Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are our favorites too, as well as two Carnival ships sailing out of California. Living in Florida with many ports to depart from, we've experienced many cruise lines. We found that formal night is interpreted differently by cruise lines as much as by passengers today. We respect and continue to book with the cruise lines that stand by their dress code if they indeed set one. We follow their expectations when we pack for the cruise and expect others to do the same. "Overdone formal" is generally limited to the prom set who want formal portraits with and without their families. Adults on our favorite cruise lines wear, on formal nights, suits and ties (some tuxedoes), cocktail dresses (many are long) or dressy slacks (not pants) with dressy blouses and shoes. Children are dressed in traditional fancy clothes, generally for portraits. On other nights in the dining room, passengers come in clothes they'd wear to a top line restaurant where tablecoths are also used and wait staff is also uniformly dressed--no sneakers, fip flops, shorts, jeans, collarless shirts, or capris. Those who arrive dressed otherwise have been asked to use the buffet or optional casual restaurant. Nicely attired is not more expensive, not snobby; it's respectful.

Go to the formal night! It's fun and you won't see a lot of very formal wear, especially with what airlines are charging for extra bags.

My husband wears a blazer with dress shirt and tie. I take dressy black pants, a silky black tank top, a lightweight silk jacket and black dressy sandals, all of which take almost no space. On our last cruise, we had 3 formal nights and I took different jewelry for each night to change the look a little bit.

We just did 14 nights in the Baltic with two carry-on size bags and had plenty of clothes.

hiii,in my opinion you should go to small cruise where there is not having more rush,i used to do this.

Personally, I enjoy getting dressed up. But I've never worn a gown, nor my hubby a tux. I've worn a cocktail dress, he's worn a suit.

However, I went on a couple of cruises w/ my girlfriend & we totally forgot it was 'dress' night & went to dinner in cotton cropped pants & a tank, & they let us in.

Bottom line is that on most cruise lines they will let you in the dining room unless you are wearing cut-off jeans or flip-flops or beach/bathing attire. Anything else is OK.
Black slacks/skirt and nice top and dangly earrings will suffice for women. Guys can get away with a polo shirt & slacks. Believe me, you will not be turned away.
Save your stressing out for something more important. Have a good time.

The orginal post was from 2009. I am surprised that comments are still posted. She has not post anything since.

Eschew, we still have opinions, and don't you try to stop us :))