4 April cruise on Ventura, I was informed by email that there would be 3 black tie evenings. This is consistent with P&Os website, which states that there will be 3 black tie and 11 smart casual evenings on the 14 night cruise. A separate list of theme evenings includes black and white but there is no indication as to which if any of these will be on one of the black tie evenings. I am assuming that black and white will be black tie as usual, and the other 3 casual.

It appears wowzz is reporting from Oceana as having 4 formal nights one of them being a Black and White night on a 14 night cruise.

This has been the normal arrangement for some time.

However if your 14 night cruise is only having 3 formal nights one of them being a black and white night then indeed it does indicate a reduction in formal nights in your case.

Unfortunately you may only get confirmation when your actually on board.