Formal and Semi-Formal Night

Formal and Semi-Formal Nights

I have to admit...the formal and semi-formal nights are one of my favorite nights on the ship. We never get a chance to really dress up as a family, so this gives us an excuse to feel like royalty for one night. You can tell in the way we walk to how we present ourselves that we feel really great about dressing up. We normally get the photo package, so we hit all the photo studios we can. 

A question that comes up quite a bit is, "Do we have to dress up?" or, "What is the dress code for formal night/semi-formal night." The answer is simple..."No!" You can dress up or dress down...not too much down though! There will be a lot of cruisers who dress up and a great handful of those who do not. Since we cruise often and love formal night, my husband has invested in a tuxedo he takes on all our cruises. We change out his bowtie and other features (napkin thingy in the pocket) based on the colors my daughter and I choose to wear, so yes, we coordinate!

On longer cruises, for us 7-nights, there is a Captain's Gala on formal night. During this time, the officers are out and about in the atrium mingling with the guests, music is playing, the characters are in full formal attire and there is free alcohol! Yes...free alcohol! For my husband, this was a plus. I don't drink a ton, so one was enough for me. The captain of the ship will also have photo ops in a studio during certain times. (Don't forget about the Captain's Signing later in the cruise...more information can be found in the section: Ship Activities)

If you cruise on 5-nights or shorter, you will only have a semi-formal night. On the 7-nights and up, you will have both a formal night and a semi-formal night. This gives us two reasons to dress up!

So, this was our second cruise Dream- Double Dip at Castaway Cay). It was a 5-night and did not have a formal night. We did have a semi-formal night. As you can see, the characters get all fancied up as well! Be sure to take advantage of all the photo studios.

Disney Fantasy 2014 Formal Night. Our colors were blue and gold. Captain Marco joined us in the picture.

 Below are all the photo studios they had set up around the atrium. As you can see, there are many backgrounds you can choose to get your pictures taken.

Yes, they put me on a box. I am actually really short!

Tile mosaic makes for an amazing background. Here my daughter about lost her cookies as the ship was rocking!

Beautiful staircase on Fantasy.

Minnie Mouse is the statue on Fantasy. This is the dress in the statue she wears.

We always love being with Captain Mickey!

Admiral Donald Duck (Did you know he is the highest ranking officer on the ships?)

 











These are the semi-formal night pictures on the Fantasy 2014 sailing. As you can see, we coordinated here as well with simple dark blues, blacks, and pinks. There are also many backdrops to choose from this night as well.