DCL Dinner Dress Code Changed

I am with you Kristen . Shorts are never appropriate at a fine dining establishment and I consider the dining room and on board restaurants as such. Oh well that's just my opinion.

I agree. I don't thing it necessarily needs to be cocktail attire every night, but khakis or the equivalent should be the minimum. Maybe for little-bitty ones, I could see shorts, but if you're old enough to order for yourself, you're old enough to spiff yourself up.

When we went on the Fantasy in May, we wore sharp business attire to regular dinner. We saw MANY people in shorts and jeans and no one said anything to them. Probably why they are officially lifting the ban, people are going to do it anyway. Most of the people in shorts and jeans were men. I did see a few ladies wearing jeans.

I agree with you Kristen. One of DCL sale pitch is that their ships are not only family oriented, but also decorated to the elegance of a by-gone-era.

Separating a meal or a restaurant for those who wish to dress-up for the occasion is not a major imposition or expectation. There are enough restaurants on board to meet DCL guest dress desires.

Looks like I'm in the minority. I like the shorts idea...I save my dressing up for Palo. I don't wear short shorts and think that a nice pair of bermudas with a polo are fine for dinner. Jeans were always acceptable. Yes, early cruisers dressed for dinner however its a new day and new era. This is no different to me than being able to wear shorts to sit-down meals in the parks.

If that's the rule, I'll live at the buffet if I ever cruise.

I'm in the minority, also. If I ruled the world, EVERYTHING would be casual.

Count me in with I don't like to get dressed up to eat. One of my biggest thing against doing a cruise was the dressing up for dinner. Granted the last time we cruised you still really dressed for dinner. Packing was a nightmare. Then I had to iron our dress clothes before dinner each night.

We do wear shorts to the signature restaurants quite often while in Disney. Honestly to me, some shorts are much nicer than some of the jeans that I have seen. A big problem for me and dressing up is shoes. I will not get dressed up without wearing heels. While I do love heels, my feet do not!

I do know how you feel though Kristen. While not getting dressed up for dinner does not bother me, I am still shocked at how some people dress ( or should I say do not dress) for church. I guess we all just have to accept that times change. Heck, I am old enough that I can remember when girls had to wear dresses to school and I went to a public school.

We prefer to dress more casual on cruises...not always jeans but usually khakis and sweaters. That is why we traveled with Norwegian on our last cruise, much more casual for dinner, although I still want to do a Disney Cruise!

When I was very young, we had to dress up for church. My grandma was always in her "Sunday Finest" with her pearls and her dress blazer...so I usually had a dress and those horrible black shiny shoes. One of my friends dad would always arrive in church with blue jeans and a Mickey Mouse Sweatshirt! I was so jealous! Many a conversation I started with my mom was: "but Jennifer's dad gets to wear his Mickey Mouse shirt!".

Having to dress up is one of the reasons DH says he never wants to do a cruise. He has to wear a tie and dress shirt every day he works, and he says when he's on vacation, he isn't going to! I haven't worn a dress since 2000 - I would have to go shopping for sure.

I had to wear dresses to school too - I was in university before I could wear jeans to school. And definitely NO shorts allowed, ever! Remember when we all dressed up to fly? I understand how you feel Kristen - it just seems so much more civilized when you take some effort with what you wear. Don't get me going on what people wear to funerals now - I just think it's so disrespectful to the deceased and their families!

Well, I've been on two cruise lines now and even though it was "formal" and "semiformal", some people did not dress up at all and it's not like they were turned away or anything.

Maybe they should make the early dinner a "casual" and the late dinner should be "semi formal"...Of course, I would love it if EVERY night of the cruise was formal. Getting dressed up, wearing diamonds, sipping champagne, and enjoying a four course meal is my cup of tea!

That is a great idea about differentiating between the early and late seatings.

I like the idea of 1 seating being more casual than the other. One of the things that really disappointed Chuck and I on our Disney Cruise this last February was that there was no formal night. Or at least that was what was on line and what we were told in our emails. Then we got on the ship with no formal wear and find out the 2nd night that it was formal night! Obviously we weren't the only ones to get the wrong information as there were very few who had formal attire with them. It was a huge letdown as Chuck and I love formal nights! We did end up talking to several of the high up staff members about our disappointment with the miscommunication.
Our next cruise is booked with Royal Caribbean. I KNOW they have formal nights! Can't wait!!!

I am looking forward to my first cruise in January. I plan to dress up for dinner and my boyz (19/22) will need to also. I work in a casual environment( television station) and I love the opportunity to dress up. I go to a church that says you can come as you are but since I sing in the choir, I am always dressed up because it is required. Personally, I thin things are too lax in so many ares of our society. At the age of 50+ i still do not call my elders by their first name or even my pastor. I think there is a lack of respect but most people call me old fashioned. My boyz are required to call adults Ms or Mr., it is just the way we were raised and I like it.