Dress Codes for Teenagers.

[lansonlady]

Hello everyone,

 

We are on a med cruise on the Millie in August. I have two children aged 14 and 16 and I hope someone with kids will be able to give me some advice.

 

We have only cruised once before which was on the QM2. We found the ship to be wonderfully formal and my son took a tux for formal nights and a dark suit for informal nights.

 

I just wondered if he needs to take both for this cruise?

 

Its not a problem other than we will be enjoying 5 days in Venice before our cruise and 7 days in Barcelona after our cruise and I have absolutely no idea how we are going to fit everything into our suitcases!

 

My Daughter plans to take long evening wear for formal evenings - is this 'par for the course' for teenagers on celebrity?

 

Has anyone got any advice for us?......Thankyou

[rollie]

You will be fine with just one suit. You will see some with tuxes on formal night, but as many or more will wear dark suits.

 

Rollie

[lansonlady]

Thankyou Rollie = by the look of your formidable list of past cruises - you are well qualified to supply advice!:D

[rollie]

Never been to the Med though. Maybe in a few years. Would love to do an eastern itinerary.

 

Rollie

[lansonlady]

With only one cruise under my belt and one coming up I could make a long list of all the intieraries I would like to do!....and plan to do now I've got started!

 

I've travelled europe a lot- but not by cruise ship - As someone on these boards said -its not the only way to travel.....but its the only way to travel!

 

lansonlady

[crazy4cruzin]

My family (husband, daughter (17) and son (14) cruised the Mediterranean last summer on the Galaxy. My husband and son rented tuxedos from the cruise line, this saved us space in our luggage. We also did pre and post cruise stays at hotels and needed as much room in our suitcases as possible. We each had a luggage and a carry-on and were able to fit all our clothing. I would strongly suggest taking advantage of the ships laundry service rather than taking an extra luggage. It was not expensive and they were quick to return your item of clothing washed and pressed. On our 10 nt cruise we had 3 formal nights and the rest were informal. The QM2 is a much more formal type of ship/cruise. You will find on the informal nights people will be wearing nice clothing as if they were going to a nice restaurant, but not overly dressed just nicely dressed. Plan on mix and matching for the informal evenings. My daughter being a 17 year old, wanted to take everything she owned, but even she was able to narrow it down to one luggage and a carry-on.

[lansonlady]

Thankyou Crazy4cruzin,

 

Yes , I too have a daughter who has an endless list of 'must take' clothing items but unfortunately she doesn't have a bottomless suitcase. We could do with a modern version of Mary Poppins's carpet bag!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks for the tip about using the laundry. The QM2 had a laundry room which was ideal for keeping swim wear and undies clean. I was disappointed to find the Millie doesn't have one. I suppose After 5 days in venice I could drop my laundry straight in as we board the ship!

 

How did your kids enjoy their trip? Were there many more teenagers aboard when you travelled? There were only 17 teenagers on the whole of the ship last time we went and thankfully (deep sigh of relief) they all met up within the first day. I have everything crossed we will find something similar this time.

 

Thanks for all your tips!

 

To be honest I am probably the worst at 'only packing the essentials' out of our family! so I suppose its a case of 'lead by example' for me:rolleyes:

 

lanson lady.

[CrossMyHeart]

That ship and that itinerary tends to be pretty formal. I went to the same destination and on the same ship when I was a teen. I love formal ships but for me the QM2 was a bit too formal hehe. I felt too casual a couple of times :o

[lansonlady]

Thankyou for your reply Crossyour heart,

 

I know what you mean about the QM2, but to be honest we loved it. But you know what teenagers are like - most of them want to fit in and I don't want mine to feel too dressed up and conspicuous:o

 

I think I'm starting to get a good an idea of what this ship is like - thanks again I appreciate it.

 

lansonlady.

[crazy4cruzin]

Lansonlady - On a Mediterranean itinerary it is so port intensive that the teens really do not have much time or inclination to meet up and hang out, at least that was my experience last year with my teens. Every morning we were up early and off to the port, then back on the ship just in time to shower and get ready for late dinner, then possibly a show (or not if too tired) and off to bed to sleep until the next day and another port. On the Galaxy we were very fortunate to have 3 sea days in between the ports and it gave us a chance to recharge our batteries. On sea days all my teens wanted to do was sleep to noon, get up and have lunch and lounge by the pool. They weren't really looking for much else (too tired, I think). I think this was the case with most of the other teens. I didn't see as much hanging out going on as I normally do on the Caribbean cruises, unless they were family/friends groups.

 

My teens have always enjoyed dressing up for dinner, so they never gave me any trouble with this, but definitely pack carefully as you don't want to deal with too much luggage. The Mediterranean cruise was the first cruise (of 20+) that I actually sent clothes to be laundered and pressed, and it was the best thing I could have done. Also keep in mind that your teens (especially the girl)

will be wanting to purchase t-shirts and blouses in the different ports. My daughter always managed to find stores with sales going on in order to purchase pretty tops. She came back with at least 8 new tops, all for the summer so light weight and didn't take up much room in her luggage. I definitely made her pick and choose what she wanted to take in her luggage as she was limited to that amount of room and no more. She also wanted to take 10 pairs of shoes, I think I got her down to 5 pairs.

 

Packing was the hardest thing to do for this trip, especially with the pre and post touring we also did.

[lansonlady]

thanks Crazy4crusin - I can see what you mean about the port intensity of this cruise. We did think about this and booked 4 nights in a beach resort after the cruise, Santa Susanna ( to lay on the beach and recharge our batteries) before finishing our holiday with a few days in Barcelona.

 

I hadn't thought about leaving the ship very early each day and not getting back until quite late, but I suppose you are exactly right and some of the shore excursions will take a full day.

 

Well thats more to think about!:D OOoo I can't wait!

 

Lansonlady x

[the2006Junket]

Hi Lansonlady,

 

We sailed on the 12 night itinerary out of Venice on the Millie last August and it was an amazing trip for us and our three boys, 17, 14 and 7 yrs old. We rented tuxes for our two older boys, since I didn't want to buy suits that I knew they would outgrow before they wore them again. They were among a few small number of teen boys in tuxes, but they didn't seem to really notice. In fact, (horrors), there were MANY boys in a navy sportcoat, shirt, tie and khakis on the formal nights. Our boys also had a sportcoat for informal nights. The staff definitely was lax on enforcing the dress code when it came to kids and teens, which I am fine with, since no one was dressed completely inappropriately maybe just not in a suit, for example, only a sportcoat on formal night.

 

We were traveling in a group of 5 families so my boys did attend some of the evening teen events in a pack with their friends from our group. They enjoyed teen karoke night, teen swim in the T-pool and basketball. Certainly not every night, but especially on the night before the sea days, we let them stay up later doing the activities. On our August 6, 2006 sailing, there were 250 kids/teens on board Millie. I'd say that there were about 25 teens who took part in the organized activities. My kids enjoyed the cruise much more once they made friends with some kids their own ages, so I'd encourage you to "force" them to go to one or two of the early events and see if they connect with someone.

 

Even though it's a port-intensive cruise...those teens have lots more energy than we do, so it's nice if they find someone to hang out with after dinner.

 

Have a fantastic time!

 

Lynne

[excitedofharpenden]

rollie says it well. A tux or dark suit for formal night is fine.

 

Phil

[sarh]

We were on Galaxy Eastern Med last July and the teens (inc mine) had a fantastic time - they are still in regular internet contact. The only problem was the nights got later and later and later as the cruise progressed. Re dress, my son had a tux but most had dark suits. I've seen the photos of the girls and most wore dark cocktail dresses. I've read recommendations elsewhere of prom dresses for formal nights - I don't think so unless I have the wrong idea of prom dresses.

[artdreams]

I was on GL's med run all last summer (I work with the children :D ). It's part of the "high season" (meaning school vacations) so there were anywhere from 75 to 175 kids from age 13-17, from all over the world. The kids meet up and bond quickly and seemed to have a spectacular time.

 

Either the suit or the tux would work perfectly, depending upon which would be more useful in your other travel plans.

 

The girls did wear short, cocktail type dresses, but also long and lovely (not the big, full petticoat prom attire usually) and she might want to pack more than one just because there are more than one formal night and women can tend to be more particular about wearing the same dress. Sometimes a pretty sundress can serve double duty.

 

Cameras and Ipod (or other MP3 players) were popular conversation starters.

 

Hope you all have a wonderful family trip! I'll be in the Baltic this summer.

[dame2005]

We did Galaxy twice and both times a dark formal suit was just fine.

 

DD actually went out last year right after prom season and picked up three beautiful dresses for less than $50! Could not beat it and she will get to use them again this year.

 

As for other clothes. Since DD and I are clothes freaks, there is rarely any room left. So when I pack. I talk the kids into giving me some of their more worn (but still clean) items. Maybe something they are getting ready to grow out of, or they really only like a little, or will not fit next year.

 

As they wear them on the cruise I start throwing them out.

 

Then i have room for the extra things they buy or get on the cruise.

 

 

Just a note tell your cabin steward what you are doing, or they will end up keeping the clothes in a pile and trying to return them to you at the end. :)

[lansonlady]

Thanks to everyone for all your comments, reassurances and tips! I really appreciate it.

 

Lynnne - The2006Junket -I know exactly what you mean about teenagers having more energy than us...that certaily applies to my two! They are both gregarious (they take after their Father not me!) so shouldn't need their arms shoving too far up their backs to 'get involved'

 

I hope we will enjoy this adventure as much as you and your family did!

 

Thanks again.

 

Phil - excitedofharpinden -Thankyou for your reassurance!

 

Sarh - My daughter does have a couple of long evening gowns and we haven't decided whether she should take them or not. One is navy blue very plain, a line with shoestring straps, sort of a taffeta material which she wears with a small sequinned/beaded bolero. The other could be described as 'prom' if my understanding is correct. It is strapless, russet taffeta type fabric with a bit of a frill down the back from the waist, detailed with a bit of a diamante trim. (very debenhams - if you know what I mean) They fitted in perfectly on the QM2, but probably a 'bit too much for this cruise? She has some short cocktail type dresses too - so going on what you have suggested she might be better leaving the long ones at home?

 

I hope its ok for me to dress up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats a big part of the fun for me!

 

Dame2005- Well I hadn't thought of taking clothes and throwing out! - Fantastic! Some years ago (before kids) my husband and I spent some time in eastern europe. The younsters had nothing - well nothing fashionable, but they were wonderful to us. We ended up coming home with empty cases as we gave away most of our clothes!!!!!!!!

 

We are just in our prom season here - We will be on the bargain hunt soon! - thanks for the tips

 

Artdreams - What a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I had had the initiative to do a spell on the cruiseships before settling down into a boring everyday career. Thankyou for your observations and help - enjoy the baltics!

 

 

 

Thanks again everyone!

 

Jackie - lansonlady x