To Dress or Not to Dress…..

I was chatting to one of my customers last week about a recent NCL cruise they had been on. She cruised with her husband and they had enjoyed the cruise but had one bugbear about it…it bothered them both so much that they both said they wouldn’t cruise with NCL again….so what was it that had put such a dampener on their cruise??? It was the dining experience she told me….the food I asked? no, the freestyle approach? no….so just what was it…it was the way some of their fellow passengers dressed or didn’t dress for dinner!

My customer told me on a number of evenings there were passengers dressed in vests, beach shorts, flip flops and even baseball caps!! Passengers were allowed into the main restaurant dressed like this for their evening meal and NCL didn’t do anything to stop this!  My customers were very disappointed with the way in which NCL allowed guests to dress or should I say not dress for dinner!   Now according to NCL the dress code for the dining room is smart casual and shorts and baseball caps are certainly not included. Should the restaurant manager have sent guests away to get changed when not following the dress code?…my customers thought so and I have to agree with them.

Smart casual means just that and the dress code is there to be followed. Ok so on an NCL cruise there is no need for a tuxedo or cocktail dress but that doesn’t mean making no effort at all and totally disregarding the dress rules they have.

One of my favourite parts of cruising is getting dressed up in the evening ready for the meal and the entertainment. Personally I especially love the formal evenings where the atmosphere is amazing and everyone has made such an effort. In the past when I have cruised with NCL even though there is no set formal evening, we have always chosen a night to dress up and make that extra effort and can honestly say never felt out of place. This is why I was surprised at my customers experience on board as I have never seen anyone dressed as they describe and be able to dine the restaurant even with NCl who do take the more casual approach.  I do find it sad that this has put my customers off so much that they wouldn’t cruise with NCL again, as it’s not the norm on board,  but it is the thing that has stuck with them about the cruise line and unfortunately their minds are made up!

Do you enjoy dressing up on your cruise or are you happy to be casual? Does it affect you when other passengers don’t follow the rules or would this not bother you at all? I would love to hear your thoughts as always.

thanks for reading Abbi x