what type of clothing do people wear on the cruises?

This is a joke, right! It will all depend on what type of cruise you are taking and your ports of call (i.e. if you are cruising to Alaska you'll need different clothing than on a cruise to Tahati).

Your cruise lines travel package will tell what is appropriate but for most cruises, bring the appropriate type of casual clothes for daytime and "resort casual" for most evenings but plan on 1 or 2 dress-up nights (i.e. dresses for the ladies and jacket & tie for the men). Whatever you do - don't pack too much as closet space is limited and no one will notice that you wore the same outfit for dinner 2 or 3 times.

We cruised on Holland America, which is a bit more formal than some of the cruiselines. Two nights were formal, black tie or suits for men & long or cocktail length dresses for women. 3 nights were informal (no jeans or khakis, collared shirt for men); and 2 nights were casual (jackets for men, dress slacks/skirts/dresses for women). Most of the passengers did adhere to the code. If you want to be casual for the entire cruise, there is no dress code at the buffet.

We just did a seven night cruise on Windstar, Rome to Athens. Our luggage finally caught up with us on day 5. Believe me, you don't need a whole lot to get by! We just bought enough to have two day outfits and two night outfits- and did laundry every day. The ship was great- did our laundry for free. But it wouldn't have been all that expensive, according to the price list. The moral of the story is, you only need about half of what you THINK you need!

Check out cruisediva.com..."packing and lists". Have a great time!