Men's formalwear/smart attire: How many outfits?

[Starstruckharper]

Hello, 

 

I'll be going transatlantic this coming summer, and am curious about how many different outfits I should plan on bringing. 

 

1: Formal nights: There's two of them -- just a tuxedo, or a dark suit for night 1 and a tuxedo for night 2?

 

2: "Smart attire" -- I don't have the luggage space to bring seven whole outfits for every night -- would two or three pairs of slacks, shirts, vests, ties, etc. do? That way I can mix-and-match and get seven different outfits without having to find a way to fit seven sport coats into my suitcase (and budget!).

 

Thank you, 

 

-Starstruckharper

[Flying-Dragon]

6 minutes ago, Starstruckharper said:

Hello, 

 

I'll be going transatlantic this coming summer, and am curious about how many different outfits I should plan on bringing. 

 

My partner and I love formal nights, but we just bring a tuxedo and a sports jacket with dress pants for the other evenings.  Where we ring the changes is in the number of sets of cummerbunds and bow ties we bring along.  It allows us to look a little different each formal night (for 2 formals, we'd bring 2 sets) without taking up much space in the suitcase.

[D&N]

I took 3 dinner suits and 3 dark suits for 14 nights, and my wife took 14 evening and 12 lunch outfits plus everything else we needed all within 58kg/128lbs. We need to fly Nice-Heathrow so we have airline baggage restrictions.

As a minimum I would take a dinner suit and a dark suit. If one got damaged I'd have an acceptable backup. I'd wear the tux both gala nights and have the suit jacket for other nights in case I was anywhere cold or draughty.

 

[TheOldBear]

On our 26 night sailing, I brought my tux (dinner suit) with two shirts, and two ties. Each shirt made a trip to the ship's laundry for wash and press. [formal wear made a trip to the cleaners when we got home, so we are ready for our next formal occasion]

For 'smart' nights, I had a blazer and a vest (waistcoat not undershirt) and several dress shirts. I also had one of the few QM2 neckties visible out in the wild.

Blue jeans were formally forbidden at dinner (at least under the pre-covid dress code), so I brought black Wrangler jeans to alternate with wool dress slacks. 

I used the self service laundry about every 10 days or so (dress shirts, t shirts, socks, underwear....) - was surprised to see new machines installed for our westbound crossing.

[carlmm]

For a regular transatlantic at least one tuxedo/dinner suit and two dark suits, shirts and different ties for each night.

[Victoria2]

2 hours ago, Starstruckharper said:

Hello, 

 

I'll be going transatlantic this coming summer, and am curious about how many different outfits I should plan on bringing. 

 

1: Formal nights: There's two of them -- just a tuxedo, or a dark suit for night 1 and a tuxedo for night 2?

 

2: "Smart attire" -- I don't have the luggage space to bring seven whole outfits for every night -- would two or three pairs of slacks, shirts, vests, ties, etc. do? That way I can mix-and-match and get seven different outfits without having to find a way to fit seven sport coats into my suitcase (and budget!).

 

Thank you, 

 

-Starstruckharper

It's not a fashion parade. You won't get marked out of ten for variety of outfits 🙂 and to be quite frank, I wouldn't notice [unless the outfit was particularly ''striking''] or more important care, if you wore the same jacket on most non Gala evenings. It's personal choice of course, but there is absolutely no need to wear a different outfit every night,  ladies or chaps.

For a fourteen night cruise [not transatlantic on QM2], my husband brings one dinner suit, a couple of jackets, a few pairs of trousers [no jeans] and half a dozen dress shirts. We both make use of the laundry, and  ship not passenger when ironing is involved.

 

Don't be overawed by those who pack loads. If you can't manage it, it is most definitely not necessary.

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by Victoria2

[BigMac1953]

Please don't bring multi-coloured cummurbunds or bow ties.

 

Evening dress for men is BLACK TIE i.e. black and white. Anything else is i bit naff.

 

Anyone ever seen James Bond with a multi-coloured bow tie and pink cummerbund?

[lissie]

Did a 34 night cruise and a 20 night cruise last year . My partner packed one dark suit , one white shirt, a couple of ties. For informal nights he had 4 other patterned button down shirts plus a second pair of dress trousers.  

 

You no longer need a jacket on informal nights. 

[exlondoner]

9 minutes ago, lissie said:

Did a 34 night cruise and a 20 night cruise last year . My partner packed one dark suit , one white shirt, a couple of ties. For informal nights he had 4 other patterned button down shirts plus a second pair of dress trousers.  

 

You no longer need a jacket on informal nights. 

You certainly don't need one, but on both the cruises I enjoyed last year, the vast majority of gents I encountered were wearing one. Now these were both cruises from Southampton in European waters, and it might well be very different in Alaska or Australia.

[lissie]

Just now, exlondoner said:

You certainly don't need one, but on both the cruises I enjoyed last year, the vast majority of gents I encountered were wearing one. Now these were both cruises from Southampton in European waters, and it might well be very different in Alaska or Australia.

We were almost entirely tropical - SF-Panama Canal-Barcelona and Barcelona-Singapore.  I'd say the Americans who were on until Florida wore the most jackets - across the Atlantic is predominantly Brits and  it was less formal - the last week around the Med was even less so. The second cruise was about 1/2 Brits and Australians and noticeably fewer jackets .

 

At times the QE Britannia dining room was far too warm - and we were on late seating 

[exlondoner]

5 minutes ago, lissie said:

We were almost entirely tropical - SF-Panama Canal-Barcelona and Barcelona-Singapore.  I'd say the Americans who were on until Florida wore the most jackets - across the Atlantic is predominantly Brits and  it was less formal - the last week around the Med was even less so. The second cruise was about 1/2 Brits and Australians and noticeably fewer jackets .

 

At times the QE Britannia dining room was far too warm - and we were on late seating 

Yes, the air-conditioning in the restaurant seems to be a law unto itself. Sometimes, when it was hot outside, it seemed cooler in the QG, presumably because it had been turned up or do I mean down. When we were quarantined for the last three days of the cruise, my husband rejected the suggestion that we should dress according to the evening’s dress code. Strange.

[ExArkie]

14 hours ago, BigMac1953 said:

Please don't bring multi-coloured cummurbunds or bow ties.

 

Evening dress for men is BLACK TIE i.e. black and white. Anything else is i bit naff.

 

Anyone ever seen James Bond with a multi-coloured bow tie and pink cummerbund?

Seems to depend on what country you reside in.

 

The US Cunard site says, “At least twice on each seven night voyage we’ll host a Gala Evening, where we ask that you observe a black-tie dress code.”

 

The UK Cunard site says, “A formal suit, shirt, and tie of any color will also do just fine for Gala Evenings.” It does use both “tuxedo” and “formal suit” in separate paragraphs, so not clear whether the “any color tie” provision applies to tuxedos. But, then, when has their Web site actually been clear on everything?

 

[exlondoner]

I always assumed black tie was shorthand for the whole style of dress, and not actually descriptive of the tie, just as people do not change out of morning dress when noon strikes.

[navybankerteacher]

If you are bringing a couple of steamer trunks you can have as many dress suits, regular suits, sports jackets, etc. as your vanity might wish.  Practically, however, all you really need is one dark suit or tuxedo for formal nights, one blazer or sports jacket (which you can wear while boarding - as the pockets are convenient for documents, etc.);  for other nights, perhaps three neckties, a couple of white shirts, perhaps one blue and one striped shirt -  to be able to be dressed differently for a couple of dozen nights.

[Bell Boy]

17 hours ago, BigMac1953 said:

Please don't bring multi-coloured cummurbunds or bow ties.

 

Evening dress for men is BLACK TIE i.e. black and white. Anything else is i bit naff.

 

Anyone ever seen James Bond with a multi-coloured bow tie and pink cummerbund?

You've taken the words out of my mouth BigMac 👏   and don't get me started on those Union Jack ( or stars and stripes) Bow Ties.   Cunard transatlantic crossing are far too upmarket for gimmicks like that .  

[lincslady]

'Black tie' is certainly shorthand for tuxedo/dinner jacket, but many Brits. consider a coloured tie and even cummerbund a bit 'common'.  Like calling the loo/lavatory a 'toilet'.  

[busmech]

I did a WC segment and a table mate was doing the full WC with just one suitcase. I asked how he did the formal nights, he replied lots of ties. On my last 30 day cruise I did it with one tux, a couple of dress pants, a selection of shirts and ties and a couple of vest, cummerbund sets. I do it with one suitcase and one garment suitcase. 

[lissie]

8 hours ago, exlondoner said:

I always assumed black tie was shorthand for the whole style of dress, and not actually descriptive of the tie, just as people do not change out of morning dress when noon strikes.

Black tie is black tie , white forma shirt and tuxedo - I think the cumberband is optional. White tie is white tie - formal shirt (with separate detachable  collar) and tails - you don't see that on Cunard (tails take a lot more space than just a tux. 

 

Cunard modifies black tie by accepting a suit as well as a tuxedo. 

[lissie]

5 hours ago, lincslady said:

 Like calling the loo/lavatory a 'toilet'.  

I loo is slang in NZ - the proper  term is toilet 

[North West Newbie]

15 minutes ago, lissie said:

Black tie is black tie , white forma shirt and tuxedo - I think the cumberband is optional. White tie is white tie - formal shirt (with separate detachable  collar) and tails - you don't see that on Cunard (tails take a lot more space than just a tux. 

 

Cunard modifies black tie by accepting a suit as well as a tuxedo. 

 

Well, you've not seen me onboard then. 😉

[lissie]

1 minute ago, North West Newbie said:

 

Well, you've not seen me onboard then. 😉

70 days 

[Colin_Cameron]

11 hours ago, North West Newbie said:

Well, you've not seen me onboard then. 😉

Nor me.

 

I've worn my tails numerous times on all three current ships and only once have I been the only one.

[Starstruckharper]

How about shoes? I have a pair of black patent leather dress shoes that I wear most of the time I need to put "nice" shoes on -- will those do for formal nights or should I plan to purchase a pair of even nicer shoes?

[TheOldBear]

46 minutes ago, Starstruckharper said:

How about shoes? I have a pair of black patent leather dress shoes that I wear most of the time I need to put "nice" shoes on -- will those do for formal nights or should I plan to purchase a pair of even nicer shoes?

I don't think anyone will be studying your shoes for formal night compliance [I wear my dance shoes]

[exlondoner]

8 hours ago, Starstruckharper said:

How about shoes? I have a pair of black patent leather dress shoes that I wear most of the time I need to put "nice" shoes on -- will those do for formal nights or should I plan to purchase a pair of even nicer shoes?

Shoes are above all what makes your luggage heavy. I would take the bare minimum. (Not bare feet though. 😀)