dress code on disney dream for young adults

[brenbrady]

We are going on Dream and grandchildren ages 4, 7, 12, and 21 were wondering can they wear dress shorts for dinner or do they need long pants. I know all the adults will not over dress but will wear long pants. Any help will be appreciated.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are going on Dream and grandchildren ages 4, 7, 12, and 21 were wondering can they wear dress shorts for dinner or do they need long pants. I know all the adults will not over dress but will wear long pants. Any help will be appreciated.

The only "dress code" in the main dining rooms is "no swimwear or tank tops". Beyond that, you'll see all manner of dress, from formal wear to shorts & flip-flops. Regardless of the suggested "Cruise Casual" or "Dress Up Optional" suggestions in the Navigator.

 

[brenbrady]

The only "dress code" in the main dining rooms is "no swimwear or tank tops". Beyond that, you'll see all manner of dress, from formal wear to shorts & flip-flops. Regardless of the suggested "Cruise Casual" or "Dress Up Optional" suggestions in the Navigator.

Thank you for your quick reply I thought that may be the case as it is Disney.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thank you for your quick reply I thought that may be the case as it is Disney.

Well, time was there were more specific dress codes - like an actual formal night, but, unfortunately, the "it's my vacation, I'll dress as I want" mentality has won out.

 

[Travel60]

We began DCL cruising when children were 9 & 12 and now planning first cruise with grandchildren. We used occasions of cruises to teach our children how adults dress. Son at minimum wore polo and dress shorts. Formal and semi-formal night included sports coat and long pants or suit. Daughter wore skirt and top, dress, or nice pants and top. First and last nights a bit more casual. As adults, they still dress for dinner on cruises and when warranted in personal life. People complain that dressing up requires too much luggage but I can pack for a week to 12 days in a regular sized suitcase and a carry-on bag or backpack.

 

[cruiser21]

I prefer the dress as you want approach. The same couple that wears a suit and evening gown one night may show up in a shorts and flip flops the next night. I tend to dress nicer at the beginning of the cruise and by the end of the cruise Im sick of the effort and I'm in shorts and a t shirt. It's all good.

 

[phinz]

Well, time was there were more specific dress codes - like an actual formal night, but, unfortunately, the "it's my vacation, I'll dress as I want" mentality has won out.

I wouldn't call it unfortunate. I'd call it realistic. Some of us don't feel like hauling 14+ days worth of clothes for a 7 day cruise.

 

[dclpluto]

Just keep in mind it can get chilly in the dining rooms. Shorts are defintely ok but it could be uncomfortable for them being cold. Lots of newbies ask why they keep it so cool in the dining rooms. Well the servers and assistant servers work hard during dinners. We wouldn’t want them sweating into our food and drinks.also the cooler it is the less chance someone is going to throw up. I’m from south jersey and I hardly ever wear a jacket maybe a couple times of year. But I wear pants in the dining rooms just because it’s so cool in there.

 

[cadien]

I wouldn't call it unfortunate. I'd call it realistic. Some of us don't feel like hauling 14+ days worth of clothes for a 7 day cruise.

More importantly, it's now very expensive to check the extra suitcases required.

We hit a happy medium by dressing a little more nicely during the day as well and then not needing to change for dinner. Nothing really casual gets packed in the first place. Dress shorts aren't any less comfortable.

 

[Dug720]

For the only "young adult" and the tween in your party (the 21 year old and the 12 year old - the others are children) I would suggest khakis, nice jeans, or a denim skirt depending on gender.

Just MHO, but once you hit tween-hood the cuteness of shorts at nice dinners wears off.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I wouldn't call it unfortunate. I'd call it realistic. Some of us don't feel like hauling 14+ days worth of clothes for a 7 day cruise.

No need to carry 14+ days worth of clothes. We can pack enough for 2 of us for 10 nights in one suitcase and two backpacks. That includes my husband's suit and a fancy dress for me. A change of accessories for the same dress for multiple fancy dress nights takes hardly any space.

Of course, that can mean you would need to do laundry, something some people will never do on vacation.

 

[cruiser21]

We are going on Dream and grandchildren ages 4, 7, 12, and 21 were wondering can they wear dress shorts for dinner or do they need long pants. I know all the adults will not over dress but will wear long pants. Any help will be appreciated.

My kids are teens and they wear nothing but shorts on cruises day night, we live where its warm, and thats how they are used to dressing. My son wore jeans in port in Alaska, but as soon as he was back on the ship changed to his shorts. Shorts are completely acceptable for young and old, and they don't have to necessarily be dress shorts.

 

[daisyx3]

Just make sure you check on your preteen if they pack themselves. My son was 17 on our last cruise and once we were going to dinner the first night I found out he didn't pack any nicer shirts (polo shirts). I didn't want him wearing T shirts to dinner. He checked the gift shop but wow, expensive! So he wore one of his dad's shirt which was huge on him. Luckily he did have sperrys for shoes. Next cruise is just DH and I so we should be good, LOL.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I too find the lack of dress code at dinner unfortunate. I do not want to see someones armpit hair while dining. Sadly, we sat next to it for 7 days. Guy wore sleeveless tees (as in he cut the sleeves out) and basketball shorts every night, so did his 3 sons. I would prefer a dress code that included collared shirts for men, no denim, no tee shirts, ect. I know it will never happen, but one can dream.

 

[YawningDodo]

More importantly, it's now very expensive to check the extra suitcases required.

We hit a happy medium by dressing a little more nicely during the day as well and then not needing to change for dinner. Nothing really casual gets packed in the first place. Dress shorts aren't any less comfortable.

I like this approach -- honestly, for myself I just aim to have something other than a t-shirt to change into for the non-costume, non-formal nights, because I do love wearing my t-shirts during the day. No one batted an eye the one night I did show up in a printed t-shirt, but I liked coming to dinner dressed just a tiny bit less casually. Also, "formal" for me was a knee-length dress, because I like to be comfortable on vacation and that's what's comfortable for me.

No need to carry 14+ days worth of clothes. We can pack enough for 2 of us for 10 nights in one suitcase and two backpacks. That includes my husband's suit and a fancy dress for me. A change of accessories for the same dress for multiple fancy dress nights takes hardly any space.

Of course, that can mean you would need to do laundry, something some people will never do on vacation.

Well...yeah, no, I wouldn't do laundry on a 10-night vacation. 14-night? Yeah, I'll find the time. 10-night? Nope. It's at the upper limit of trips I'll do without planning to do laundry, though.

The other issue I personally had, packing-wise, was that I was bringing two full costumes (one for Pirate Night, one for MDAS). While they shared the same boots and leggings, they still took up a ton of space -- those boots are huge, and then there were multiple garments for each costume (and a floor-length cape for an adult, when made out of a heavy enough fabric to drape nicely, is not particularly compact when folded). The costumes were a much higher priority for me than fancy clothes for formal night, and if push had come to shove I absolutely would have left my dress at home in order to make room for my Dr. Strange outfit. I did bring a dress (knee-length, not actually all that formal) and a couple pairs of earrings, and I did dress up a little for formal night, but that leads into another issue....

Not all people even own formal clothing. I know that with DCL's price point it's pretty likely that if you can afford the cruise, you can afford formal wear...except there's the part where I only own two or three dresses and none of them are what I'd call formal. Just because I can technically afford to buy formal clothing doesn't mean I actually own any -- it's simply not a priority in my regular life, so I don't expend the money, time, and energy on shopping for those kinds of garments. Then I think about families with kids, and I think it's no wonder at all if people with children don't buy little suits and formal dresses for their offspring, because that's expensive and the kids are just going to outgrow it in a heartbeat. While I get the appeal of everyone on the cruise dressing up all at once, I look at it about on the level of Pirate Night or MDAS: I wouldn't demand that everyone go to the trouble and expense of dressing up as a pirate or a superhero just because I would like to do so, so why would we expect everyone to go to the trouble and expense of formal dress?

Finally, I think the "14 days' worth of clothing for a 7 night cruise" may have been a reference to the idea that if you're dressing casually for daytime and changing into something a little nicer for dinner every night, that would indeed require you to pack twice as many outfits as days if you aren't planning to wash and/or re-wear anything.

 

[phinz]

Finally, I think the "14 days' worth of clothing for a 7 night cruise" may have been a reference to the idea that if you're dressing casually for daytime and changing into something a little nicer for dinner every night, that would indeed require you to pack twice as many outfits as days if you aren't planning to wash and/or re-wear anything.

This is exactly what I meant.

I expect some here still lament the fact that most people don't get dressed in a sharkskin suit and skinny tie or a Jackie O skirt suit, complete with pillbox hat, to take commercial flights. Tut-tut.

 

[cadien]

We kicked around the idea of renting our son a tux for formal night (the rental you do on the ship) just because he loves wearing them. Because he feels like a secret agent. But I'm assuming that with Disney there will be no one dressed capital-F formally. Suits and dresses, but not the full-on Cunard.

 

[YawningDodo]

We kicked around the idea of renting our son a tux for formal night (the rental you do on the ship) just because he loves wearing them. Because he feels like a secret agent. But I'm assuming that with Disney there will be no one dressed capital-F formally. Suits and dresses, but not the full-on Cunard.

While I didn't see many people dressed full to the nines on formal night, I think if your son wanted to wear a tux it would be a perfectly appropriate time to do so, and you'd get some neat pictures. If it's something he enjoys and doesn't create a burden for you guys, I say go for it!

 

[Dug720]

While I didn't see many people dressed full to the nines on formal night, I think if your son wanted to wear a tux it would be a perfectly appropriate time to do so, and you'd get some neat pictures. If it's something he enjoys and doesn't create a burden for you guys, I say go for it!

Exactly. If it makes him happy, let him do it!

 

[Vicki106]

We kicked around the idea of renting our son a tux for formal night (the rental you do on the ship) just because he loves wearing them. Because he feels like a secret agent. But I'm assuming that with Disney there will be no one dressed capital-F formally. Suits and dresses, but not the full-on Cunard.

My teenage daughters wanted to wear gowns on our Fantasy Western Caribbean cruise this past summer. I posted here and got encouraging responses. We decided to go for it. DH and I have to dress in business attire for work, so we'd have been just as happy in nice casual clothes for dinner (khakis and sundress...), but the kids, including our 9 year old son, wanted to dress capital-F formal on Formal night. DH wore a suit, I wore a black cocktail-type dress, teenage daughters wore floor length prom dresses with some glitz and 9 year old son work a suit and tie. I warned them that we might not see anyone dressed as formally as we were.... And since it was a DCL cruise after all, I picked up a couple rhinestone tiaras in the jewelry department at Kohl's for the girls. I will say that we ended up with an extra suitcase for the formal clothes, but for us it was worth the $50 in checked luggage fees.

On Formal night we saw a good number of men in suits, maybe one or two older gentlemen in tuxes and lots of ladies in dresses - a few in floor length dresses/gowns. I'm pretty sure that my girls were the most dressed up there, and they didn't mind at all. Lots of people stopped to compliment them on how nice they looked and even the Captain came over to say Hi to them in the atrium. We took advantage that we all were dressed up and got lots of nice photos of our family. In fact, a couple nights later my daughters were getting a photo taken on Pirate night and one of the photographers said "Hey I remember you two with those beautiful gowns!"

I would say: If he wants to dress up, he should go for it! Just make sure to get a couple silly photos where he's acting like a secret agent. Have fun!