Poll: What do men actually wear on Princess Formal Nights?

[kooljamming]

Military wear Mess Dress.

 

I wear my white or blue Army mess uniforms on all formal nights to honor my shipmates and those citizens who pay my salary and allow me to serve. Sometimes I just wish others would return the favor by showing their best - not their worst.

 

Zouave

 

I agree but some people's best will never be good enough depending on what direction one's nose is pointing in. It would be a great thing in

every aspect of this board and in life as a whole, and something to strive for. I guess we could start now, long before we are on deck and decked out:D

 

My DH was stationed at Walter Reed Army Hospital, in Washington DC.

[chipmaster]

I do not believe that 65% of the people wore jeans on formal night. Not on a Princess cruise.

 

The poll was a great idea. It put into perspective, the probable numbers of people who comply to the dress requests :D by wearing at least a jacket.

 

This should not bother those who wish to do what they want. After all, they aren't there to please anyone but themselves.:p

 

This poll results really tells you nothing. Its self fuffilling and represents the larger more passionate crowd here.

[Bracket Creep]

I wore a suit and tie for the two formal nights on the Dawn last Summer. Being the T-shirt-and-jeans computer geek that I am, it was actually kind of fun to get dressed up for a change.

[koolforkatz]

My husband and I both dress up for formal night. It's a part of cruising we really enjoy since we both work at home throughout the year and are usually in jeans. It's fun to play dress up for a couple of nights.

 

On our last Princess cruise in the spring, I was surprised by how many people really did turn it on: plenty of tuxes, white dinner jackets and even several women in gowns. I find Princess seems to attract a larger group of those who wear formal wear than some of the other lines including both Celebrity and HAL. I am saddened to see, though, that jeans are now acceptable in the dining room. Where does it end?

 

But these are Caribbean cruises and I realize Alaska has always been a bit different in this regard.

[Coracii]

This poll results really tells you nothing. Its self fuffilling and represents the larger more passionate crowd here.

 

Exactly correct. If lucky, maybe 2-3% of the people that go on a cruise ever come to visit Cruise Critic, and those are typically going to be the more likely to really look into all aspects of their particular cruise. The norm is going to be people that show up and are standing in line on the first night trying to book their shore excursions finding that the best ones are full, not having any idea that soda and coffee cards cost extra, debating why they're being charged $10.50/person for tips every day, and having no clue that there's an automatic gratuity on beverages. While a great place, Cruise Critic is not indicative of all people taking a cruise.

[jondfk]

I'm not generally a rebel and do typically bring a dark suit, long sleeve shirt and tie along with "appropriate" shoes.

 

I've rented a tux a couple of times and found it "fun", but not a necessary expense.

 

On the other hand, I have on a limited number of occasions for reasons entirely my own, deviated modestly from the dress code without either explanation or question.

 

It certainly would never occur to me to wear a tee shirt or bare feet to the MDR . Nor, frankly, would it occur to me to skip eating in the MDR because I didn't have or didn't wear (for whatever reason) the uniform of the day.

 

It's a vacation. Some like to celebrate it by donning all their fancy duds and finery, many say this is the only place they get to do so, and that's just fine (and quite fun to observe for the most part). Others (and as you might guess I'm in this group) get the joy :rolleyes: of wearing a jacket and tie all day everyday and look forward to something very different for these precious few days away from work each year.

[bogeydi]

We've only been on two cruises (both Sapphire Princess) - and my husband wears a dress shirt & slacks, tie, and sport coat. Looking around the room at dinner we have noticed that others are wearing attire from one extreme to the other (tuxedos - golf shirt & khaki's).

[kooljamming]

Exactly correct. If lucky, maybe 2-3% of the people that go on a cruise ever come to visit Cruise Critic, and those are typically going to be the more likely to really look into all aspects of their particular cruise. The norm is going to be people that show up and are standing in line on the first night trying to book their shore excursions finding that the best ones are full, not having any idea that soda and coffee cards cost extra, debating why they're being charged $10.50/person for tips every day, and having no clue that there's an automatic gratuity on beverages. While a great place, Cruise Critic is not indicative of all people taking a cruise.[/quote]

 

Estimated at 1 percent for CC, with estimated 5 percent of all travelers using a travel forum. Most important they won't care one bit what you are wearing, if you tip, if you made reservation for anytime dining, and if there are home style items on the menu. Overall I am glad the vibe on most travel boards/forum won't be found on any vacation.

[hubofhockey]

Poll may suffer from small sample size or skewed toward users of cruisecritic. There is no way close to 30% of guys are in tuxes. :D It's also possible that those who dress down don't care enough to participate in such a poll. My guess is that 15-20% of the men I saw on my Crown Princess cruise went black tie to the MDR on formal night and that is being generous.

 

Bogeydi, that's what I wear and I seemed to fit right in with most, although there were a lot of suits.

[Woobstr112G]

Military wear Mess Dress.

 

I wear my white or blue Army mess uniforms on all formal nights to honor my shipmates and those citizens who pay my salary and allow me to serve. Sometimes I just wish others would return the favor by showing their best - not their worst.

 

Zouave

 

Great uniform sir...Thanks for your service.....

 

Bob

[Woobstr112G]

While the pole is a good thing to do, you always run risks when starting a thread about MDR clothing, chair hogs, etc. Invarribly you'll get someone with very strong opinions (including myself) who will post something that causes the moderators to close the thread....

 

Bob

[Mom33]

Poll may suffer from small sample size or skewed toward users of cruisecritic. There is no way close to 30% of guys are in tuxes. :D It's also possible that those who dress down don't care enough to participate in such a poll. My guess is that 15-20% of the men I saw on my Crown Princess cruise went black tie to the MDR on formal night and that is being generous.

 

Bogeydi, that's what I wear and I seemed to fit right in with most, although there were a lot of suits.

 

And that is all it is, a guess.

 

What this poll shows, as of this post, is that out of 320 cruisers that responded, only 21 choose to ignore the requested dress altogether. The rest either have a jacket on or go to another dining venue. This may not be an accurate sampling but it is certainly more accurate than a guess.

[Coracii]

And that is all it is, a guess.

 

What this poll shows, as of this post, is that out of 320 cruisers that responded, only 21 choose to ignore the requested dress altogether. The rest either have a jacket on or go to another dining venue. This may not be an accurate sampling but it is certainly more accurate than a guess.

 

But what is even more accurate is a direct observation of people in the MDR's on formal night. While the exact number may vary slightly, a guess based on scanning the room is going to be significantly more accurate than any poll here that encompasses 1% of the people going on a cruise. I just got off the Diamond Princess and counted men that I could see from my seat that were not in suits/tuxes on the first formal night. I came up with 11 others (so 12 including myself) that I could see with about half the dining room not visible. The dining room was about 2/3 full roughly, capacity of 518 people. That means there were about 350 people in the room, and if you assume that 1/3 would be men of age to wear "appropriate" dress that would be about 113 people. Just for arguments sake, let's increase that to 140 since the age demographic for Alaska is less geared towards families. Twelve people in half the dining room, even assuming conservatively for 8 people in the other half means about 20 people without suits/tuxes, or about 14% minimum of the International Dining Room late seating for an estimate. Looking at the photos of the anytime dining venues for the formal nights showed quite a collection of people not wearing jackets, but it can't be said whether it was hanging on the back of a chair or not.

[Times Prince]

Military wear Mess Dress.

 

I wear my white or blue Army mess uniforms on all formal nights to honor my shipmates and those citizens who pay my salary and allow me to serve. Sometimes I just wish others would return the favor by showing their best - not their worst.

 

Zouave

Please accept my apologies for missing this very important part of the population in the poll options.

 

I equate dress mess uniforms, whichever service, as formal wear worn with Honor. Thanks for serving.

 

While we're at it, I also missed the occasional Scot in Highland finest, which I also would classify as formal wear.

[cruisemom42]

I believe it's accurate to say that on longer cruises and cruises to Europe (Med, Baltic), the crowd is dressier. I am quite sure on our Med cruise that 40-50% of men were in tuxes.

 

So perhaps it all equals out, and I think the poll numbers are not inaccurate.

[Times Prince]

But what is even more accurate is a direct observation of people in the MDR's on formal night. While the exact number may vary slightly, a guess based on scanning the room is going to be significantly more accurate than any poll here that encompasses 1% of the people going on a cruise.

Just like any poll (Gallup, Nielsen, etc.) this is a sample poll from which one may extract general population statistics.

 

The best poll would be one done by Princess Cruises, where every passenger is counted with both Traditional and Anytime dining rooms in the sample, and variations between itineraries accounted for (e.g. is a Caribbean cruise more formal than an Alaskan cruise?). Had I infinite funds I would hire an intern to take a bunch of cruises and count people (I'd volunteer for that job myself ;) ).

 

I suspect one would get sample statistics from individual cruises that would vary widely, dependent on the passenger population and where the counts were made. For instance on last December's Emerald Princess cruise, I opted for casual dress, and found myself to be one of 4 men in a full Princess Theater not in formals -mostly tuxedos.

 

I go back to the original premise of this poll - people often come to Cruise Critic to ask "what is the norm for Formal Night?" and are usually answered by a very vocal set of persons with opinions on what they would like. Some of those original posters later express doubts about cruising based on the emotions vented in the threads. This poll was intended to take the emotions out of the answer, and thus far the answer is as you see above.

[Hoon]

Exactly correct. If lucky, maybe 2-3% of the people that go on a cruise ever come to visit Cruise Critic, and those are typically going to be the more likely to really look into all aspects of their particular cruise. The norm is going to be people that show up and are standing in line on the first night trying to book their shore excursions finding that the best ones are full, not having any idea that soda and coffee cards cost extra, debating why they're being charged $10.50/person for tips every day, and having no clue that there's an automatic gratuity on beverages. While a great place, Cruise Critic is not indicative of all people taking a cruise.[/quote]

 

Estimated at 1 percent for CC, with estimated 5 percent of all travelers using a travel forum. Most important they won't care one bit what you are wearing, if you tip, if you made reservation for anytime dining, and if there are home style items on the menu. Overall I am glad the vibe on most travel boards/forum won't be found on any vacation.

 

 

Kooljamming, I've read a number of your post while planning my cruise. You are as your name implies a very cool person.

[hubofhockey]

But what is even more accurate is a direct observation of people in the MDR's on formal night. While the exact number may vary slightly, a guess based on scanning the room is going to be significantly more accurate than any poll here that encompasses 1% of the people going on a cruise. I just got off the Diamond Princess and counted men that I could see from my seat that were not in suits/tuxes on the first formal night. I came up with 11 others (so 12 including myself) that I could see with about half the dining room not visible. The dining room was about 2/3 full roughly, capacity of 518 people. That means there were about 350 people in the room, and if you assume that 1/3 would be men of age to wear "appropriate" dress that would be about 113 people. Just for arguments sake, let's increase that to 140 since the age demographic for Alaska is less geared towards families. Twelve people in half the dining room, even assuming conservatively for 8 people in the other half means about 20 people without suits/tuxes, or about 14% minimum of the International Dining Room late seating for an estimate. Looking at the photos of the anytime dining venues for the formal nights showed quite a collection of people not wearing jackets, but it can't be said whether it was hanging on the back of a chair or not.

 

Agree 100% with your observation and, more importantly, I doubt very much that people who "underdress" care to even take part in a poll on CC and that is why I think the results are skewed. Many probably don't even respond to these threads anymore because they get accused of ruining other passengers' cruises. Direct observations are more accurate. There is no way that more than 3 out of every 10 men wears black tie on formal night.

[GBeret]

Tux or Military Mess dress.

[hubofhockey]

Just like any poll (Gallup, Nielsen, etc.) this is a sample poll from which one may extract general population statistics.

 

 

Wrong, Gallup and Nielsen don't do "random" polling to get good statistical samples. The weigh in demographic factors. They would never poll just tv guide subscribers to determine ratings.

[beauxdammit]

Rockymountainsparky: Only if you think you are getting away with something.

[MTElkwhistle]

I would like to take part in your poll but fear I cannot as my DH does not posess a tuxedo, he does however wear a Kilt with Prince Charlie Jacket and dress shirt and bowtie, and loves to do so at any opportunity.

I guess this is pretty formal.

 

DS wears his kilt with pretty much anything, so is either formal or casual depending on circumstance. lol

[dnt4382]

Tuxedo and appropriate tie/vest to match DW's dresses

[Mom33]

But what is even more accurate is a direct observation of people in the MDR's on formal night. While the exact number may vary slightly, a guess based on scanning the room is going to be significantly more accurate than any poll here that encompasses 1% of the people going on a cruise. I just got off the Diamond Princess and counted men that I could see from my seat that were not in suits/tuxes on the first formal night. I came up with 11 others (so 12 including myself) that I could see with about half the dining room not visible. The dining room was about 2/3 full roughly, capacity of 518 people. That means there were about 350 people in the room, and if you assume that 1/3 would be men of age to wear "appropriate" dress that would be about 113 people. Just for arguments sake, let's increase that to 140 since the age demographic for Alaska is less geared towards families. Twelve people in half the dining room, even assuming conservatively for 8 people in the other half means about 20 people without suits/tuxes, or about 14% minimum of the International Dining Room late seating for an estimate. Looking at the photos of the anytime dining venues for the formal nights showed quite a collection of people not wearing jackets, but it can't be said whether it was hanging on the back of a chair or not.

 

There are many ways to discern the meaning of the poll. One thing is very clear, that those who wish to buck the system are indeed in the minority. Why are you raising questions about the poll outcome? I thought it didn't matter how you would be perceived for following your own desires.

 

It is what it is. Just go on your cruise and have a good time.

[bogeydi]

I think the bottom line on Princess - at least - is that as long as you are not in jeans and a t-shirt - you are going to be welcome in the dining room - even on formal night.

 

Ljberkow: Thanks for your reply - seems like sport coat and nice shirt/slacks is formal enough for us!