Ask when the formal night of the voyage is when you first make your cruise reservations. On most mainstream cruise lines, formal night is the second night of the cruise, but longer voyages may have more than one formal night.
Plan appropriate attire for your cruise formal night, keeping in mind the difficulties of transporting delicate gowns or elaborate outfits in luggage.
Begin dressing for dinner at least 1 hour early on formal night. Arrange hair styles, makeup, jewelry and other accessories accordingly.
Leave your cruise ship cabin early on formal night to take advantage of the different photo stations set up in public areas of the ship. Most ships will offer at least four or five different photo backgrounds and settings, including black-and-white photos or sepia-toned images, and some ships may offer up to a dozen options. Photos will be available both before and after dinner.
Use your camera to take photos at different locations if permitted, or ask other passengers to take snapshots of you in non-restricted locations.
Proceed to the dining room on time for your dinner seating. If you choose not to eat in the main dining room, feel free to enjoy other dining options on board.
Revisit any photo locations that were too crowded before dinner to get those last few pictures.
Return to your cabin to change into more comfortable, resort casual clothes before seeing the evening lounge show if desired, or continue wearing formal clothes throughout the evening.
