All your P&O dress code comments and queries.

[Fionboard]

Maybe he tried the MDR on formal night without a jacket? More to this than meets the eye methinks. Glad saga is over! 

[9265359]

A serious, although I am sure controversial, question for my fly cruise in December - what is the minimum needed to get into the MDR on a formal night as I am disinclined to take my DJ and all the accoutrements. 

 

The wording from P&O is - 

Celebration Nights give you the option to put your most fashionable foot forward. Elegance is the order of the evening… a chance to wow everyone with a favourite cocktail dress, tuxedo, ball gown, DJ, or a suit, jacket and tie. You may also wear formal national dress or military uniform. Again, whatever style preference, simply join in the mood and chic of the evening.

 

Now my reading of that is "jacket and tie" (and obviously trousers!) is that a "jacket and tie" is separate from a suit, and it doesn't matter what sort of 'jacket' just something reasonably smart with a tie.

 

And yes, yes, decline of society, should have booked something else, etc. but really my question is - will I get to eat in the MDR.

[FangedRose]

On 8/3/2023 at 6:02 PM, 9265359 said:

A serious, although I am sure controversial, question for my fly cruise in December - what is the minimum needed to get into the MDR on a formal night as I am disinclined to take my DJ and all the accoutrements. 

 

The wording from P&O is - 

Celebration Nights give you the option to put your most fashionable foot forward. Elegance is the order of the evening… a chance to wow everyone with a favourite cocktail dress, tuxedo, ball gown, DJ, or a suit, jacket and tie. You may also wear formal national dress or military uniform. Again, whatever style preference, simply join in the mood and chic of the evening.

 

Now my reading of that is "jacket and tie" (and obviously trousers!) is that a "jacket and tie" is separate from a suit, and it doesn't matter what sort of 'jacket' just something reasonably smart with a tie.

 

And yes, yes, decline of society, should have booked something else, etc. but really my question is - will I get to eat in the MDR.

Any jacket will do. Onr of my table companions has been wearing mismatching jacket and trousers, and no tie for all formals this cruise. Other table mates are disapproving but he has been allowed in.

 

But each ship, and each matre'd interpret the rules differently.

[fragilek]

Hi just booked Azura for next year, hoping it is better than some of the recent reviews 🤔. What I am trying to find out is what should be worn in the MDR in normal nights.  My husband usually wears a casual shirt and trousers but does he need a jacket too.  On the formal nights is a normal suit and tie OK or does it have to be black tie. As a Scot that would mean full kilt stuff which weighs a lot.  There were no flights left so we are having to book them ourself and the luggage cost adds up if extra bags required.   Also how many formal nights are there on a back to back 7n cruise then a 9n repositioning cruise.

 

Thanks for any help as this is our first rodeo with P&O

[Son of Anarchy]

A normal suit and tie will be fine for the formal nights. Casual shirt and trousers also fine for the non-formal nights.  Polo shirts are fine.  Personally I only tend to wear polo shirts during the day, but that's my choice.

 

Azura's 7 nighters usually have two formals.  Not sure about the nine nighter re-positioning cruise, I would have thought two or three formals.

[elmsliebev]

On 8/24/2023 at 7:50 PM, fragilek said:

Hi just booked Azura for next year, hoping it is better than some of the recent reviews 🤔. What I am trying to find out is what should be worn in the MDR in normal nights.  My husband usually wears a casual shirt and trousers but does he need a jacket too.  On the formal nights is a normal suit and tie OK or does it have to be black tie. As a Scot that would mean full kilt stuff which weighs a lot.  There were no flights left so we are having to book them ourself and the luggage cost adds up if extra bags required.   Also how many formal nights are there on a back to back 7n cruise then a 9n repositioning cruise.

 

Thanks for any help as this is our first rodeo with P&O

we're on a 22 night cruise this October & there are 5 formal nights: 2 on the first week, then 3 on the actual repositioning bit of 15 nights. My OH is taking a suit rather than black tie this time. And polo shirts/short sleeve shirts for the other nights. 

Edited August 30, 2023 by elmsliebev

[Thedonkeycentrehalf]

Having been on a few cruises from Southampton, we have our first fly cruise in February on Britannia.

 

With more limitations on luggage, I’m trying to work out how best to mix and match my wardrobe to cover formal nights and others so contemplating leaving the tux at home and going with a more modern suit.

 

I have two related questions which I thought would best be posted here.

 

1) when does the cruis planner get updated to indicate which dress close is for which formal night / celebration night?
 

2) How far in advance do the options to book other restaurants come online if you don’t want to go formal?
 

Thanks

[Over the Clouds]

Is there a special menu in the MDR on formal night or it is purely about the atmosphere?

[Son of Anarchy]

56 minutes ago, Over the Clouds said:

Is there a special menu in the MDR on formal night or it is purely about the atmosphere?

Sort of....

 

Some formal nights the menus are better, sometimes, they're quite similar.  

[yorkshirephil]

1 hour ago, Over the Clouds said:

Is there a special menu in the MDR on formal night or it is purely about the atmosphere?

On celebration night you have a slightly extended menu from Marco Pierre White, more details on the P&O site, https://www.pocruises.com/onboard-activities/dining/celebration-night

[yorkshirephil]

[sandancer]

Well I’ll certainly recognise you Phil when we are on the same cruise. 

[sandancer]

On 11/5/2023 at 4:34 PM, Thedonkeycentrehalf said:

Having been on a few cruises from Southampton, we have our first fly cruise in February on Britannia.

 

With more limitations on luggage, I’m trying to work out how best to mix and match my wardrobe to cover formal nights and others so contemplating leaving the tux at home and going with a more modern suit.

 

I have two related questions which I thought would best be posted here.

 

1) when does the cruis planner get updated to indicate which dress close is for which formal night / celebration night?
 

2) How far in advance do the options to book other restaurants come online if you don’t want to go formal?
 

Thanks

Usually 2 weeks before sail date, I stress usually as you just never know. 

[9265359]

As an observation from Azura’s formal night last night (and the ‘proper’ one not the silly Christmas jumper one) is that ties now seem to be optional as no challenge going into the MDR, Planet Bar, or the Blue Bar simply wearing a jacket - no questions at all from the host on the restaurant desk or the ‘bouncers’ on the bar doors. 

[davecttr]

1 hour ago, 9265359 said:

As an observation from Azura’s formal night last night (and the ‘proper’ one not the silly Christmas jumper one) is that ties now seem to be optional as no challenge going into the MDR, Planet Bar, or the Blue Bar simply wearing a jacket - no questions at all from the host on the restaurant desk or the ‘bouncers’ on the bar doors. 

From the P&O site

Celebration Nights give you the option to put your most fashionable foot forward. Elegance is the order of the evening… a chance to wow everyone with a favourite cocktail dress, tuxedo, ball gown, DJ, or a suit, jacket and tie. You may also wear formal national dress or military uniform. Again, whatever style preference, simply join in the mood and chic of the evening.

 

Several ways of interpreting that but I note that a suit is no longer required. This means that the old jacket required code returns and that was fun on Arcadia. Ancient tweeds with gravy stains, blazers including those worn at the Henley regatta. It looked like a tramps convention and I felt over dressed in my lightweight Linen jacket with tie. I did not see a donkey jacket though 😁

[9265359]

48 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Several ways of interpreting that but I note that a suit is no longer required.

It certainly isn’t. 
 

There were men in the Planet Bar last night just wearing an open collar shirt with trousers, no jacket or tie - and no issue at all with the staff on the door or getting served. 
 

But… they were smart open collar shirts, and frankly looked a lot more presentable than many wearing old badly fitting DJs. 

[Selbourne]

Does anyone have any idea how many formal nights there are likely to be on a 65 night cruise on Aurora?

[davecttr]

6 weeks means  so probably 12. When i was on a segment of the world on Aurora lots of passengers were fed up with formal nights as it is not special any more.

[terrierjohn]

10 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Does anyone have any idea how many formal nights there are likely to be on a 65 night cruise on Aurora?

I assume they will try to squeeze in the usual 2 a week, we have had 10 planned on a 5 week Ventura cruise.  However most passengers seem to start  skipping a lot of the later ones, and the buffet does get busier.

[Harry Peterson]

21 hours ago, davecttr said:

From the P&O site

Celebration Nights give you the option to put your most fashionable foot forward. Elegance is the order of the evening… a chance to wow everyone with a favourite cocktail dress, tuxedo, ball gown, DJ, or a suit, jacket and tie. You may also wear formal national dress or military uniform. Again, whatever style preference, simply join in the mood and chic of the evening.

 

Several ways of interpreting that but I note that a suit is no longer required. This means that the old jacket required code returns and that was fun on Arcadia. Ancient tweeds with gravy stains, blazers including those worn at the Henley regatta. It looked like a tramps convention and I felt over dressed in my lightweight Linen jacket with tie. I did not see a donkey jacket though 😁

That’s very interesting, Dave - I hadn’t spotted that change. The wording’s a little ambiguous but if it means I can ditch the suit for smart casual, with decent trousers, shirt, jacket and tie, I’m all in favour.

 

It had to come eventually, and I think the fast-changing P&O demographic has made it inevitable. Won’t please a lot of people, but I’m delighted!

[Selbourne]

6 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I assume they will try to squeeze in the usual 2 a week, we have had 10 planned on a 5 week Ventura cruise.  However most passengers seem to start  skipping a lot of the later ones, and the buffet does get busier.

I don’t mind a formal night if it’s accompanied by the slightly enhanced MDR menus. However, if it’s a standard menu then I see absolutely no point in having a formal dress code, so I can quite understand why people opt out. 

[Harry Peterson]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

I don’t mind a formal night if it’s accompanied by the slightly enhanced MDR menus. However, if it’s a standard menu then I see absolutely no point in having a formal dress code, so I can quite understand why people opt out. 

It always was a canny marketing ploy to make the ordinary somehow appear to be extraordinary at no cost to P&O.  There comes a point though when that just won’t work any more because all the niceties have been removed, and that point has now been reached. 

[Selbourne]

6 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

That’s very interesting, Dave - I hadn’t spotted that change. The wording’s a little ambiguous but if it means I can ditch the suit for smart casual, with decent trousers, shirt, jacket and tie, I’m all in favour.

 

It had to come eventually, and I think the fast-changing P&O demographic has made it inevitable. Won’t please a lot of people, but I’m delighted!

I don’t see it as a change. I wear a proper dinner suit on formal nights, but for many many years have felt as though I am in a minority of the gents. You see a fair few tuxedos but an awful lot of normal suits or jackets and trousers with standard ties or bow ties. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest BTW, but I don’t consider a jacket and tie to be smart casual. I still see that as quite formal. 

[Selbourne]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I don’t see it as a change. I wear a proper dinner suit on formal nights, but for many many years have felt as though I am in a minority of the gents. You see a fair few tuxedos but an awful lot of normal suits or jackets and trousers with standard ties or bow ties. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest BTW, but I don’t consider a jacket and tie to be smart casual. I still see that as quite formal. 

Just to slightly correct myself. Whilst I certainly don’t consider wearing a jacket and tie as being smart casual, I’ve remembered that P&O used to have a 3rd dress code called ‘informal’ which was exactly this. I wouldn’t welcome a return to that though. Ties have died a death these days. I remember that in my grandparents generation all the gents wore ties every day, all through retirement and right up until they popped their clogs. Fast forward to these days and it strikes me that only a tiny proportion of chaps wear a tie and they are only worn at work in certain sectors. It’s quite normal now to see Chief Executives of huge companies with open neck shirts. 
 

I don’t like having to wear a dinner suit and bow tie, so would be happy to see the requirement dropped, but not if it gives P&O an excuse to ditch the slightly better menus that you get on formal nights. Personally, an enhanced menu with just a ‘smart’ requirement, which might include a jacket with an open neck shirt, would be my ideal choice. 

[9265359]

19 hours ago, Selbourne said:

but not if it gives P&O an excuse to ditch the slightly better menus that you get on formal nights.

The only difference between the standard and formal night menu on the cruise I am on Azura at the moment is a small cup of cold spiced tomato soup.
 

There has been nothing impressive about them at all. 

 

As a result I have opted out of the majority, choosing the Glass House instead on those nights.