PXYca

We are embarking at Baltimore on the May 12 itineray to western carribbean. Regarding formal nights - how formal are people? Should we be renting a tux or is a jacket and tie suitable? My DH does not own a suit in this day of business casual.

Budman

Most people will be wearing either a tux or a dark suit. No one will kick you out of the dining room if your husband wears a jacket & tie. I wouldn't worry about it.

Cruiser

Your husband could rent the tux and just take his jacket and tie for informal nights.

LLindaC

Do not spend the extra dollars for a tux or a suit. He'll look fine in a jacket and tie. We've been on 11 RCCL cruises, and I've seen it all on formal night. One man at our table wore silk shirts, no tie, etc. for both nights. Don't think you have to skip the dining room just because you aren't extremely "formal". It's one of our favorite experiences and they'll just be glad to have you. Enjoy!!

PXYca

That's what I thought - I figure on a ship full of some 2,000 passengers not all would be in black tie!

Thanks!

He may still do the rental - for $120 they give you a nice black tux with 2 dress shirts and a white dinner jacket too. seems like a deal to me.

Budman

If you can afford the rental, go for it. You'll have some nice pictures together.

PXYca

I'm going to look into it - if it's for the whole cruise - it's a great deal cause he wear the white dinner jacket one night and the tux the other for the formal nights....and not have to pack any dressy clothes! He has casual cotton/linen shirts with a more casual linen liz claiborne style jacket for other nights.

LLindaC

don't forget that one night is casual and it's usually a Caribbean theme. That's the only theme night most people observe, and you'll see lots of men in Tommy Bahama style shirts.

jacketwatch

Agree with the othrs except that he won't need a jacket for informal nights I think. I also like LLindaC's idea about the Tommy bahama clothes. Luv em myself. Bon voyage.

Cruiser

I would think that informal evenings would be jacket required with tie optional.

The Tommy Bahama outfit sounds like it would fit great on a theme night or one of the casual evenings.

jacketwatch

For our RCCL Med cruise there was one or two formal nights, otherwise it was smart casual. No jackets requiered then. There is no jacket required for informal nights.

jacketwatch

I had copied and linked info from the official RCCL web site inre to dress code and it disappeared. Oh well. The gist of it was:
Formal nights require tux or dark suit
Smart casual nights require jacket and tie
Casual nights require "smart" clothing, i.e. no tank tops, cut-offs, etc.
However it seems these are guidelines and not enforced to the letter. Cheers, Larry

PXYca

Thanks Larry.

We were talking about it on the weekend and I think we're leaning towards renting the tux. It is our 10th wedding anniversary and it would be nice to get a nice pic of the two of us all "swanked" up.

I think his liz claiborne jacket with linen shirt/pants will work for the smart casual and he has a really nice Gant "vacation shirt" for the carribbean casual night.

He likes the idea of the tux rental since we don't have to pack or figure out pressing once unpacked.

jacketwatch

You're welcome. Congratulations on your 10th anniv. For that occasion doing it up is appropo. It seems you have the right idea, the right person and the right time. Cheeers, Larry