Whether or not you take formal clothes to a cruise depends greatly on the nature and length of the cruise you’re going on. Dinner and dancing pleasure trips last just a few hours and you don’t really take clothes, formal or otherwise, to these cruises, you wear them. However, if the weather’s likely to turn cooler, you might want to take an extra jacket or wrap with you, just in case.

Cruises which last several days might have some formal evenings, or perhaps a formal dining room. If so, you should plan to take some formal wear with you. However, you’ll often find that what you’re really looking for is semi-formal or dressy clothing. A somewhat formal dress for women and a suit, though not a tuxedo, for men, is usually all that’s needed. Jacket-and-tie requirements are imposed on men in the dining room of some cruise ships, so bringing a sports coat, slacks, dress shirts and co-coordinating ties might be a good idea.

If you are unsure whether or not you’re allowed to bring formal clothes on the cruise, you should either consult your travel agent or contact the cruise line. The cruise line can usually give you an itinerary o the events planned and tell you whether there will be any particular clothing requirements. You can always buy clothes at the stores on the ship, if need be, but these are usually extremely expensive, and it’s always better if you can just pick the clothes needed from your own wardrobe.

Very rarely, actual formal clothing is required. For women, this translates to full-length or tea-length gowns, and for men, into tuxedos. The very long cruises on larger ships might host special dances or dinners for which your best and most formal outfits are needed. Usually, though, you can get away with bringing just one or two dressy outfits for the special dinners.

Women should consider the price of the formal clothes they bring on a cruise. The fact is, you may want to avoid packing really expensive clothing, like maybe an haute couture dress—theft, after all, does occur on cruise ships. Similarly, it might be unwise to pack real jewelry, which is so very expensive. Instead, they can bring costume jewelry, which does the trick just as well. After all, it’d be rather horrible to have a cruise, and all its memories, ruined by an unfortunate theft.