Dress Code

[all4djcc]

Can anyone tell me if there is a dress code for any of the restaurants on the Wonder, 4 day cruise? I was hoping to leave the tie and dress shoes at home. Maybe there is a web site with dress requirements for each restaurant and each different meal.

Thanks in advance!

[TammiMcMan]

For the rotational dining, it doesn't matter which restaurant you're in, they have a "theme" for each night:

1st Night ~ cruise casual
2nd Night ~ dress up night
3rd Night ~ pirate or cruise casual
4th Night ~ cruise casual

For dress up night, it basically means that the characters will be in their formal attire for pictures in the Atrium. Diners aren't required to wear gowns or suits, but some do take advantage of the theme and get really dressed up. Ellen just returned from a 4 night cruise, so she can probably shed some light on how people were dressed at her seating.

If you are planning on eating in Palo for dinner, then they do request shirts and ties for gentlemen and dressier outfits for women.

[DisneyDudet]

My father just wears nice khakis or black dress pants and a button up shirt. Its your typical sunday dress really. The dress up nights you will find some nicer attire worn, but that is purely optional.

They do have restrictions as to what you CANNOT wear in the dining rooms. Shorts, tank tops, and swimwear are not appropriate.

[ElenitaB]

We just debarked last Thursday :( so I have a relatively fresh view of what people were wearing. At our table, one of the gentlemen wore a suit and tie every night and his wife and adult daughter also dressed nicely (dresses and such). The other couple dressed very nicely every evening, epitomizing "cruise casual." At the tables around us, there was a wide variety of dress. My DS abandoned me after the second night for the friends he made at the Oceaneer's Lab. I wore a dress or nice shirt/skirt every evening.

I must say, I was very disappointed in the lack of enforcement of dress code by DCL. Yes, people are on vacation ... however, DCL should enforce what they put down on paper. People showed up in the dining rooms for dinner in tank tops and shorts (the DCL site specifically states "no tank tops, swim wear or shorts"). To me, the dress up night is SPECIAL (well, actually the whole cruise is). For something SPECIAL, I do prefer to dress differently from what I wear on a regular basis. For me, that was a nice blouse and skirt. For my son, it wasn't too different from his school uniform: nice slacks, Oxford button-down shirt and a tie. However, there were many kids (particularly boys) who came to dinner that night in shorts and t-shirts (the rest of their family was dressed better than that... particularly the sisters). I don't want to impose my personal preference on any one else, but I was bit disappointed.

There was an incident that may explain the apparent lack of "enforcement." While ironing my son's white shirt for what they now call "dress up night," the iron in the laundry room spewed out a good stream of water. I attempted to dry the shirt out by ironing it. Well, the ironing board cover leached its lovely dark green color onto his shirt. :eek: I called Guest Services not only to ask for their help but also to alert them to the situation. They told me that they would launder and press the shirt. Well, there was a snafu and I was told that he could wear his "next best" shirt since it wasn't that important. I replied that his "next best" shirt was already in the laundry bag and very wrinkled (and it was), and that I had envisioned our "formal night" pictures quite differently. I didn't tell them, but I had moved heaven and earth to buy a nice Mickey tie from eBay before we cruised, had it delivered to our resort and then had to enlist Jeanne's help to even find it because the resort was saying they didn't have it. I wasn't about to ditch DS's formal night outfit because they couldn't get it together. DCL finally came through and delivered the shirt 15 minutes before our dinner time.

I guess in a society where people no longer bother with "Sunday best" even to go to church, we can't expect much better on vacation.

I'll get off my soapbox now :blush:

[DisneyDudet]

Wow Ellen! That was pretty bad! I'm sorry, I'm glad it didn't end up ruining your dress up night. Although, we could have done without the added stress!

I don't really wear my "sunday best" at church much, I do sometimes, but it does seem as it is becoming more and more common. I do it because I usually don't make it home from work in time to wear nice clothes, and a nice pair of jeans and a decent top usually suffice.

However, on the Disney cruises, I do wear better than that. I wear nice skirts or dresses, and I always hope that others do too. On my last cruise, I wore a very elegant bridesmaid dress (its not your typical BM dress at all!) to formal night, and I was one of the most dressed up that night, but fast forward to semi-formal night, where I wore a more dressy type outfit than my usual, which was my Easter dress, I was underdressed by many. It seemed that they all wore their Formal outfits that night... almost like they tested out the water on Formal night to see if they were too dressy!

I guess that you and I are just gonna hafta go on a 7 day cruise together, and abide by all they rules they have!

[TheDuckRocks]

I guess we've all had "dress" problems when we travel but 2 of the most interesting for me were on our 4-day Wonder cruise.
The first one happened to me;
Due to my deformed feet I have to wear really ugly shoes if I'm going to have to do any walking and being that the ship is so big I deceided to only pack dressy pants for dinner and not dresses that I would have wanted to wear with different shoes. Fast forward to me unpacking on the ship and I only can find one of the pair of pants for dinner. Well thank goodness the pair that made it on the trip where the dressier pair and they were black so they were worn every evening no matter what the dress code was.:blush: The other pants were safe at home hanging from the backside of my bedroom door, something I never do. Rack another one up to the same imp that steals socks from my dryer.
The second thing that happened was the first night at dinner a party of 6 adults came dressed very, very formal to dinner. Suits, ties, long dresses for the women the whole 9 yards! OK, to each his own.......whatever! Now here's where it got strange, their dining seating was at a table for 12 and when they got there everyone else at the table was dressed in a very much more casual style. The dressy group demanded to see the head waiter and pitched a fit that they did not expect to be seated with "the riff'-raff"!:jaw: And yeah it was so loud we clearly heard them 3 tables away. Needless to say they were magically whisked away. I have no idea where Disney put these people but we never saw them at our dining rotation or anywhere else again. I think throwing them overboard would have been a suitable answer. The other people at that table were so embarassed and they weren't that much different than everyone else.

[DisneyDudet]

That story actually made my jaw drop!

I wonder where they were sent!?

[thejens]

Wow! Sounds like 2 extremes represented here! It does seem a shame that no one dresses up for anything anymore! I would like one or two formal nights to be honored. However as a mom of 2 boys I would be glad if chinos and polos were permitted for them.

[ElenitaB]

Davy Jones Locker? More than likely, a table sized for their party at another restaurant...

thejens, polos and chinos would be just fine (a nice polo shirt was DS' "second best shirt").

[Ed]

I practically live in polo shirts, and on our cruises I usually wear a nice polo and khakis or long dress pants for dinner. For Palo, I do it up - full suit and tie.

On one occasion, we did see the staff turn away a young couple who were wearing T-shirts and those lovely ultra-fashionable jeans with tears across the knees and butts. :sick: I wanted to stand up and lead the entire restaurant in a "standing O" for the CMs who turned them away.

[adoptionislove]

Wow!! Riff raf huh?

When cruises cost a minimum of 4,000K how on earth are they riff raff? ANYWAY!

I am a stay at home mom so my outfit daily consists of tennis shoes, sweats and hair in a ponytail!

I can't WAIT to get to get to play dress up for the dinners!!!

Michelle

[MMouse6937]

I'm really torn about this issue since DH and I are considering a cruise next year. DH doesn't dress up at all, he's not a slob, just not a dress up type of person. For our wedding he wore a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of black slacks. We had to buy him the shirt, pants, dress shoes, belt, dress socks, everything, so needless to say it's not something in his wardrobe. I'm a little concerned about be forced to dress up on our vacation. I don't want any of us to wear ripped jeans or tank tops but I really think a nice pair of shorts and a polo top for DH and a dressier pair of shorts and a blouse for me is more than acceptible for a Disney cruise. I don't wear dresses hardly at all, and would feel very uncomfortable on my vacation wearing something Ihaven't worn since I got married (a dress that is). Just my two cents.

[Ed]

Maybe there is a web site with dress requirements for each restaurant and each different meal.

Thanks in advance!


The DCL website lists the following:

What should I wear to dinner?

Dining Dress requirements vary by venue or theme night on your cruise. In general, most meals are "Cruise Casual" -- no shorts, swimwear or tank tops. Most cruises also have special theme nights with additional attire requirements. Here's a breakdown of these events by cruise itinerary.

On 3-night cruises:

First night: cruise casual — no shorts, swimwear or tank tops
Second night: pirate or tropical deck party
Final night: "dress-up night" — jacket for men, dress or pantsuit for women

On 4-night cruises:

First night: cruise casual — no shorts, swimwear or tank tops
One pirate or tropical night (deck party)
One "dress-up night" — jacket for men, dress or pantsuit for women
Final night: cruise casual — no shorts, swimwear or tank tops

On 7-night cruises:
First night: cruise casual — no shorts, swimwear or tank tops
Three additional "cruise casual" nights — no shorts, swimwear or tank tops
One pirate or tropical night (deck party)
One formal and one semi-formal night — formal wear for men: tuxedo or suit; for women: gown or dress; semi-formal wear for men: suit/jacket; for women: dress or pantsuit.

Dress for dinner at Palo on all cruises:

Men: dress shirt or jacket
Women: dress or pantsuit

~~~~~~~~

Even though the site uses the word "requirement", we have found that the crew are fairly lax in enforcing this, except in extreme cases like the one I mentioned above - ripped jeans. We have seen some folks wearing nice dress shorts (as opposed to baggy, wrinkled-up soiled cargo shorts or 'short-shorts') in the restaurants.

But to me personally, I find a cruise to be an occasion when I want to dress up a little. I wear my shorts (yes, sometimes those infamous red shorts of mine :D ) and T-shirts to the other meals, but for dinner I respect the cruise line's guidelines and dress up a bit. It hasn't killed me yet!

[meldan98]

I know that sometimes there may be reasons for the lack of nicer clothes for a cruise. While on a DCL in 2000, we sat next to a table and they were a newlywed couple. The only clothes they had was what they boarded the ship with, because their bagage got lost at the air port. I felt horrible for them. They were in shorts, flip flops and Disney T-Shirts and it was New Years Eve. Everybody else was dressed to the nines. The wife was humliated, but they really wanted to eat. Everyone at the table felt so bad for them. The staff was very kind to them and they did enjoy their dinner. The next day in Nassau, they went shopping and bought enough stuff to get them through the cruise.

[DisneyDudet]

I'm really torn about this issue since DH and I are considering a cruise next year. DH doesn't dress up at all, he's not a slob, just not a dress up type of person. For our wedding he wore a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of black slacks. We had to buy him the shirt, pants, dress shoes, belt, dress socks, everything, so needless to say it's not something in his wardrobe. I'm a little concerned about be forced to dress up on our vacation. I don't want any of us to wear ripped jeans or tank tops but I really think a nice pair of shorts and a polo top for DH and a dressier pair of shorts and a blouse for me is more than acceptible for a Disney cruise. I don't wear dresses hardly at all, and would feel very uncomfortable on my vacation wearing something Ihaven't worn since I got married (a dress that is). Just my two cents.

What I wore for the most part to dinners on my last cruise was capri pants, sandals, and a decent top. Nothing too dressy, except for formal and semi-formal nights. Those nights are encouraged, but optional. If you decided to wear cruise casual all nights, I think that would be fine. I would avoid the shorts, as stated, Disney states they are not appropriate to dinners. Capri's or nice Docker type pants are perfect!