Formal Night on a Cruise

[Lil' Peach]

My husband & I just booked a cruise in January that will have 2 formal nights. I love to get dressed up and see what everyone else is wearing! So if you've been a cruise.. post your formal night pictures here!!! :)

[Delaney21]

Wow that took a lot of digging! DH and I went on a cruise with another couple about 4 years ago. He proposed formal night. Here is what I was wearing:

http://images.snapfish.com/344%3A%3A72723232%7Ffp7%3Enu%3D3252%3E563%3E%3A55% 3EWSNRCG%3D3232%3C2683793%3Bnu0mrj

My sister and I went on a cruise in Feb of this year and we skipped formal night so I don't have any pictures of that. You can pretty much wear whatever you want. There will be people in really fancy dresses, and others with simple dresses.

[Aimee]

DH and I have been on 2 cruises together and for formal night, he wears a dark suit and I wear a black cocktail dress.

When DH went on a cruise with his parents, they rented tuxes and his mom wore a floor-length beaded gown.

Depending on the cruiseline, I think the tuxes are overkill. We've been on Carnival and Royal Caribbean and the majority of the men are in suits and women in cocktail-type dresses.

[Marie]

What cruise line would be my first question. Princess and Celebrity will have lots of tuxes and lots of gowns. But you can also go pretty simple if you want to. Carnival will have almost no tuxes and more cocktail style dresses. Much more casual ~ really more like the semi-formal nights on other lines.

[shaqangel]

here's mine...we cruised for our honeymoon

its a bad scan - sorry:(

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db06b3127cce9be0d5a323fa00000025108AcNWzJu4ctL

[Lil' Peach]

What cruise line would be my first question. Princess and Celebrity will have lots of tuxes and lots of gowns.

We will cruising on Princess. I would absolutely love to wear a gown!!

[Marie]

You can totally get away with a gown on Princess. In my experience, suits are the exception rather than the rule. Most men will be in tuxes and there will be lots of gowns. There were women who didn't fully dress up but not too many.

On their semi-formal nights most men were in suit and tie, most women in cocktail dresses. Other nights just like a nicer restaurant.

HTH!

[mollyeilis]

FWIW, I wore a strapless and plain full length bridesmaid dress for the formal night we attended. It was kind of dorky, though. For us, it was only dinnertime where people were "dressed". It's possible that people stayed in their fanciness later, but I turned out to be brand-newly pregnant and already *exhausted* beyond belief, so I was going to bed around 8 each night. :rolleyes:

But the b'maid dress was dine. :)

[sapphire]

I have been on Carnival and Norwegian and for both I wore a gown and I was not overdressed. DH wore a dark suit and he did fit in but beleive it or not there were a good number of tuxes. I personally prefer to go with the gown or bridesmaid type dress on the formal nights versus a cocktail dress.

[jeeplover]

We are actually leaving on a cruise on Sunday. We also have 2 formal nights, DH will be wearing a tux both nights and I will be wearing a black dress with sequins one night and the other night I am still working on-it is really hard trying to find dresses while PG!

When we booked this cruise I didn't know I was going to be PG while on it so I had planned on wearing a magenta satin dress one night and a white floor length dress the other night.

My IL's go on alot of cruises and every formal night they have ever been to FIL has worn a tux and MIL has worn a sequin dress that is ankle length of some variation.

I have found that for the formal nights men are best to wear tuxes as I would say 80% of them do. And of course for the women it is all in their perception of what is formal as that varies with each person. Definitely a bridesmaid dress or a floor length gown even if it is simple can be dressed up but those would be your best choices. Good luck and when I return from our cruise I will post pictures of what others in our group wore those nights so you have some ideas!

[looch]

I cruised once, and let me tell you it's not for me, only because i don't like to be told what to wear and what time to eat.
But anyway, people were wearing a mix. Some were very dressed up, others not so much. I say wear what makes you feel beautiful, you can't go wrong with that!;)

[Pink_Converse]

This is how we dressed on Carnival.

DH and I have been on 2 cruises together and for formal night, he wears a dark suit and I wear a black cocktail dress.


I wore a long, black, fitted satin dress with spaghetti straps that I would KILL to be able to fit into now, 4 years later :rolleyes: !

[Vishenka69]

I wore dressier versions of cocktail dress (some sequence, plunging neckline, etc.) and DH wore a dark suit for formal nights on two HAL cruises we've been to. Because of my height it's really hard to find long gowns that fit and I generally feel that they make me look even shorter. A good guideline is to wear something you have (or would) wear to a very fancy Saturday night wedding.

[Elsie]

We took an 11 night cruise last year to/around Hawaii on Royal Caribbean, and there were two formal nights. I saw very few tuxes and about half the women wore gowns. The rest of the women wore a tasteful cocktail dress (as did I), often in black (also, as did I), and the men wore a dark suit. It's not like there's someone at the door to the dining room refusing to allow you to enter if you're not wearing something as fancy as some of the others. ;)