Key Aspects:
- Would seeing someone else wear jeans during a formal night in the Main Dining Room ruin an entire cruise? One Carnival guest thinks so.
- The guest not only thinks jeans are inappropriate on formal night, but suggests they ought to be completely banned from Carnival Cruise Line.
- Carnival’s official dress code stresses a casual but family-friendly atmosphere and elegant dress guidelines are considered optional.
Proper attire debates are a frequent controversy among guests, with one side holding firm that dinner in the Main Dining Room is always a dress up occasion while the other side favors a more casual dress code. Carnival Cruise Line does tend toward more casual options, but some attire continues to be contentious.
What’s the most controversial casual item a guest could wear to the Main Dining Room? Debates have raged over military uniforms, hats, sandals, and more, but for some guests, jeans are the ultimate no-no.
What gets guests riled up, however, is when someone is concerned not about what they ought to wear to dinner, but what others are wearing.
“I have a complaint. If you don’t want to dress up, don’t do [Main Dining Room] on formal night. Don’t ruin it for others,” one guest wrote to John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line’s brand ambassador.
They explained how their fashion choices on what Carnival now calls Cruise Elegant evenings include a dinner jacket or jacket and tie with their wife wearing a ballgown. Both guests enjoy the compliments they receive from dressing up so spiffily.
“The more casual formal night has essentially ruined what used to be a very special part of the cruise for me and my wife and many other people,” the guest continued.
“I counted over 100 people wearing jeans tonight, elegant night, in the dining room. They should be forced to eat on Lido Deck. It ruined the whole meal again for us both, and everyone else who had bothered to dress up.”
The guest is currently aboard Mardi Gras on the ship’s transatlantic cruise that departed Barcelona on October 16 following her recent dry dock refreshment. Typically, longer Carnival Journeys sailings often have a slightly more “traditional” feel to the cruise experience.
This particular guest’s vehemence against jeans goes even further than just dining, apparently, as they continued with a very strict suggestion.
“Jeans! Ban them. They have no place on a Carnival cruise,” he concluded.
Carnival is actually one of the most laid-back cruise lines, and their dress code suggests “Cruise Casual” for evening attire. Jeans are listed as acceptable for both men and women on most nights.
For “Cruise Elegant” evenings, which are just once on sailings 5 nights or shorter and twice on itineraries 6 nights or longer, jeans do happen to be listed as “not permitted.”
It must be noted, however, that Carnival Cruise Line’s dress codes are largely just guidelines and suggestions, and guests are welcome to wear whatever best suits their vacation vibes, provided it remains family-friendly.
Do Jeans Ruin the Cruise Experience?
Heald explains his own personal opinion in response to the frustrated guest.
“I don’t get why what someone else is wearing does, and I quote, ‘it essentially ruined what used to be a very special part of the cruise,'” he said. “You pretty much spent time you should have been enjoying the company of your beautiful wife and others counting the number of people wearing jeans.”
Heald goes on to explain how extreme dress codes are “pretty much unenforceable” because of the number of guests who enjoy the Main Dining Room. Mardi Gras, for example, can welcome as many as 5,282 guests per cruise.
To have someone standing at each entrance turning guests away for dress code would create lengthy lines and bottlenecks, slowing dinner service and making it a less pleasant experience for everyone.
Crew members do send people away if they’re wearing extremely inappropriate attire, such as swimsuits.
“But a nice pair of jeans? How does that hurt somebody?” Heald asked.
To gauge the reactions of other guests, Heald asked his followers whether they have ever worn jeans to the Main Dining Room on either a formal night or a regular casual evening.
The overwhelming answer for casual evenings is that yes, many guests have worn jeans. I certainly have.
Most guests who do not wear jeans on casual evenings also explain that they don’t usually wear jeans at all, even when not on a cruise. For some, they simply don’t pack jeans along, especially for summer sailings or Caribbean itineraries.
Read Also: How to Pack Jewelry for Travel on a Cruise Ship
On formal nights, many guests also wear jeans, though they might consider them “dressy” jeans or choose darker blue or black denim. Overall, however, fewer guests opt for jeans on an elegant evening. Personally, I have worn black jeans on many formal nights.
The fact that jeans can typically be reworn and are less prone to wrinkle when packed in luggage are also factors in what some guests choose to pack along for their cruise vacation.
One guest summed up both sides of the debate with astute observations about everyone cruising.
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“I think elegant nights are great; they give people the chance to be a bit more fancy than many regular lives allow, which is lovely. But equally folks are on vacation and should dress in whichever way is comfortable,” the guest said.
“Both types of people should be allowed to dress as they please without judgment so long as everyone remains smart and decent for MDR.”
This is not the first time Carnival Cruise Line has been a focus of the jeans-or-not debate, and it likely won’t be the last.
