If you have planned or booked a Cunard cruise and thought joining some of the many Facebook groups with other passengers for information and advice might be helpful, you might have been confused or downright put off by the debate about the dress codes which rarely help the OG (Original Poster).
To be fair one of the things which attracted us to the Cunard brand was it's feted old school vibe with dress codes to match. Official advice on the websites encourages a dress code which suggests changing from casual wear in the evening but many first time cruisers with the brand still seem to want clarification. And nothing seems to enrage people in those FB groups more than questions about what to pack.
So here's my post which will hopefully help anyone wondering what on earth to pack for a trip on one of the famous Queens.
Here's the official information taken from the Cunard website.
Sea Days
As this time is leisurely, it’s important to wear clothes that you feel comfortable in:
Tip: Swimwear isn’t permitted in indoor dining areas, so if you are planning to visit your stateroom’s main restaurant for breakfast or lunch, be sure to factor in time for a quick change in your stateroom.
Evenings On Board
Evenings on board offer the perfect opportunity to embrace a touch of elegance. Most guests welcome the chance to dress in smart attire, adding to the sense of occasion. While formalwear isn’t required every night, we suggest attire akin to what you might wear to a fine restaurant or the theatre, such as a cocktail dress, a dress shirt with trousers, or a stylish skirt and top.
Note: it clearly states formal wear isn't required every night.
Gala Nights
On voyages of three nights or more, at least one Gala Evening invites you to embrace the grandeur of ocean travel. These special nights feature an elevated dress code and are entirely optional, though many guests sail with us precisely because they look forward to the elegance and tradition these evenings bring.
Note: The advice is that the special nights with the dress code are entirely optional. And this is where some of the confusion lies - is the smart, formal dress code optional or should you skip the restaurants and just head to the buffet if you don't want to dress up?
Gala nights are largely (for now) themed Red and Gold, Black and White, Roaring 20's and Masquerade Ball. There are rumours that the themes will be phased out leaving just formal Gala nights where you can wear whatever colour you like.
During our recent Norwegian Fjords 7 night cruise we had Red and Gold and Black and White events and I have to say preparing for those gave us great pleasure in the lead up to the trip. I'm glad however that we didn't have roaring 20's as I'm not keen on fancy dress, and although Masquerade might be fun I'm not keen on trying to eat wearing a Venetian style Mardi Gras mask.
Our Experience
I travelled with my husband and my mum. We love to dress up and based in the UK we could easily transport additional luggage to fit all the different outfits and accessories in. However there were people on board from Korea, Canada, Australia, America and all parts of Europe who had mostly had to fly in to join the Queen Mary II in Southampton or had incorporated the journey into a longer trip. For them I assume luggage was to some extent limited which is probably why quite a lot of people didn't follow the dress codes although there are free to use laundry rooms with free detergent, dryers and ironing boards on board all Cunard vessels.
In The Restaurant
Thankfully on Gala nights there were enough people also wearing Black Tie that we didn't feel overdressed walking round the boat or in the Britannia Restaurant. In fact it was lovely to admire people's outfits and see their take on the theme. Here are a few of our Formal outfits.
Hilariously we also spotted people later on in the evening wearing formal wear in the buffet - like us they clearly had a hankering for a late night snack even after all the gorgeous food in the restaurant!
On non-formal nights we still made an effort using Cunard's guide of wearing something you might wear to the theatre or a nice restaurant. Here's are some of our outfits on non-formal nights.
Much of the (sometimes snarky) advice in the Facebook groups is that if you don't want to dress up, head to the buffet or choose a different cruise line. While I'd hate Cunard to lose its unique vibe evoking bygone glamorous times I understand that some people don't have the ability or desire to pack a range of fancy outfits. And maybe it's scheduling or destination which dictates their choice of cruise company.
I do think however that smart should be the watchword and was sad to see people at Gala evenings wearing slogan T-shirts and jeans and dirty trainers however it didn't really spoil the fun for us - it just made people watching even more interesting.
Sea Days and Port Days
We observed very little difference in what people were wearing on sea days vs port days. Possibly on longer cruises with more sea days that might change. Mostly people were wearing what I'd describe as smart casual with some leaning more towards smart, and others towards casual. We were a little limited as we had packed for a typical Norwegian summer and had very little clothing suitable for the unexpected sunshine and temps in the high 20's.
Embarkation and Disembarkation Day
This was my first cruise and to be honest I thought on Cunard people might be quite smartly dressed all the time and carefully chose my smart but comfy slightly nautical themed (I wore deck shoes) embarkation outfit. It would have been smarter with the jacket I'd packed but as I mentioned earlier, we had the most extraordinary weather throughout our trip including temperatures of 30 degrees in Norway, and I never wore it.
There was quite a mix of outfits on embarkation and disembarkation day ranging from "day at the races" outfits to jeans and rucksacks, possibly depending on each passenger's onward travel plans.
Conclusion
Basically it seems you can wear whatever you like as long is it is clean, in good repair and not offensive. However there are so many cruise companies out there now offering a variety of styles of cruising that it would be a shame to lose that old school smarter-than-average vibe that Cunard does so well from the "bellboys" (now all genders) to the waiting staff who all made us feel like early 20th century VIPs.
That vibe is, to be honest, a little bit diluted now with what appears to be (anecdotally) more and more passengers who don't enjoy or follow the dress code suggestions. There were all ages on the Queen Mary II from families with young children to one lovely man we met who was travelling solo in his 90's when we travelled but the dress code didn't seem to be adhered to more by one age group than another.
I'm sure when Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Bing Crosby, Rita Hayworth and Queen Elizabeth II boarded a Cunard ship they would have not packed anything which would have been out of place in the glamorous luxury hotels of their time. For the period of our cruises with Cunard we'd like to pretend for a while at least that we are part of that world so I hope they don't do away with formal nights and some form of dress code altogether.