shorts in the dining room

[smoosh21]

Each cruise line has a suggested dress code and it is up to the cruise lines to enforce this dress code. I don't look at what others are wearing but I do think that folks should respect their fellow guests on board and adhere to the dress code of the evening or dine in one of the casual alternative dining locations. Shorts are not part of the dining room suggested dress code and that should mean no shorts. Pretty simple to understand for anyone with common sense.;)

 

Exactly, and this is why I always eat in the buffet restaurant on smart casual/Semi-formal night. I don't want to pack a sport coat as well as my Tux. I will eat at the Buffet that night, since I will not be wearing the suggested attire.

I wouldn't expect a land based resort restaurant to change it's dress code for me, so why should I expect it on a ship?

[shoreless]

We'll probably avoid the main dining room on formal night, but I thought I'd read that most of the ships no longer have "smart casual" nights?

[Lightsluvr]

Here is a picture from the RCCL brochure. It doesn't look like they are too strict about dress codes does it? :)

 

 

What you don't see is the waiter just about to ask the bozo in the t-shirt to go change. His tablemates are soooo embarrassed... :D

 

LL

[RoosterSharkey]

What are the dress codes onboard?A: There are three distinct types of evenings onboard: casual, smart casual and formal. Suggested guidelines for these nights are: Casual: Sport shirts and slacks for men, sundresses or pants for womenSmart Casual: Jackets and ties for men, dresses or pantsuits for womenFormal: Suits and ties or tuxedos for men, cocktail dresses for women

 

OK. We would like to comply with the suggested guidelines when we cruise departing July 29 on the AOS. We will have the Barbados-St.Lucia-Antigua-St. Martin-St. Thomas itinerary. We push off Sunday night at 8:00 PM, and Monday is a full at-sea day. Every other day is a full day (8:30 'till 5:30 ?) in port. Is there a way we can find out beforehand how many nights will be formal, how many will be "smart casual", and how many will be casual? Is there a way we can find out beforehand which night will be which? Thanks if you can help.

[lindajeff]

RS - With a Sun-Sun, I'd be willing to bet that your formal nights will be on Monday and Friday. According to info from RCL, on 6-9 night cruises there will be one "smart casual" night.

[Osnab]

OK I will probably get flamed even more for this, but could you guys get off your high horses and just listen to the question before jumping down my throat?

 

I said in my original question that if this is the rule I am fine with that, but I was a bit confused by the rule since it seems so vague and I am hearing different reports about what actually goes on on the ships.

 

I'm not trying to get away with anything, and I'm certainly not suggesting that he go in ripped jeans just because the rule does not mention that this isn't allowed. In fact, I believe I said that he would not go dressed this way, I just think it is silly that the rule is stated in such a way that it disallows shorts but does not disallow other types of inappropriate attire. No, I don't think they should include scuba gear in their list of no no's, but they do say that you are not allowed to wear swimsuits and it doesn't say anything about jeans. Just my personal opinion but if we are all about wanting people to look nice and show decorum, I would rather see khaki shorts and a golf shirt for dinner than jeans and a t-shirt. But if the rules are not this way then they are not this way.

 

I'm sorry but I had a genuine question and was (and am) genuinely confused and was legitimately seeking clarification. If people can't ask questions then what are these boards here for? Or are there only certain things that people can ask about?

 

If anyone else would actually like to answer this question in a way that is not insulting or accusatory that would be great. And thank you to those who have been courteous enough to do this already.

 

The first night is casual, meaning pants and a top, khakis and golf shirt, etc. It doesn't mean shorts, blue jeans, or even t-shirts w/ writing on them.

 

I see your b/f's point and found it humorous. I think the cruise lines' position is "if we say "no jeans, no shorts, it gets the point out of what we're looking for." They aren't really specific, but if they say "no shorts and no jeans", this gives you an idea what they're looking for.

 

So to answer your question, I don't think shorts in the DR for dinner is appropriate. (People do wear shorts in the DR for breakfast & lunch and that's a common sight.)

 

Even if your b/f says he'd just rather eat in the Windjammer and not fool with pants, I'd still suggest that he pack one nice pair of pants and one shirt. You never know, he may change his mind.

Felicia

[Osnab]

I, and a lot of others, have always worn shorts to the Dining Room, I normally wear Dress Shorts, with a nice collared shirt. When I am sitting, you can't tell if I have shorts on, pants on, or am naked from the waist down. I would never wear swim shorts or short shorts to the Dining room, and as for formal nights, on 7 day cruises is it either a suit or tux, on a 3 night I have been known to wear dockers, shirt and tie, but no jacket.

 

To all those who want to flame me, sorry. No one has ever commented on my lack of recommended attire whilst on a ship.

 

 

I'm not going to flame you, but just to play devil's advocate here:

While you may be sitting and you can't tell if you have on shorts or are naked, sometime you must be standing up, and therefore, you should honor the request of the cruise line and not wear shorts and please, do not go naked. <G>

 

Also, you said no one had ever commented on your lack of recommended attire, but I can't imagine anyone would be that tactless. I might think something, but I would never say it.

 

Felicia

[Osnab]

Princess402:

 

Don't let some people on these boards get to you, just do whatever you think is right, and more importantly, whatever you feel comfortable doing!! Its all about the person, not the level of dress in the dining room of a cruise ship!!

 

It IS the level of dress in the DR. If the policy is you're not supposed to wear shorts, then by golly, don't wear the shorts, or take a cruise that doesn't care. Your way of thinking is you should do what you want, regardless of what the intended rule is.

Felicia

[Osnab]

What would you consider "smart casual" to be? I'm asking, because I don't remember ever seeing smart casual mentioned last June on our Mariner cruise. Do they even still do this? We're going again in June, and I wouldn't want to not be preprepared.

 

My husband would wear dockers and a polo shirt, or a short sleeve sports shirt to the dining room on casual nights. Would "smart casual" mean adding a jacket to that?

 

So anyone know...is there a smart casual night?

 

Now THIS is confusing to me! Smart casual seems just a step up from casual. I think wearing khakis and capris would be casual, but smart casual is one step above.

I think they should just eliminate one of these categories, because there's a fine line between the 2.

I wear the same style of clothing for both of these nights.

Felicia

[Osnab]

On one of my first threads after my first RCI cruise I posted an innocent question asking if any of the RCI ships had self-service laundry facilities (since I usually cruise Princess and their ships have them). Instead of providing the requested information (which some did, thankfully, and the answer is "no RCI ships have this") I got several people questioning why I would ever want to do my own laundry on a cruise. Just because they didn't, then I shouldn't want to either! Go figure!

 

People are weird. I had a guy ask me why I was reading a book on a cruise, when I could do that at home.

I smiled and said, "Can't you lay outside at home? Do they not have sunshine where you live?"

Felicia

[Osnab]

Smoosh, you forgot to mention smoking in cabins/balconies or anywhere on the ship!

 

I just got back from Sovereign of the Seas (trip report to follow later) and was surprised to see the number of smokers in public areas. I don't smoke, but smokers don't bother me. I can imagine how many people would have been freaking out, though.

There were a lot of strategically placed ashtrays (the large stand up kind) by the pool, which is a very public place.

Of course, there was a lot of smoking in the casino, and all the lounges were smoking.

I just found that to be interesting. Heard no complaints, though.

Felicia

[Osnab]

Somebody quote for me where RCI forbids jeans in the dining room. Give me the link or cut and paste it here...

 

(Clue: Nobody has found it yet.)

 

I've been looking for this guideline since 2005. It isn't there, but is often attributed to RCI...

 

LL

 

No jeans.

There.

I said it.

LOL - seriously, that's funny that you said that, because I have always been under the impression that jeans aren't allowed. Now I'm going to go home and go thru my Daily Compass and see if I can find it. LOL

Felicia

[Osnab]

I always alternated between bermuda shorts and pants on all of my previous cruises and nothing was ever said. Up until now I would have said that yes, women were allowed to wear shorts and not men. I don't know why they would say something to a man and not a woman. But from another post, I think that has since changed. Guess I'll sew a couple inches on my shorts and they will then be capris!!!! Nothing to say then!!

 

Maybe they should stand outside with a ruler and measure how far above the knee the shorts are! Bet all the male crew would love that job.

 

Felicia

[lephysteria]

I've never seen anyone turned away from the dining room at night for wearing shorts.

 

I do agree that once you're sitting down, you'd never know.

 

Knowing that the suggested guideline is that shorts aren't permitted, I'm so self conscious that I wouldn't dress that out of place, because I can beat myself up in my head, thinking I should've dressed nicer.

 

 

People do dress not as formally on 3-day cruises' formal nights than on a 7-day cruise. Last 3 day cruise DH wore dockers, short sleeve collar dress shirt and a sportscoat, and he fit in just fine. There were many gentlemen in the dining room without ties on.

 

Now shorts ...again, I have yet to see someone try to walk in with shorts on. I do see Jeans alllllll the time, and no one is told to go back to the cabin and change. So if they do have a rule about "no jeans during dinner" they certainly don't enforce it ;)

[lephysteria]

No jeans.

There.

I said it.

LOL - seriously, that's funny that you said that, because I have always been under the impression that jeans aren't allowed. Now I'm going to go home and go thru my Daily Compass and see if I can find it. LOL

Felicia

 

I have my Mariner compass pages scanned in the pictures link in my signature. You can flip through those if you'd like.

 

Many people (especially on this site) think that jeans aren't allowed. And they may not be ..... but RCI certainly doesn't enforce this rule.

 

With regard to women wearing Bermuda shorts ..... well sheesh women are allowed to wear mini skirts ..... and that's still allowed!!! :p

[zuscruiserz]

Leph - compared to what our tablemates were wearing a couple of weeks ago on Monarch, I think jeans would be dressing up! For instance, we were seated at an 8 person table, us, our teen girls, 2 older ladies (best friends) travelling together for a 60th birthday, and one of their daughter's and her boyfriend (mid-20's).

 

Well, the 6 of us dressed nicely every night, from capris and tops to sundresses or nice slacks and a shirt, but the young couple didn't get it. Can anyone say - SLOPPY (stains down the front of the shirts, ragged necklines, old, faded jeans with the bottoms torn, etc.)!!! And the worst part of it was, the young man wore the same baseball cap to dinner EVERY night, and of course, never bothered to take it off. I really wanted to help him with that issue, since this bothers me more than what they were wearing.

 

Youth these days!

[lvstitch]

No, I don't think they should include scuba gear in their list of no no's, but they do say that you are not allowed to wear swimsuits and it doesn't say anything about jeans.

 

I am confused about this too. Other cruise lines say No Jeans. My husband has very nice tailored jeans with no ripes or stains. He usually wears them with a button up collared shirt. It's pretty much what you see in any trendy restaurant in Vegas. On smart causal night, it this an acceptable outfit?

[sandy toes]

Very well said. I couldn't agree with more. If he doesn't want to wear pants then the windjammer or Johnny rockets are both open to serve him food.

YEAH!!!! I am so very proud of you for saying that in such a way. I took my daughter, son-in-law and grand daughter on a Celebrity cruise, First night, no luggage yet, dinner time, SIL in shorts (very nice by the way) from flight earlier in day. We were turned away at the door of the dinner room and redirected else where or offered room service. That did not make any of us angry and we were glad to see the "rule" taken to heart. I think too many folks on RCCL wear shorts to enforce the rule and Carnival, well...

[reallyitsmema]

YEAH!!!! I am so very proud of you for saying that in such a way. I took my daughter, son-in-law and grand daughter on a Celebrity cruise, First night, no luggage yet, dinner time, SIL in shorts (very nice by the way) from flight earlier in day. We were turned away at the door of the dinner room and redirected else where or offered room service. That did not make any of us angry and we were glad to see the "rule" taken to heart. I think too many folks on RCCL wear shorts to enforce the rule and Carnival, well...

This is what I asked way back at the beginning of this thread. I had read that first day was come as you are since not all have luggage. I am not going to make my 16 yr old son wear pants all day just in case we don't get our luggage. We are probably flying in day before so I can rearrange carryon to add pants if I need to but I still don't see why it is and issue if women can wear bermuda shorts later in the week and not be turned away. Too much do as I say, not what I do in this thread.

[jbond]

I had read that first day was come as you are since not all have luggage.

That's just another "rule" that originated on these boards. You will find nothing in RCI literature that says that. The no jeans rule is another example of wishful thinking by certain members of this board. If RCI didn't want you to wear jeans in the dining room, why would they have a Country Western theme night?

I, and a lot of others, have always worn shorts to the Dining Room, I normally wear Dress Shorts, with a nice collared shirt. When I am sitting, you can't tell if I have shorts on, pants on, or am naked from the waist down. I would never wear swim shorts or short shorts to the Dining room,

So why would you not wear short shorts? Inappropriate? When you're sitting down, who can tell?

 

The bottom line is that RCI states quite clearly that shorts are not allowed in the dining room at dinner, but they do not enforce it on a uniform basis.

[Osnab]

This is what I asked way back at the beginning of this thread. I had read that first day was come as you are since not all have luggage. I am not going to make my 16 yr old son wear pants all day just in case we don't get our luggage. We are probably flying in day before so I can rearrange carryon to add pants if I need to but I still don't see why it is and issue if women can wear bermuda shorts later in the week and not be turned away. Too much do as I say, not what I do in this thread.

 

 

I wear pants on the plane and carry my change of clothes in a carry-on bag, in case my luggage is delayed or (gasp) lost. Perhaps you could do the same so your 16 yr old won't have to wear pants all day. That woudl be a bummer, especially for people who want to jump right in teh pool.

Felicia

[shoreless]

I wear pants on the plane and carry my change of clothes in a carry-on bag, in case my luggage is delayed or (gasp) lost. Perhaps you could do the same so your 16 yr old won't have to wear pants all day. That woudl be a bummer, especially for people who want to jump right in teh pool.

Felicia

 

I do not personally care what anyone wears, but if you do decide on long pants, you could always get him the ones that convert to shorts by zipping off a section of the legs.

 

Sorry Osnab, I just realized I quoted the wrong person, but I don't think it's possible to change it.

[whyrlygig]

Personally I don't care to dress up for dinner. So I go to the Windjammer where my shorts are welcomed.

 

One question I haven't seen asked.... RCI's asks for "slacks" and "trousers" at dinner, since when are jeans considered either of those?

[reallyitsmema]

I do not personally care what anyone wears, but if you do decide on long pants, you could always get him the ones that convert to shorts by zipping off a section of the legs.

 

Sorry Osnab, I just realized I quoted the wrong person, but I don't think it's possible to change it.

I was just trying to get what I had read clarified so to speak, with a teen it is easier to pick your battles. :) He has always gone to a school with a dress code so it really isn't a big issue, just wasn't going to make him wear pants if it wasn't necessary.

[TKinAZ]

The dress code is interestingly lax. We did not attend formal night because DH just didn't want to pack and wear suit, so we ate in the Windjammer that night. The next morning, we saw our headwaiter at breakfast, who asked why we weren't there. When I explained, he said, "You could come any way you want. We'd rather have you there no matter how you're dressed." Interesting.