Going casual

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Guest

Guest
This is my first Princess cruise Oct 17 Island Princess. I need to know if I decided to not attend the formal dinners can I wear resort casual to the 24 hr buffett on formal
night. Tired of packing all those clothes.
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
Yes, you can. If you still feel uncomfortable, you can always order room service.

We skip the formal nights a lot. My DH figures he dresses up for work everyday, so why should he feel he has to on every cruise we take? We usually dress decently (Dockers, polo shirt & a dress for me) to go to the Horizon Court, but one time, we wore shorts. We were in and out in a matter of half an hour and didn't go to the shows. Many people seem to change out of their formal clothes after dinner & the shows, so you won't be alone then.

Some people will disagree and say that you should dress formally no matter where you eat. I agree with their idea, but it's not practical to dress formally to serve yourself from a buffet.
 
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yorkyred

Guest
An important part of cruising has always been to dress for dinner. I must admit for me its one of the things that makes cruising special. we live in a fast food world. I just hope cruising does not go the same way.
 
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connie seabee

Guest
On a couple of our cruises we only went to one formal night. We dressed casual for the buffet and so did many others. This was on Princess and Rccl. Also Lady Jag is correct about many changing out of formal clothes after dinner. People may disagree, but this is your cruise and your vacation......
 
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yorkyred

Guest
It does seem to be the way things are going. On our last cruise the Brits all dressed for dinner, but a lot of the Americans casually. I think some of the old tradition is dying out.
 
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kimmy

Guest
I agree with Yorkyred that dressing for dinner is a big part of why I enjoy cruising. I remember being 9YO on our first cruise and our entire family gettting all decked out for formal night. It is still a pleasure!

I truly hope some lines maintain this tradition. There is Carnival and NCL and Windjammer for those who don't enjoy dressing up and now plenty of optional dining choices that are more casual. For me, I would likely stop cruising altogether if all ships chose that path.
 
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AnnW

Guest
When I was on Carnival last year they still have formal night dining. People were pretty "gussied up", I remember!

And the windjammer, even though they might not have "formal nights", folks seem to be very well dressed anyway, even when they claim to be "dressed casually"!

I don't get all dressed up for formal night -- mainly because I don't have formal clothes, and cruise so seldom that it isn't worth it for me to buy anything. But I DO get dressed as classy as possible (silk blouse, silk trousers), given that I use a wheechair...

I've never really felt out of place. And there have been folks around me even less "dressed up" than I.

But you can indeed go to the buffets in more casual clothes -- nobody there really notices. I couldn't imagine carrying your own tray around, dressed formally!
 
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yorkyred

Guest
Yes there is the option of the buffet dining. On my last cruise there were some people in shorts on a formal night. I thought that was a real shame.
 
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Sharkin

Guest
My wife and I also enjoy dressing for dinner, especially when we are cruising. While the cruise lines seldom enforce dress codes, I encourage other guests to follow them, even if it is only for my own enjoyment. I don't have too much problem following the cruise lines "rules", suggestions or requests. I also don't have a problem pointing out that I consider those who won't follow the guidelines to be selfish or rude. Sorry I got a little carried away about this, but I hear so much about it being "your vacation" that I thought I would remind everyone that is "every other guest's vacation" as well.
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
As of a couple months ago, Carnival still had formal nights. Is this a new change?
 
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kimmy

Guest
The Windjammer I referred to is the cruise line, not the dining room.

Re my comment on Carnival, on my two Carnival cruises (Fantasy, Inspiration) there was a very small percentage of passengers who actually dressed up and many more who chose to wear shorts. Carnival did not enforce the "no shorts" in the dining room at dinner any night, including formal night. Overall, I found the Carnival ships to be much more casual in every respect. Sounds like others have had different experiences but I can only speak from mine.
 
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CruisNana

Guest
Hi Tia,

Looks like we're on the same cruise. IMO, you can dress as you please to go to the buffet.

There's a thread started on the cruisecritic.com Princess message board with other people on our sailing. Come over and join us.. Vicki
 
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hstrybuf

Guest
This topic is always debatable and usually a hot one. What it boils down to is, if you're going to the buffet, dress as you like. If you're going to the dining room, follow the suggested code for the evening.
 
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CruisNana

Guest
Tia, go to cruisecritics.com...........Boards.....Princess.......There is a thread called Island Princess 10/17/03.... (I'm listed as avlowery over there).
Right now, there are two other couples that are going.



Post Edited (07-21-03 23:56)
 
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wwinfl91

Guest
One surprise we had when we were on the Golden in the Med recently was that on the casual nights even in the main dining rooms, Personal choice ones at least, people showed up in shorts and got seated and served. We always change into dockers (long pants) and a nice shirt and my wife a dress or pants suit but we saw people in the same shorts that they would wear to the buffet at lunch or breakfast and they seemed to get away with it.

For formal nights on this cruise, there were only two, I wore a tweed travel sports coat that I had brought specially for cruising instead of packing my suit. It packs much better and worked fine. I did see some people even on formal nights without jackets and again they were being seated and served in the PC dining rooms.

As mentioned above you can always go to the buffet and not be formal and no one will notice.

Happy cruising.
 
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p.g.

Guest
It doesn't "ruin " my vacation when I see someone not dressed up. Get real. If that's enough to stop someone form cruising, then stop. As my mom used to say " there are starving children in Africa so get over yourself" . . My husband and I dress up, we enjoy it, others don't enjoy it so they don't dress up. I 'm really sick of the " your being selfish and rude" line being used because people are choosing to enjoy their holiday differently than you would choose to . Other people are not window dressing for your " cruise fantasy". Leave people alone!!! Wash your hands and tuck in your shirt and you can come sit right down beside me and my hubby and we don't care what you got on as long as you are a kind and caring person. That is all that really matters! Oh yeah it does help if you don't pick your teeth with your knife lol!!
 
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AnnW

Guest
Hello, p.q. I laughed at your comment, "Oh yeah it does help if you don't pick your teeth..."

On our first cruise ... on Princess, no less! .. we actually had a tablemate who did that! Not with a knife, but several toothpicks, which seemed always to be hanging from his mouth. He did a lot of other boorish behavior, too...

But I'm with you -- It is nice when people get dressed up...but it is nicer when people are clean and tidy, and pleasant conversationalists, and don't complain incessantly about how *other* people are behaving... :)

We wear "Sunday goin' to meetin'" clothes...but not formal tuxes. I think we look reasonably respectable. Although I'm not always sure my husband's shirt is indeed properly tucked...

(I wonder if that's where "tuxedo" comes from...the cumberbund thing hiding the fact that guys rarely "tux" in their shirt?? ) :)
 
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