Packing for a cruise

[rach912]

Hello
I am going on a caribbean cruise in 4 weeks, it's my first cruise. I am just gathering all my clothes together to make sure I've got everything wanted some fashion advice. I have spoken to a friend and she said that normal holiday wear i.e. shorts/skirt and t-shirt type thing is fine for the day. It's the evening's I am worried about, I know to wear a an evening dress for the formal nights but for the informal and smart casual what do I wear and how do I distinguish between them? So far I have got a few skirts and pretty/smart tops and also some black trousers but what sort of other thing can I wear? would some nice tailored cropped trousers be suitable or frowned upon?

Any help would be really really appreciated as I don't want to look out of place.

Thanks x
P.s. have also posted this on travel as there is no fashion category!

[lilacben]

Hi rach lucky you I love cruises.! first of all which cruise line are you going with.? we have been on two different ones. one freestyle,no dressing up and one with 2 nights formal. I bought a few dresses from ebay and took shorts/t-shirts for days. Trousers are ok at night but most woman dress in dresses on the formal nights. A little bit of sparkle. My husband got a dinner suit and different bow ties. he also has a dinner jacket,cream. I got dresses the same colour as his bowties,black,purple (hubby didnt like this but wore it) he also had red.I wish it was me going. at first we didnt want to do the dressing up bit but really enjoyed it when we did it. It was so nice to see the men in there dinner suits all togged up.even youngsters in families had dinner suits on. Brenda x

[Dassie]

See my answer under this question you placed in travel

[Quizmonkey]

I too am going on a Caribbean cruise but in about six weeks! Not my first, so my tips: don't get hung up on dress. What you suggest sounds fine - as long as you make sure you have one or two dressy outfits for the formal nights you'll be fine. For the other nights' dinners, just treat it like any restaurant. These days it would only be obvious no-nos that are frowned upon - but as Lilac says, you'll feel better if you dress up a bit. Check with the cruise line too - they all vary. Enjoy!