I almost hate to ask, tuxedo or suit?

[Happy ks]

For the men, on the 3 night cruise? My husband owns a nice black suit, but we were discussing renting a tuxedo last night. Do you see more tuxes on QM2 than other cruise lines? He normally would never wear a tux, but may consider it for this cruise.

 

Thanks for your answers.

 

I'll add that he has worn the black suit on other lines and looked fine next to the few tuxes we saw.

[guernseyguy]

Kathy,

 

He won't look out of place in either. For a Crossing I would say Tuxes are the not inconsiderable majority.....for the QM2's first visit to California.....who knows! Cunard is definitely dressier than most lines. Perhaps looking on 'dressing up' as part of the fun, rather than stuffy formality might help........

 

Peter

[Happy ks]

Thanks. I have no problem dressing formally, if requested. It's just the husband who won't wear the tux. I thought, if pushed a little by more formality, he'd do it this time :p . I'd love it if he bought a tux, since we usually cruise at least once a year.

[nmguy88001]

As a 40-something male, I have never understood why some men react so negatively to a tux. (Of course, I will never forget my first; powder blue with black trim and frilly shirt to boot. How is that for 70s chic! That's what you get when you listen to your buddies instead of your parents :-)

 

I find, in general, evening clothes are often more comfortable than many suits. I do realize many men simply don't care to attend the functions often associated with formal wear (which I can understand as an issue of personal preference). I will say that owning my own tuxedo has made it easier to dress more formally as you skip the joy of visiting the local rental shop.

 

I suppose its just personal preference. My younger brother acts as though he is being strung up by a mob when he has to put on a tie! Admittedly, I am one of those "old-school" types that wishes we saw more formality and gracious behavior in our society. Of course clothes don't insure behavior; but sometimes it seems to help! Lastly, I never saw a woman give me anything but an approving look whilst in my finery.

 

Happy sailing!

[sal7202]

We cruise frequently and I always wear a black suit, primarily because that's what I own, and in my life, a cruise is generally the only place where a tux is called for. However, I have been considering purchasing a tux.

[tumeroll]

***** the QE2 I took a tux, a white dinner jacket, a suit and two different blazers. Used the tux and dinner jacket for the formal evenings, and the rest for the informal evenings. Jacket and tie required all evenings in the dining room unless elegant casual is announced which is rare. Usually formal or informal.

 

I understand the QM2 is less traditional but give him the push, you will be happy.

[jtimmer]

I agree with the 40's guy. There is nothing quite like dressing up in your own tux to try to mimic James Bond circa Dr. No. It will be the highlight of our June 9th crossing, I am sure. My wife and I are taking dance lessons like you won't believe so we are "ready". To me, the formal evenings are what sets the QM2 apart from the "Hawaiian shirt" cruises. I am even getting a tux for my six year old son.

 

If it is the labor involved with dressing up that is the issue, do what I do: I never wear a cumberband or those special buttons. To me that is overkill and makes it look too much like a prom. Just wear the tux like a suit with a tux shirt with regular buttons and a normal spread collar (not the winged one) and a black bow tie and cufflinks (and of course a white pocket square). Nothing more. It will be as comfortable as anything else, and your wife will drool!

[Jim Avery]

I also enjoy the tux on formal nights at sea. I think it would be a bother in the Caribbean after a day ashore but all those sea days on Transats are perfect for dressing up. My wife and I have cocktails in the room while dressing for the evening and it always seems just that more special and everyone looks grand in their best gear.

nmguy88001's description of his 70s formal wear tripped a memory of my similar tux. Burgundy velvet, pink ruffled shirt, burgundy suede and cream patent leather shoes, burgundy velvet bat tie and last but not least, the compulsory afro hair do. Simply styling.

Have fun,

Jim.

[Kindlychap]

I still can't think of a dress suit as a Tuxedo!

 

Still, language apart, I love wearing a dress suit. I don't wear a suit every day to work, although when I do I always wear double cuffs and proper collar stiffeners, but there is something special about a dinner suit.

 

I've never got the hang of a cummerbund either. And I agree with the suggestion of a normal collar.

 

Hand tied tie, of course.

[nmguy88001]

As Kindlychap inferred, language is a funny thing! I was raised to view evening clothes as "white tie." Tails were the highest form of evening wear for a gentleman. I realize that is pretty much a dead concept except at the most formal occasions (state dinners, balls, perhaps the opera).

 

Initially, tuxedos or dinner coats were viewed as a much more informal form of evening wear. I have always wondered if this was an effort to allow the more informal version of a dinner jacket while dining at home to be "acceptable" in a public setting? I was always fascinated at how closely the tuxedo jacket resembles a smoking jacket (without the riot of color!). I love my Emily Post 1928 Blue Book Guide where she deplores the increasing intrusion of the tuxedo onto the evening wear landscape!

 

I can still remember my father wearing his smoking jacket, which is now mine (although I rarely smoke), and thinking how elegant and comfortable he looked. I suppose I was an odd child. Appears I am still an odd one!

[jtimmer]

Perhaps I was misunderstood. I wasn't suggesting to wear a suit and pretend it is a tux, just to wear a tuxedo more like you would a suit, without the cumberband and jewelry (except for the cufflinks, of course). If you look at old pictures of the rat pack and people like Paul Newman back in the day, that's how they wore a tux. I guess it's similar to wearing smoking, which I love too. I have a black velvet one with blackwatch pants!

[Sirwinston]

If you are in L.A. area you can pick up a tux for not that much at 3 day

suit brokers , They are in Fountain valley and also semi ... They are only open Friday Saturday and Sunday ..

My partner picked up one for $ 99.00 for "Royal Hawaiin Liner"

(jacket and pants) Shirts ect extra. I still use the one I bought there in 1998 when we went on the "REMBRANDT" So they sell quaility. just the store is not fancy.

The funny thing is I wear something like a tux 4 or 5 nights a week so it is odd for me to go on vacation and have to do the same but I hate feeling underdressed especailly on Cunard... Other Cruise lines I most likely would just stay with the "dark suit". But I saw a lot of tuxes on both QE2 and QM2...

All for now, Tom In Long Beach

[joeinsb]

Since you mentioned it (Tux or dark suit?), when my wife called Cunard to ask how many formal nights they were planning for QM2's Hawaii cruise, she was told, "Two."

 

"Only two, on an 11-day cruise," she asked."

 

"Well," replied the Cunard rep, "we understand Southern Californians are very casual, so..."

 

We're kinda disappointed. My wife loves to dress up and I gotta admit, I look like a pretty decent Maitre D' in my tux. As a matter of fact, we wife was over the moon when we received our travel documents, which included six (count 'em) luggage tags.

 

Should be fun--two weeks from tomorrow!:D

[travel-to-go]

when my wife called Cunard to ask how many formal nights they were planning for QM2's Hawaii cruise, she was told, "Two."

 

We're kinda disappointed. My wife loves to dress up and I gotta admit, I look like a pretty decent Maitre D' in my tux.

Nothing to stop you from dressing anyway~!

If anyone asks you why you're dresses, tell 'em you've got a date with a gorgeous lady later! <G> Your wife will love you for it!

 

I also made a full length Hawaiian print dress for my 30th High School reunion. I went to High School in Daytona Beach Florida, and the invitations said something like island formal or something. Dress it up with a white jacket- (The kind that comes down to where a princess waist would be- don't know what it is called- fashion horse that I am <G>) and some strappy white sandals, and you have a nice casual/formal <G> outfit! It could go either way. A tropical cumberbund for the gent and you are good to go!

 

IMHO, you'll never look out of place "Dressed" on a Cunard ship!

 

Karie,

Wishing she was all dressed up with some place to go!

[transat_jon]

Tails : On my various Cunard trips, I have seen few people on board in white tie (ie tails) and I think this is something we should see more of.

Do people think wearing tails is over the top or in perfect keepping with Cunard tradition?

 

 

On a side note, when QM2 was first put into service, she introduced "casual"" dress code nights to Cunard. As a protest, I remember a movement where people would dress up on these nights. I would have been in that group.

[planetcadillac]

Tails : On my various Cunard trips, I have seen few people on board in white tie (ie tails) and I think this is something we should see more of.

Do people think wearing tails is over the top or in perfect keepping with Cunard tradition?

 

 

On a side note, when QM2 was first put into service, she introduced "casual"" dress code nights to Cunard. As a protest, I remember a movement where people would dress up on these nights. I would have been in that group.

 

I am sure the formality on board will be commensurate with the length and type of cruise. Crossings, since they are all at-sea of course, are most formal and attract most formal type of travellers. (However there will always be people who won't subscribe to this philosophy!) Cruises, at least on the QM2, like in the Caribbean and warm water pursuits it has been observed to be ever so slightly less formal than comparatively on the QE2. I suppose this has to do with the QM2 being marketed as an upscale modern instead of strictly 'traditional' as the QE2. So in order to fill the large ship you are attracting a lot of people who may dress up but do not necessarily get into the extreme formality and traditionalness of old-style ship travel. Its a little bit like the old money/new money type of argument.

 

We are booked on the fairly short 4 day Labor Day weekend cruise to Canada and back. Two sea days 1 Canada day and the embarkation/debarkation days. I expect people to dress up but not nearly as much as they would on a longer voyage or a crossing. I will bring one tux in case and two suits. During the day it will be nice casual - country club casual I guess they say pants/polo shirt type of thing. We are taking this trip to give the QM2 a look-see without making a huge trip out of it. Already booked on the QE2 for the start of the World Cruise.

[coy860]

Is a complete 80 day world cruise different?

I simply cannot imagine many many formal nights.

There is a limit to how much one can pack for different climates, daytime, evening, it boggles the mind.

I really am looking forward to a relaxing journey to destinations, NOT an Easter Parade.

It appears there are more posts on what people wear, than there are on ports of call.

[nmguy88001]

Well, Transat Jon and I share the same sartorial philosophy! I think tails are the epitome of elegance for a man in a formal setting. I admit, I am surprised to hear that they are still seen on ship. That is wonderful!

 

As well, I would have donned my tux to join the gallant protest against increasing informality. What I wear to dinner shouldn't be anyone's decision but mine (if I apply today's logic to dress). Dress codes once served to help folks know what was expected. Being formal did not have a negative connotation either. Why is it that people feel threatened/out of place, or whatever, by my wearing formal attire? If its "all good" then they should be secure in their choice, as I am in mine. In the end, so many that decry classic formal attire seem to have no problem spending a small fortune to look like Paris Hilton or the current fashionistas.

 

I recently attended an evening wedding where the invitation clearly stated "Black Tie Preferred." I knew the bride and groom and their wish was to encourage more formality and an elegant feel to the dinner and dance. Of some 200 people, I counted three men in Black Tie, besides the wedding party. Oh well............

[Bramcruiser]

Nothing wrong with a nice black suit with a tie. If I don't go all out for a tux that is the route I will go.

 

Just don't show up in your birthday suit!

[dak]

I , for one, deplore the apparent "dumbing down" of dress code. It does no harm to dress up for dinner for a few evenings during a cruise and probably adds to the sense of occasion when the ship is formal. Is it my imagination, or do people apper more polite on formal evenings? In any case, I shall continue to wear my kilt on such evenings.

[Jim Avery]

Hi DAK:

Your imagination and mine have made the same observations. Afloat as well as ashore, it certainly appears as though people generally act better in formal attire and remember manners and courtesies usually overlooked. I would think a transatlantic voyage would be much less without the formal evenings. We look at the dress up time in our cabins as a pleasant event.

Have Tux

Will Travel

Jim.

[sal7202]

We're new to Cunard having sailed mostly on Celebrity. However, we have booked the Labor Day 2006 cruise on the QM2. Having read through most of these disscussions I am a bit confused. On Cunard, do you dress for dinner every night? As I said I'm used to Celebrity where on a 10 night cruise they might have 2 nights where you wear formal attire, 3 nights where you wear semi formal attire, and 5 nights where you wear country club casual. Is the evening dress code on Cunard the same, or do they dress formal every night? :confused:

[nmguy88001]

Dak and JimAvery: I agree and am heartened to see so many folks actually speaking up in favor of higher standards for mens' dress. I enjoy being casual as do most folks. I certainly can understand that folks prize relaxation. I guess I don't equate dressing for dinner as an intrusion on that relaxation.

 

I also have to agree with the observation that formal dress seems to beneficially influence behavior. Not always, but more often than not! Having lived and worked in the DC area where many functions require formal attire, perhaps I simply became accustomed to sartorial standards no longer adhered to in most of the country.

 

I believe a gentleman is a gentleman and his clothes don't define who is; but how we dress says alot about how we view ourselves and those around us. In my former life, as a trial attorney, I dressed to a certain standard because I set that standard first and foremost, next because the courts required a certain standard be met, and finally because my clients expected it. I will never forget the militant lesbian in my law school class who proudly announced during our second year that she would never wear a suit, regardless of what the courts expected. My only comment to her (in this very informal conversation) was that the only person she would hurt would likely be her client. Needless to say, once she joined one of the larger firms her views had apparently changed.

 

The central issue for me is that I dress to a certain standard primarily out of respect for those with whom I will be dealing. That includes my wife, my shipmates, etc. I am not looking to "make a statement;" I hope my attire demonstrates respect and courtesy to the setting and individuals around me. Am I offended if the men around me are in suits rather than tuxedos? Of course not! I don't expect them to be offended at my choice of dress either.

[sdb1s]

I am of the belief that if there is a designated formal night, it should be Black tie. I am old-fashioned , although I am just 38, and believe if one is going to book this or any other event, just blend in.

then again, I tend to overdress, if unsure. I am usually more comfortable in pants and button-up **** than cut-offs. I hope the QM2 attracts folks with similar tastes.

[colleency]

On Cunard, do you dress for dinner every night?

 

On the 11-night to Hawaii, there are two formal evenings, two semi-formal evenings, and the rest are country club casual.