There are very few matters which create as much confusion as to what cruisers should wear to dinner on board a cruise ship. There is sometimes a given dress code, and people sometimes want to wear something else, which leads to even more confusion. Although most cruise lines have a dress code, while dressing for dinner on some ships might involve wearing a clean t-shirt and jeans to wearing a tuxedo. Dress codes are not uniform on cruise lines and might vary significantly from one to another.

There are always some cruisers who want to go against the given dress code. If the cruise line wants you to wear a tuxedo, there are sure to be some people who will insist on wearing just a suit. If the cruise does not want people to wear shorts to dinner, there will certainly be someone trying it out anyway. Those who follow the given dress code complain that others do not follow it enough and most cruise lines feel that it would be somewhat rude to turn away guests from dinner on minor issues. There are plenty of people who think it is fine to turn up in t-shirt and shorts when the minimum required by the ship is a suit and tie. However, there are some ships where people do get turned away from the dining room if they do not follow the dress code.

Until the 1920’s, formal dress was mandatory after 6pm on cruise ships and the first class on ocean liners. This was not only for the dining room, but for all the public rooms. Women wore evening gowns and men wore white tie. The dress code was seriously enforced every night and only the very brash would attempt to flout it. Then things began to get more informal and black tie eventually made its way into the dinner dress in the post-war years, till it became the expected dress for men.

In the 1960s, there were new budget cruise lines and these usually attracted a class of people who did not own formal dress. Moreover, there were some major cruise ships which started designating formal and informal evenings. However, dress codes were enforced till well into the 1990s, though it was less strict than it was in the past. There was no confusion about what one should wear then as there is now.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was a significant change in the dress code of cruise ships as society became more casual and people from a larger section of society had the means to travel on a cruise ship. As cruise lines turned their attention to such first-time cruisers, they began to make their enforcement of dress code more lax. Some ships limited the formal dress to the dining room at night, not all public rooms, while NCL, as part of its Freestyle Cruising scheme, was the first to make formal nights optional. This eventually led to a lot of variation in cruising dress and placed the shipboard staff in the awkward position of having to deal with people who refused to comply with the dress code.