Men's Dinner Attire on 'Dressier' Cruiselines

[Leo Jay]

I'm curious about how men dress for dinner on the dressier' cruiselines. On my last 8 day, I made the mistake of taking 3 sportjackets (wore one, packed two), about 4 pairs of slacks, and a tuxedo. Never... EVER again! :D As it happened, we ended up eating in the buffet area half the time, but even if we were planning to eat in the dining room every night for our next cruise, I'd never shlep all those clothes again just to wear for 3 hours a night. I think I'll just take the tux for formal nights and maybe a nondescript blue blazer and grey slacks for every other night! :) Well, maybe two pairs of slacks. :) Is that what a lot of men do? Just wear a bland 'uniform', and just change their shirt?

 

P.S. Why do women always complain about how much harder they have it than men in terms of clothes? At least your stuff is light! A little black dress can practically be stuffed into an evening purse and a sexy pair of strappy shoes weighs about half an ounce. Try carrying around a tux, a couple of jackets, and wool slacks, and a couple of pairs of big 'ol man shoes! That's a workout!

:D

[caviargal]

For a week long cruise, my DF packs a tux with two different vest/tie combos, one sport coat and a suit or two sportcoats, depending on the line and how many nights we plan to enjoy the specialty restaurants.

 

Neither of us care for buffets at any meal so will always choose the dining room.

 

In addition to the above, he will pack Tommy Bahama type shirts and slacks and rarely repeats trousers. But then, he is a clothes horse:D!

[KLLund]

My hubby complains about the luggage and packing too much heavy stuff too ... so for our upcoming trip I found a fabulous roll around garment bag with much more room in it than the ordinary garment bags. He took one look and wanted to know why it took me so long to think of that .. Now I am wondering why I didn't buy two of them !!!!!!!!!

[Leo Jay]

Thanks for the comments. I can tend to be a bit of a clotheshorse myself in real life, but I think from now on, I'm going to relax and make it a bit easier on myself when I'm on vacation. If someone actually notices that "he wore that very same blue blazer and grey flannels just the other night!", then God bless 'em -- they clearly need a vacation more than I do! :D

[Cathy Maneri]

For formal night I pack for hubby a black suit with a couple of french cuff shirts and different ties. He loves cuff links.

 

Informal night .....I will pack one blue or black blazer with grey and tan dress slacks for the informal nights. White and blue shirts are a must, they go with everything. And ties to match.

 

One pair of black dress shoes is good with everything. Don't forget the dress belt.

 

On the casual nights it's dockers with long-sleeve shirts. Hubby doesn't like short-sleeve shirts at dinner. He gets cold.

 

Now I wish I had it easier.

[judy&steve]

Not sure what you mean by "dressier" cruise lines. We are going on the QM2 for a Caribbean cruise and this is their dress code (I just happen to have the document in front of me):

Formal Tuxedo (alternatively a dark suit) for men. Evening gown, cocktail dreses or other formal attire for women.

Informal Jacket and tie required for men. Dress, pantsuit or similar for women.

Casual For men,, slacks and sweater or shirt. For woemn, skirt or slacks with a sweater or blouse.

Also, they say "we request that you dress for dinner as you would for a fine restaurant."

So, Steve will be bringing his tux, one or two jackets, and several pair of dress pants.

--Judy

[Jane110]

If we're on a cruiseline with formal and semi formal nights, my DH packs either a tux or dark suit for the formal nights. Then we bring two blazers, one worsted wool navy to wear with grey trousers (bring one pair light and one pair of dark grey) and then a silk blend earth toned "tweedy" blazer to wear with olive and tan pants. We vary the shirts so he doesn't repeat wearings of those. For evening shoes: 1 pair black formal for tux/suit, one pair of black loafers and one pair of brown loafers.

[Happy ks]

Leo Jay, It's very nice to read that some men still care enough about the way they dress to pack along all that you do. I think you could have done very nicely with just one sportscoat and several different colored shirts.

 

I think when women say men have it so much easier it doesn't have anything to do with the weight of the garments you're packing, but the amount of clothing. A man can pack a dark suit, a sports coat and slacks and a few shirts. Many women feel compelled to pack a totally different outfit, plus different shoes, for every evening of the cruise. Add to that the pantyhose, Spanx, bras (some specialty!), jewelry, evening bags etc...

 

Yes, our load may be lighter (:confused: I wonder with some!), but I'll bet most women have twice the amount of clothing you pack :)

 

Your comment about the shoes cracks me up. I even sometimes read how women can just pack their shoes inside their husbands. I wear a size 10 womens shoe, my husband wears a mens size 9, we can almost fit into the each others shoes :eek: .

 

My husband is the overpacker, not me. I used to have to cut back on my wardrobe after he makes his selections. We live and learn. I've learned to have him pick out his clothes, then send him off to work. I go through and weed out what I feel can be eliminated. I'm not sneaky, I tell him before we leave and although he disagrees a bit over it, he's never had the occasion where he doesn't have enough clothing for the week.

[wraithe]

I take at least two complete formal outfits, then usually have a sport coat and ties, for the more casual nights. I might not wear the tie, but I have them if I choose to.

[tumeroll]

Last January on the QE2 for a 14 night NYC to LA with 8 formal nights and 6 informal, I took tux, and white dinner jacket, suit, two different style of blue blazer plus the usual assortment of shirts, multiple ties, and slacks and shoes. Did not find it difficult as I always use a porter at the rail stations (I do not fly so I can always take more) and at the pier. Once on ship whether you have a single carry on or multiple bags everything is put neatly away in the dressers and closet so no problem.

 

I have dropped several cruises on NCL for 2007 because the passenger consist on that line prefers jeans and polo shirts for most meals and dress up means a pair of dockers. From now on it only the "classier" lines (maybe only line)

[Dame Delilah]

DH usually packs

-one tuxedo (2 shirts-can be cleaned onboard as needed)

(On Summer cruises may also pack a white dinner jacket)

-one dark suit (charcoal and appropriate shirts)

-two sports coats (usually one blue blazer and one camel color jacket

(shirts to co-ordinate with the above jackets --beige or creme)

-Two pants--Grey slacks, brown slacks with appropriate belts

 

Throw in a couple of pairs of Dockers and a few collared shirts and you are fixed! Depending upon the length of the cruise you might need to send some items out for cleaning-- But basically, You've got it all!!

[girlbuffalo1]

For our last 10 day cruise on Celebrity my husband brought a dark suit for the formal nights, a dressy sportsjacket for the 2 informal nights and for the casual nights it was either just shirt and tie or nice polo and khakis. He only a few pants and a jacket or two and then brings a lot of different colored dress shirts and ties.