We are taking a short (4 day) Carnival Cruise and wondered how dressed up teens need to be on Formal Night or any other night in the dining room. Will nice slacks and a dress shirt be sufficient or is a tie and coat necessary? I'm afraid if the latter is necessary, we won't see our son much at dinner!!

I don't think any one is denied entry to the dining rooms any more.
I've never been on Carnival but I can't imagine that they would be more demanding than HAL.

a dress shirt and slacks would do just fine.

On our last Carnival cruise-Sept.- a lot of people paid no attention to fromal night. One man at our table had a t-shirt on! A lot of men did not have jackets or ties. So, long panta and a polo shirt would be fine for your son. Girls just a dress or nice opants & top. It wasn't formal night but have also seen shorts in the dining room including short, short shorts! Carnival allows all sort of dress in their dining room now - hate it!

Thanks for your responses. We plan to "honor" formal night. Just wanted to see exactly how much the teen would need to spiff up. I may actually tell him he needs a tie just because I would like to see him in one!!

SaltysMom,

I feel your pain. ;-) Our son is required to wear a nice shirt, tie, and a jacket on formal night - for Mom's pictures! This is the only requirement for his father and I allowing him to join us on our lovely vacation. ;-) He must dress up with the rest of the family, eat dinner with us, and he must suffer through the painful formal-night-picture-taking! Honestly, it is the only 'nice' photos I have of my family. He is free to change at 8:35 when he heads back to the teen activities & the picture taking is complete. ;-)

We just got back from a 4-night cruise on Carnival. The cruise director said "No Shorts" for formal night and that was about it. I did not see anyone that was inappropriately dressed for the evening.
Nice slacks and a dress shirt will be perfectly appropriate for men that night, especially for a teen. A tie for a teen will probably be a bit much, but if you want him to wear one, I'm sure he'll look very nice.
On any other night, slacks or jeans will be OK for dinner. People really respected the "No shorts" request every night.