Please help with advise on first cruise

[Jamie Girling]

Hi my names Jamie and in October I am going on a 17 night cruise around the med with my parents. We haven't been on a cruise before and we don't know what to expect. Can you please assist in the following so we enjoy the cruise without worrying about fitting in.

 

How many formal nights will we have?

 

How do you dress for formal nights. I am 19 and my parents are 45 and 44

 

how do you dress for informal nights?

 

All silly questions I know but we want to enjoy the cruise and not arrive on the ship ill prepared

 

Thanks everyone

Jamie

[paul929207]

The answers to your questions will depend on what cruise ship you are sailing with.

 

Also, you will probably get more responses if you ask n the sectin for your cruise line.

 

Have a great cruise.

[WEELYNCRUZER]

I hope you have a t/a. 17 day cruise for a first time cruiser. If you don't have one get one. Hope you have a great time. Negotiate the commission if you have already done the leg work.

[kitty9]

You need to let everyone know what cruise line you're going to be on. Not every line has formal nights.

 

If you're on a line with formal nights, a 17 night cruise generally has three formal nights.

 

Formal Nights

For the women: Long gown, short cocktail dress, fancy evening slacks with a dressy top or jacket. By dressy top I mean something lacy or beaded.

 

For the men: Tux or white dinner jacket or a dark suit.

 

Informal Nights

For the Women: Nice church dress or the kind of dress you'd wear to a special restaurant, nice slacksuit

 

For the Men: Dress slacks, dress shirt and a jacket---some lines request a tie and some don't.

 

Casual

 

For the women: Slacks, capri pants and a nice top or sundress.

 

For the men: Slacks and a collared shirt of any fabric.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Wow, not to be snarky, but a 17 day cruise for your first one is pretty ambitious.

 

Anyway, I would suggest looking about the area for the cruiseline you're going on. There should be a ton of info.

[patseacruiser]

a first time cruiser should have had a travel agent that is advising you on every step of your cruise from your passports down to how many formal nights, etc. tell us what ship and sailing your on. you will probably have at least 3 formal nights. how formal will depend on what cruise line you're on.

[calico79]

Suggestion: For some of the dressy/casual nights, try to take some stuff you can mix and match, like black pants,capris and skirts,which will match with a lot of different shirts! that might save you some space when packing!

[Fredr]

Hello,

 

Remember though you can look grest on formal nights without having to spend a lot of money (US dollars, Pounds, Euros, Pesos) or any extra money at all. If there are three formal nights, you can take one pair of black slacks and three nice tops and you will be appropriately dressed.

 

Most likely your dad has a suit or sportsjacket/tie and he will look great as well.

 

On the other nights just look nice and you will be fine.

 

Check to see if your ship has a self service laundry and/or laundry and dry cleaning services on board. The ship usually charges for their laundry services but it is usually worth it as this will reduce the amount of clothes that you have to pack.

 

Keep sending us questions

[panamaline]

There is a new book out entitled "The Perfect Vacation" that not only tells about one family's cruising experinces but also has a lot of practical information thrown in. It's pretty funny also. You can get it on Amazon.

[rjm1cc]

I think most people over pack. Check on laundry options. I see no problem wearing the same outfit on each of the formal nights. For women they can do a little mix and match if they like. Just keep the idea to pack light, think that a suit case or two might get lost etc. That means pack a carryon so you have full sets of clothes. You may be wearning them for 17 days. Also put a little of each persons stuff in the same suite case. That way all of your stuff is not lost if your suit case is lost. Try for a carry on and one large suit case for each.