Dress Code or Not?

You may or may not have heard the drama of the Brawl onboard P&O cruises because someone had dressed up in a Clown Suit.

It was I grant you, during a formal night, where black tie or at least smart suits and dresses etc were the suggested norm.

The issue, however, was not that it was formal night but that P&O, a fair few months ago changed their policy to say that there would be no fancy dress allowed onboard, to prevent hen and stag parties etc getting out of hand.

This is what the person was objecting to, saying they had booked a cruise with no fancy dress.

Anyway, the incident led to a violent confrontation. I think the press did blow things up way out of proportion as it was very late at night between a small group of passengers who had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol. The pictures of lots of passengers fighting on deck were nothing at all to do with the incident but the press do like to sensationalise things!

But back to my point. What are your thoughts on Dress-code? Women get away with most outfits and can dress up just about any outfit with a bit of strategic bling but for men its black tie or a suit!

Do you adhere to dress codes or are you one who just does your own thing whichever ship you are on?

If you are, has this caused you any issues with other passengers?

It certainly seems to get people hot under the collar.

Should the dress code be more strictly enforced?  Cruise line staff tend to turn a blind eye unless the outfit is ridiculously out of place like shorts or sleeveless shirts etc.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.