How are formal nights these days cruising in the UK?

[suzyed]

19 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Well, I could be.  Our UK friends here on CC always post that they dress up more - at least out of Southampton.  I do think with a more international group of guests, the dressing is up a notch.  But it changes nothing IMO.  We wear what we wear.  Don't you?

Yes, we do!  As a matter of fact we rarely participate in Formal nights. We dress nicely and we may eat in one of the Specialties instead.  I don't bring gowns just a few nicer outfits and I usually encourage DH to bring a dinner jacket but the years of tuxedos and gowns has now passed, at least for us!

[suzyed]

11 hours ago, Crystaltipps67 said:

We are from the UK and have cruised with Cunard. Whilst it was fun to dress up, we are both agreed that black tie is more than we want to do on a cruise now. But we do dress up a bit for formal nights. This is the sort of thing we wear....

On our 4 crossings on the QM2 we enjoyed the formal aspects...it was nice!  Like you, we are less interested in the "fancy dress", though we loved every time we sailed the QM2!  We now dress very much like you two do and I think you both look very nice!

 

[Bgwest]

5 hours ago, david63 said:

I think that maybe the point that is being missed here is that the OP asked about the dress code for cruises out of the UK - not anywhere else in the world. I fully accept that Princess cruises out of the US have a different interpretation.

See post #3 

Not all that different anywhere in the world. I know there are a few wish to return to the olden days, but if someone else said, previously, Time Marches On.

[Bgwest]

4 hours ago, Fortunate 2 travel said:

We sailed on the Regal out of Southampton in July.  Most people dressed nicely.  Only saw a few tuxedos.

“…. dressed nicely”.  Purely open to individual interpretation, wouldn’t you say?

[LibertyBella]

For us, a major part of cruising is the fun of getting dressed up and celebrating like it is New Year's Eve!  As Issac Mizrahi (American designer) says, "if you are going to show up, then SHOW UP!"

 

I love to look beautiful, and elegant on formal nights, and DH better match me in style for all the formal photos we take!  Even though I am American, I have some favorite British designers, especially Georgina Chapman.  Here is one of her delicious dresses I wore two months ago on the Enchanted Princess:

 

 

 

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

19 hours ago, Thrak said:

For me (and, after speaking with her, also for my wife) we are grateful that it seems the Brits have retained some sense of decorum and are, apparently, more willing to dress nicely for the...

Clipped for brevity.

 

What a good post.

 

I do wonder why some people are so anti-dressing up. They know there are formal nights before they book and can choose not to do so themselves. But why they want to spoil it for those that do enjoy being a bit more formal I don't know. 

 

IMO, if you know it is a formal night then I think it polite and respectful to either dress up a bit yourself or avoid the MDR on those nights. It is only ever one or two nights on a shorter cruise so why spoil it. Does it spoil the food for me if they don't ? Of course not. But it spoils the specialness and I am always feel a little disappointed when I see people not complying.

 

I think that smart dress should be enforced by the crew on formal nights. People should need to complain before the crew respond... it should be insisted upon. Even smart casual should be acceptable so not everyone need dress up totally but anything non-smart (baseball caps, t-shirts, shorts etc) should be turned away IMO. Whether they should ever be allowed in the MDR is for another thread but certainly not on formal nights. 

[Steelers36]

7 minutes ago, Snaxmuppet said:

Clipped for brevity.

 

What a good post.

 

I do wonder why some people are so anti-dressing up. They know there are formal nights before they book and can choose not to do so themselves. But why they want to spoil it for those that do enjoy being a bit more formal I don't know. 

 

IMO, if you know it is a formal night then I think it polite and respectful to either dress up a bit yourself or avoid the MDR on those nights. It is only ever one or two nights on a shorter cruise so why spoil it. Does it spoil the food for me if they don't ? Of course not. But it spoils the specialness and I am always feel a little disappointed when I see people not complying.

 

I think that smart dress should be enforced by the crew on formal nights. People should need to complain before the crew respond... it should be insisted upon. Even smart casual should be acceptable so not everyone need dress up totally but anything non-smart (baseball caps, t-shirts, shorts etc) should be turned away IMO. Whether they should ever be allowed in the MDR is for another thread but certainly not on formal nights. 

I think you have a reasonable position there.

[Nicole&Pete]

Just now, suzyed said:

I know formal nights have gotten more casual over the years but I was wondering if people were still a bit more dressy on Europe/UK sailings? 
Whenever I think of formal dress in the UK it brings me back to our sailings on the QM2 which of course is very formal.
Any recent experience?
Don't be Gobsmacked Steerlers36!  LOL!

In answer to your question we see a very mixed bag sailing out of many places including Europe where people are wearing all sorts, but if the cruise sails out of Southampton we see a lot of tuxes, long gowns, cocktail dresses, jackets, ties and not many deviate from that.
 

On our last cruise this year out of Southampton there were a few people who were not so dressed such as wearing slacks and a polo shirt and you could tell they felt pretty uncomfortable and out of place, probably because they didn’t realise how dressed up the cruise would be sailing out of Southampton. 
 

I don’t think anyone will care what you wear as long as it is smart, it just depends how much you want to fit in with what everyone else will be wearing. 
 

 

[SCX22]

44 minutes ago, Snaxmuppet said:

I do wonder why some people are so anti-dressing up. They know there are formal nights before they book and can choose not to do so themselves. But why they want to spoil it for those that do enjoy being a bit more formal I don't know. 

 

For me it's a generational thing.  I'm from a younger generation and outward appearances don't mean anything.  Hailing from the state of California, life is about keeping low key regardless of wealth or status.  Don't believe the Hollywood hype; that's a very small subset of people.  When my generation gets dressed up it's because we have to go to formal wedding (and I stress formal), a funeral, or a job interview.  A vacation is none of these.  Dressing up for me is an antiquated notion that's an effort to stratify a class system.  Having said that, I every time I've sailed out of Southampton, I've felt very underdressed even on casual days as compared to the Brits.  By the same token, I've never had an urge to change out of what I was wearing.

 

Since you're a Brit, dressing up for me is like the character Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced bouquet), in the sitcom Keep Up Appearances.  (My grandparents got me hooked on that show by watching reruns on American Public Television.)

[Lucky TGO]

9 hours ago, kiwimum said:

Sailed in the Sky out of Southampton mid August and was amazed by the number of men and boys in tuxedos,  women and girls in long dresses.   Families looked amazing and wore their formal attire very comfortably.   Well done.

I’m happy to hear that the men and boys are wearing tuxedoes on formal nights. I always will.

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

[Over from NZ]

Mediterranean.. shorts and T-Shirts are now acceptable in the dining room on Forma night.. so would expect out of UK to be similar?

[david63]

19 minutes ago, Over from NZ said:

Mediterranean.. shorts and T-Shirts are now acceptable in the dining room on Forma night.. so would expect out of UK to be similar?

You might expect it but I doubt that you will find it

[Over from NZ]

9 minutes ago, david63 said:

You might expect it but I doubt that you will find it

Are UK cruises different to the Mediterranean? Different clientelle?

[david63]

2 minutes ago, Over from NZ said:

Are UK cruises different to the Mediterranean? Different clientelle?

Cruises sailing out of the UK will generally have a high percentage of Brits onboard whilst those sailing out of Mediterranean ports will have more Europeans (non Brits) on board - unless it happens to be a UK cruise line.

[Over from NZ]

5 minutes ago, david63 said:

Cruises sailing out of the UK will generally have a high percentage of Brits onboard whilst those sailing out of Mediterranean ports will have more Europeans (non Brits) on board - unless it happens to be a UK cruise line.

Oh ok. We found American's were the predominant nationality.. followed by UK and Canada. Maybe they've changed the tone of dining dress in the Med to suit the Americans if you say it's going to be different in the UK compared to the Med.  

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

3 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 

For me it's a generational thing.  I'm from a younger generation and outward appearances don't mean anything.  Hailing from the state of California, life is about keeping low key regardless of wealth or status.  Don't believe the Hollywood hype; that's a very small subset of people.  When my generation gets dressed up it's because we have to go to formal wedding (and I stress formal), a funeral, or a job interview.  A vacation is none of these.  Dressing up for me is an antiquated notion that's an effort to stratify a class system.  Having said that, I every time I've sailed out of Southampton, I've felt very underdressed even on casual days as compared to the Brits.  By the same token, I've never had an urge to change out of what I was wearing.

 

Since you're a Brit, dressing up for me is like the character Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced bouquet), in the sitcom Keep Up Appearances.  (My grandparents got me hooked on that show by watching reruns on American Public Television.)

You are, of course, entitled to have your vacation any way you choose but there is something of a rebel in what you say there. If you want to be casual all the time regardless then why not cruise on a line where that is the norm instead of cruising on a line that has formal nights and then saying that you don't want formal nights. It kinda spoils it for those that do.

 

It isn't about class nowadays. Perhaps in the past yes, but not now. It is about being able to be smart and elegant and to have that feeling of being well-groomed and dressed. Perhaps it is a generational thing but sometimes the old way are worth keeping. My son, for instance, is 26 and he loves getting all dressed up and he looks for opportunities to do it... cruise, New Year, charity event etc. So not all people of your generation feel the same as you. 🙂 

[MissP22]

2 minutes ago, Snaxmuppet said:

You are, of course, entitled to have your vacation any way you choose but there is something of a rebel in what you say there. If you want to be casual all the time regardless then why not cruise on a line where that is the norm instead of cruising on a line that has formal nights and then saying that you don't want formal nights. It kinda spoils it for those that do.

For years we dressed up on Princess to conform to their dress code and since we no longer travel on other cruise lines, we really enjoy the benefit of being allowed to choose our style of dress on all nights, casual or formal. 

If dressing formally means that much to you, then perhaps Princess is no longer the right cruise line for you. Why not dress up as often as you wish & not put so much attention of those people who vary from your style of clothing? I believe this was Princess's intent to please everyone. 

[villauk]

11 hours ago, kiwimum said:

Sailed in the Sky out of Southampton mid August and was amazed by the number of men and boys in tuxedos,  women and girls in long dresses.   Families looked amazing and wore their formal attire very comfortably.   Well done.

 

Yes, we sailed on that same cruise and we’re amazed at the amount in long dresses; I did make a comment on another thread that I presumed many were usually P&O/Cunard cruisers as I’d never encountered so many in tuxedos and long dresses since our early days of cruising (and even then there were less long frocks). We don’t sail that often from Southampton, so that probably does factor in to us not usually seeing so many. Don’t get me wrong, we dress for dinner each evening, but more cocktail/smart casual wear than long prom.

[Princessfan20]

7 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

Clipped for brevity.

 

What a good post.

 

I do wonder why some people are so anti-dressing up. They know there are formal nights before they book and can choose not to do so themselves. But why they want to spoil it for those that do enjoy being a bit more formal I don't know. 

 

IMO, if you know it is a formal night then I think it polite and respectful to either dress up a bit yourself or avoid the MDR on those nights. It is only ever one or two nights on a shorter cruise so why spoil it. Does it spoil the food for me if they don't ? Of course not. But it spoils the specialness and I am always feel a little disappointed when I see people not complying.

 

I think that smart dress should be enforced by the crew on formal nights. People should need to complain before the crew respond... it should be insisted upon. Even smart casual should be acceptable so not everyone need dress up totally but anything non-smart (baseball caps, t-shirts, shorts etc) should be turned away IMO. Whether they should ever be allowed in the MDR is for another thread but certainly not on formal nights. 

 

And this is why the British have a royal family and the Americans do not.  We are not big on formal formalities.  We have sailed out of SH many times and really find the formal nights underwhelming on Princess.  

 

Can not understand what all the fuss is over a suggested dress code by Princess is when there are not gala balls to attend on the ships.  Live and let live.  None of our many cruises in all parts of the world have ever been tarnished by what someone was ever wearing.

[yorkshirephil]

When we cruise out of Southampton we typically dress a bit more formal as we are not hindered by luggage allowances when compared to flying. We like to dress up on formal nights but don't get hung up about people that don't. Some of our best friends are scruffs.

[SargassoPirate]

23 minutes ago, Princessfan20 said:

 

And this is why the British have a royal family and the Americans do not.  We are not big on formal formalities.  We have sailed out of SH many times and really find the formal nights underwhelming on Princess.  

 

We rebelled against the British in the late 1700s and we still don't like being told what to do.

 

There's nothing to keep anyone from dressing up as much as they want.

 

 

[Steelers36]

8 hours ago, Nicole&Pete said:

On our last cruise this year out of Southampton there were a few people who were not so dressed such as wearing slacks and a polo shirt and you could tell they felt pretty uncomfortable and out of place, probably because they didn’t realise how dressed up the cruise would be sailing out of Southampton.

I am comfortable in my own skin - figuratively that is.  😉

 

[SargassoPirate]

8 hours ago, Nicole&Pete said:

 

On our last cruise this year out of Southampton there were a few people who were not so dressed such as wearing slacks and a polo shirt and you could tell they felt pretty uncomfortable and out of place, probably because they didn’t realise how dressed up the cruise would be sailing out of Southampton. 
 

 

 

How could you tell the folks in slacks and polo shirts "felt pretty uncomfortable"?

 

 

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

5 hours ago, MissP22 said:

For years we dressed up on Princess to conform to their dress code and since we no longer travel on other cruise lines, we really enjoy the benefit of being allowed to choose our style of dress on all nights, casual or formal. 

If dressing formally means that much to you, then perhaps Princess is no longer the right cruise line for you. Why not dress up as often as you wish & not put so much attention of those people who vary from your style of clothing? I believe this was Princess's intent to please everyone. 

 

2 hours ago, Princessfan20 said:

 

And this is why the British have a royal family and the Americans do not.  We are not big on formal formalities.  We have sailed out of SH many times and really find the formal nights underwhelming on Princess.  

 

Can not understand what all the fuss is over a suggested dress code by Princess is when there are not gala balls to attend on the ships.  Live and let live.  None of our many cruises in all parts of the world have ever been tarnished by what someone was ever wearing.

Totally disagree. Sorry.

 

I don't see why progress should mean dumbing down to the lowest common denominator. If you don't like to have formal nights choose a line that doesn't have them. If you don't like there being a dress code for the MDR then choose a line that doesn't have one.

 

It is that simple.

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

BTW... it isn't just the dressing up... we can do that on any night. It is the fact that everyone is dressing up and making it a special night. 

 

Some people have no sense of style and that is fine... carry on wearing your T-shirts, baseball caps and shorts all you like. But why spoil it for others that want to enjoy something a bit more special.

 

Princess has a minimum standard for the MDR - we should all follow it. On formal nights if you don't want to take part then eat in the buffet and don't spoil it for everyone else.