"Formal" attire usually means a tuxedo for men and a long gown for women, but some lines are increasingly allowing suits and ties and shorter dresses. You will have to check the specific guidelines for formal attire when booking your cruise to see if a tuxedo or gown are truly required or if a suit/dinner jacket and shorter dress might suffice. Many cruise clubs will either require you dress formally for at least one night, or provide the option in a specific dining venue on the ship. The major cruise lines that currently have at least one mandatory formal night are: Carnival, Celebrity, Costa, Cruise & Maritime, Crystal, Cunard, Disney, Olsen, Holland America, MSC, P&O, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Seaborn. Among those with the option to completely forgo formal attire are Azamara, Norwegian, Regent and Windstar.
Semi-formal attire is usually defined as suits and ties for men and dresses, suits or palazzo pants for women. Sometimes this category is also called "cruise elegant." For almost all cruises, if you want to have the option of dining in every on-board venue, it is recommended that you bring at least one semi-formal outfit. The only exception is Windstar Cruises, which never requires more than a "smart casual" outfit in any of its dining rooms.
"Smart casual" is normally defined by long khaki pants or dress slacks for men, but no jeans, and a collared shirt and/or sports blazer. For ladies, it is defined as long slacks, skirts and cocktail dresses. Avoid flip-flops, baseball caps, sneakers, shorts and T-shirts. Essentially, the cruise lines are trying to discourage you from coming straight from the pool deck to dinner. Every major cruise line requires a minimum of this standard of dress in at least one of their dinner venues. Some cruise lines suggest this level of dress for all public venues, excluding gyms and swim decks, at all times of day. Among these are Cunard, MSC and Seaborn. Others place a similar restriction on attire beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Most cruise lines try to offer an extremely relaxed option for their cruisers who prefer to stay casual. Usually the best dining option for this will be the ship's buffet. However, some cruise lines only offer the buffet during the day, and in the evenings you may have no choice but to dress up a bit. "Casusal" is defined by whatever you are most comfortable in, but there are several guidelines that you should try to follow nonetheless. When entering a casual dining area, put on a shirt or swimsuit cover-up, and always wear shoes or sandals of some kind. Avoid ripped jeans, excessively short skirts or shorts and bathrobes. The cruise lines with the reputation of being the most forgiving in terms of dress code are Norwegian, Disney and Regent.
