How do you really feel about Formal Night?

[sea-cruise]

Yes, my weaknesses cost me a small forture. But so worth it. If I can't spoil myself, who else can I spoil?

Fitz....How could you forget about ME??? I'll be your adopted Mama! :D

[angelsil]

DH likes dressing up way more than I do. To make him happy, I usually compromise and agree to 1 formal night in the dining room and another in a specialty restaurant. Makeup makes me itch and heels just annoy me and then hurt my feet after an hour. Being in uncomfortable clothing reduces my enjoyment of the food and the night as a whole. We never stay dressed up past dinner as neither of us go for 'formal' dancing. Given the increasing restrictions on luggage, I think we'll be dressing up less and less when we have to fly to the port.

 

I would be fine with an enforced business casual dress code. Far worse (to me) than those who don't dress formally on the appropriate night are those who wear tattered jean shorts, flip-flops, swim covers, etc. into the dining room for dinner on 'casual' nights. Not that I let that ruin my dinner or anything, but it is noticeable and seems out of place.

[FitzLA]

Fitz....How could you forget about ME??? I'll be your adopted Mama! :D

 

Lol. Kind of like winning the lottery and all of a sudden all these relatives come out of the woodwork? :D ;)

[QTMichele]

I don't have any kids, and only have a nephew. But I love shopping for him too. Boys clothes have gotten much better lately. Yes, my weaknesses cost me a small forture. But so worth it. If I can't spoil myself, who else can I spoil?

 

I was going to say ME, but THEY:

 

*raises hand*

 

Fitz....How could you forget about ME??? I'll be your adopted Mama! :D

 

beat me to it. :rolleyes:

[vickiw0318]

I am kind of in the middle. I answered dress up but would rather not. I used to love the formal nights when I first started cruising. Now, I guess I enjoy watching others enjoy themselves and love seeing everyone look so elegant, but I would rather relax myself and not worry about getting dressed up. In January, we (DH and I) skipped formal night and ate in the Windjammer. In May, my daughter and I went to both. Now, I did love seeing her look so pretty and grown-up - that was lots of fun. I will probably skip both nights when we cruise next February and check out the specialty restaurants.

[R'man]

I eschew suits and ties whenever possible. Hate 'em. And I voted "Love it and wish everyone would dress up, but don't let it bother me."

 

Fellas, let me let you in on something - If the DW/GF/SO is getting dolled up for dinner and dancing, I suggest you go along with it, too. Imagine the return on investment a little romance might bring you - that's why she's there and you're not doing yard chores back home.

 

Biker skull rags, baseball caps and cowboy hats are NOT suitable for the dining room regardless of meal and applicable dress code, IMHO. Gentlemen, please remove them while feeding yourself, even in the Windjammer. You other guys will do what you'll do.

[KC_fn]

I eschew suits and ties whenever possible. Hate 'em. And I voted "Love it and wish everyone would dress up' date=' but don't let it bother me."

 

Fellas, let me let you in on something - If the DW/GF/SO is getting dolled up for dinner and dancing, I suggest you go along with it, too. Imagine the return on investment a little romance might bring you - that's why she's there and you're not doing yard chores back home.

 

Biker skull rags, baseball caps and cowboy hats are NOT suitable for the dining room regardless of meal and applicable dress code, IMHO. Gentlemen, please remove them while feeding yourself, even in the Windjammer. You other guys will do what you'll do.[/quote']

 

LOL. Enjoyed your post.

 

But I must note: There's a vast territory of fashion BETWEEN a formal get-up and skull rags/baseball caps/cowboy hats. I'm sure you didn't mean to imply that it's one or the other. ;)

[GottaLuvCruising]

To the OP - thank you for having an option that fits me perfectly! I dress up because I'm expected to, but would rather not. Open seating with casual attire, but full-service works for me!

[FitzLA]

I CAN'T KEEP UP WITH ALL THESE DRESS CODE THREADS!!!! There are too many of them right now. Did I post here already? ;) :D

[DeepWaterMariner]

We dress for the formal nights but would rather not. I no longer pack the tux for cruises of 7 days or less and just go with a suit. For longer cruises which are typically dressier I bring the tux, but it wouldn't bother me if they did away with formal nights all together.

[KC_fn]

I CAN'T KEEP UP WITH ALL THESE DRESS CODE THREADS!!!! There are too many of them right now. Did I post here already? ;) :D

 

ROFL!!!

[Dario M]

on our cruise last week, we sat with a couple and their two sons. When we asked them if they were planning to dress up the fathers reasponse was "to get me in a suit you have to be ethier dead or married and i have to like you at that" so ultimatley formal night rolls around, me my cousin and uncle were in tuxedos, the other family......polo golf shirts.....little awkward

[Mark_from_Plano]

I'm pretty much the same as the people who post "I'm going to wear what I want and no one can stop me." The difference is that I'm on the other end of the spectrum from this typical poster.

 

I generally wear a tie to the dining room most nights (and you can't stop me nyah nyah nyah):D . I'm just not someone that thinks that nice clothing is uncomfortable. In fact, I've never worn a pair of jeans that I thought was as comfortable as my suits. Besides, I would pretty much dress the same way to eat in a nice restaurant back home.

 

I take a tux (and an extra dinner jacket) with me on each cruise along with a couple of suits and a couple of sports jackets (luggage restrictions be d*****!!!). We're going on a 10 day cruise over New Years Eve that will likely have 4 formal nights and we couldn't be more thrilled.

 

We generally enjoy making an entire routine out of dinner that involves meeting back at the room to get ready (with a cocktail), going to the Champagne bar for a before dinner drink, going to the early show, followed by late seating dinner. After dinner its dancing or a night in the casino. And yes, we stay in our formal clothing for all of this. It wouldn't bother me if most nights in the dining room were black tie. :eek: The best part is that DW thinks I look sexy in a tux which usually pays benefits at the end of the evening.

 

There's an elegance to it that we really enjoy. Sorry that some of the spoil-sports choose to flippantly dismiss it as "playing dress up". Frankly, if cruising didn't have this aspect to it, it would lose a lot of its allure for me. I certainly wouldn't go as often. I can get a more in-depth travel experience by picking a place and staying there, or by chartering a sailboat and sailing ourselves island to island.

 

We all have some parts of cruising that we enjoy. It's a shame that this topic has to elicit so much self-righteous, insecure back and forth (on both sides).:(

[cruiserbryce]

we enjoy these evenings...my wife wears a nice dress and I wear a suit (dont have and wont rent a tux)...so while we may not be "formal" we are nicely dressed...the nights are always fun and we definatly look forward to them...I wish everyone else would dress up but it doesnt bother me when they dont

[KC_fn]

It's a shame that this topic has to elicit so much self-righteous, insecure back and forth (on both sides).:(

 

I'm not insecure at all. I'm absolutely certain that my value as a person has nothing whatsoever to do with the clothes I wear. :)

[pediatric-rnp]

I'm not insecure at all. I'm absolutely certain that my value as a person has nothing whatsoever to do with the clothes I wear. :)

 

ITA! It's always a heated debate when this topic appears on these boards. People on both sides feel very passionate about their viewpoint,and as we all know, emotions don't always transfer well into words on discussion boards!:) I think it's unfair to use the word insecure in describing any poster's thoughts on this topic. IMO, that's being passive-aggressive, and trying to stir the pot.

 

I think it's safe to say we should all agree to disagree on this topic!;)

[RickT]

I happen to like formal nights (not too many opportunities these days to dress up a little). RCCL should either enforce the dress code or do away with it however. On my recent RCCL cruises I found the overal dress on formal nights OK but certainly wouldn't call it formal. That being said, many people were being let into the dining room in atire that I wouldn't even consider met casual standards. I would not be happy if table mates came to formal night in polo shirts and dockers!

 

I find Celebrity a little better at enforcing the dress code and on my recent Princess cruise, other than some questionable taste in clothing, formal nights were formal with most men in suits/tux with the ladies looking good too.

 

To RCCL, if you are going to have formal nights, enforce the dress code or do away with them.

[pediatric-rnp]

I I would not be happy if table mates came to formal night in polo shirts and dockers!

 

 

Even if they were delightful people to be with?

[R'man]

There's a vast territory of fashion BETWEEN a formal get-up and skull rags/baseball caps/cowboy hats. I'm sure you didn't mean to imply that it's one or the other. ;)

 

My intent was to voice my distain for the mannerless knuckleheads who apparently revel in gauche display. Delightful company, or not, one hopes for a certain reasonable level of decorum and civility. I ride a motorcycle, but would never consider showing up for dinner with a "flaming" or skull festooned do-rag atop my head...which I've seen. Same goes for cowboy hats (unless cruising the Pecos) and baseball caps...or any other headgear, for that matter. It's what used to be a common courtesy, even while vacationing.

[beachchick]

I thought that was covered by "Don't dress up, but it doesn't bother me." Unless, of course, it does bother you, then you could vote that you wish they'd get rid of formal night.

 

It could simply be that I misunderstood that choice. I took it to mean "I don't dress up; I go to the dining room anyway; it doesn't bother me that I'm not dressed appropriately and I'm not bothered by what other people think/expect." If it simply meant "I don't dress up and dine elsewhere instead," then yes, that would have been our choice.

 

I have no problem with formal night for those who enjoy it, but we've been there and done that (dressing formally that is; we've been on less than a dozen cruises) literally hundreds of times throughout our lives and don't want to lug all the "stuff" along for a cruise (although we have a few times for special events). I used to have a dozen longs gowns and at least another dozen cocktail length semi-formal/formal dresses; DH used to have a dozen suits, another dozen jacket/slacks combos, and three tuxes (with numerous options to accessorize, including the most beautiful black opal studs--those I miss seeing him wear). Now we've got one or two of each and only wear them when the occassion requires it. But on those few occassions, we don't bitch about it either. We don't particularly enjoy it, but we do still "clean up" pretty nicely.

 

I do have to say that on one cruise, my sister and I rented tuxes for the guys (brought their own "goodies" to personalize them) and brought mid-calf length formal style gowns (with stocking, heels, jewelry, etc.) for ourselves. We all looked pretty darn snazzy that night. We did it so we could have formal portraits for ourselves (the four of us as well as individual couples) and because the cruise was part of an anniversary trip (a week at Disney and a 7-night cruise) where our mom had paid for the air, resort, and ship cabins as an anniversary gift. We kind of had to have a portrait done for her. It is nice to see the four of us in our finery, smiling and happy, in a nice frame on the top of the bookcase. It's a lovely memento. Other than that, we don't go for much of the formal thing on cruises now. OTOH, my DH will bring a dress shirt, tie, and dressy v-neck dark cashmere to wear to the specialty restaurants. He feels it's just enough of a "nod" to "dress up" for those special evenings; I usually wear a nice, not formal, dress with heeled sandals and pretty jewelry on those nights.

 

beachchick

[beachchick]

When we were younger and had small children, it was fun to escape, dress in our finery and have romantic dinners just the two of us. This was our choice of course; many more nights were spent in family friendly places because that is what our kids wanted.

 

Skip ahead and it is just the two of us now. We enjoy dressing for dinner when we choose to dress, not when it is imposed on us. We have even more romantic dinners, but it doesn't matter what we are wearing. We are best friends who have been together forever so we can make romance out of absolutely nothing:) We have been together for so long that it is not a rare occasion that we dress and realize that we are wearing the same colours (the kids just laugh at us now:rolleyes: ) and there have also been times that I am wearing something dressier than DH, or vice versa, because that is what we feel like wearing.

 

I have posted this many times. I really don't care what you are wearing if you sit at my table as long as you treat us well. A person's attire will never prove their worth IMHO. We enjoyed the more relaxed atmosphere on the Serenade in Feb. which is why we booked another RCI cruise in Feb. 2008.

 

To answer another question, whatever we dress in for dinner is what we wear the entire night. But that has more to do with not wanting to miss anything. After all how can you have all the fun that is available out there if you are always changing in your cabin?

Dee

 

:D My goodness, you must have been married as long as my DH and I have. I can't tell you the number of times we've gotten dressed to go out somewhere (casual, a little nicer, even to the beach--it doesn't matter) where we end up wearing the same colors and similar items. Like a green cotton tank top with tan shorts for me and my tan sandals. DH will be downstairs ready and waiting wearing a green polo shirt, tan shorts and his tan sandals. Mind you, I didn't see him get dressed and I don't lay out my clothes ahead of time, so he had no idea what I planned to wear. It's kind of funny in an odd "couples start to look alike after many years" kind of way.:p Like you, we don't need to get dressed up to have a romantic time. And like you, we're best friends. Because we have long-term health issues, we spend more time together then most couples we know. Amazingly, we still prefer each other's company best. My sister and her DH are blessed with the same kind of relationship. It's such a gift, isn't it?:)

 

beachchick

[beachchick]

I am not saying you are wrong, but at least you have more options to wear whatever you want in Hawaii unlike a cruise ship. I have been going to Hawaii almost once a year for my entire life (36 now), and have never even packed long pants. (okay, maybe my parents packed me long pants when I was too young to pack for myself). But I tend to only go to places where shorts are the norm. Although I have been to every island (except Molokai) I usually only go to Maui. The nicest place I have eaten in Maui is Spago at the Four Seasons, which isn't saying much;) . Usually go to places like Hula Grill, Kimos or Mama's Fish House. I think you would look more out of place in long pants there. But the good part is that in Hawaii, no one really cares what you wear and no one looks at you funny. Well, I guess if I wore a tux to Mama's, they would probably look at me funny. lol.

 

You would definitely look out of place in a tux at Mama's even at dinner. (We love Mama's.) But we've seen far more men in lightweight long pants (not wool slacks or anything) and wearing what I call "evening" aloha shirts (you know, tone on tone or more muted in silks and such) at Mama's then we've seen men in shorts. Most women we've seen at Mama's are wearing mu'umu'us or sundresses or similar. Most of the people we see there dressed in jean shorts, "slogan" t-shirts, and flip flops are usually obviously visitors. In fact, the locals we've talked to say that Mama's is one of the "special occassion" restaurants for those who live on the island.

 

Now, we don't spend a huge amount of time comparing what people wear at Mama's (or anywhere else), but it did start one time when we were talking to a Hawaiian aquaintance who mentioned that she had seen a woman a few nights before in (I think) Orchid at the Halekulani in shorts, a tank top, and rubber slippers (you know what I mean), and that she couldn't help but notice how out of place some of the people looked. I mean, dinner at Mama's is table linens and continental service and so forth. For us, that means just one level of dress up from our daily Hawaii attire feels best.

 

Naturally, you'd wear shorts, etc. at Kimo's or Hula Grill or Lahaina Fish Company. Just as I'd wear shorts at equivalently "nice but casual" places on the mainland. The bottom line is that as long as you feel good with what you wear and as long as it's "presentable," then go for it.

 

It's definitely true that, for the most part, people don't spend a whole lot of time worrying about what others are wearing. That I like. I don't worry about it, but sometimes I can't help but notice it, especially when a couple of Hawaiians mentioned to me that they sometimes wish more visitors would realize that there are certain places where a slight "dress up" is more appropriate.

 

beachchick

[Fam_Cruise]

The nicest place I have eaten in Maui is Spago at the Four Seasons, which isn't saying much;) .

I love their Ahi Poke Sesame-Miso Cones! Rest of the meal was quite excellent too. My first visit to any Spago restaurant and I found it quite enjoyable. Wearing shorts, too.

 

While I wear jacket and tie for dinner on RCI, I don't understand the anger by some regarding attire that is merely suggested. Even this poll, which like all polls on CC is so scientific, refers to the suggested dress as the dress code as if it were a rule. The rule is that flip flops, shorts and bathing suits not be worn in the dining room at dinner. Other than that, there is suggested attire on formal night, which I observe, but others might not. Why do people allow others' actions to have so much control over their emotions? I just don't get it. Life is way too short to succumb to such pettiness.

 

But I really do enjoy these academic discussions. Can we start a couple of additional threads on suggested attire?

[mckinna]

I love the formal nights- my husband tolerates them. He carries a nice suit instead of a tux, which is okay with me. With both of us with busy careers and 3 kids, we never get to get dressed up and go out. It is nice for the family to get "cleaned and spiffed up," and they do it for me without complaint (well, without too many complaints!). There are other options if you don't want to do the formal night, and I do see all kinds of dress in the dining room, and it doesn't really bother me. We always do second seating so we aren't rushed to get back on board and ready for dinner.

 

Soverign of the Seas—July 2000

Grandeur of the Seas—March 2003

Adventure of the Seas—Feb 2004

Mariner of the Seas—May 2005

Rhapsody of the Seas—April 2006

Freedom of the Seas—Feb 2007

Voyager of the Seas—March 2008-- CAN”T WAIT!!

[Tikibird]

I love the formal nights! Our everyday lifestyle is pretty casual and we aren't fine-dining sort of people, more like Sizzler and Dominoes. But on a cruise, I think its fun to dress up! I have some killer evening gowns from a past life that would be suitable for the red carpet. Hubby has a formal black suit (but not a tux) which he hates weaing but he will if I force him. Since we will be flying from Australia, we may just rent a tux for him if they have large sizes.

 

I also love theme nights and will dress for anything if I am told in advance what to bring. Our last cruise had Rock N Roll night, Island night (Hawaiian attire) and Country-Western night, we dressed for all of them and it was loads of fun!

 

We were also the most frequent participants on the cruise DVD since we went everywhere and did everything!