Thread: Number of Formal Nights QM2

I just booked a 24 night QM2 round trip from NY in June 8 2008- 12 nights of transatlantic crossing ( 6 nights there and back) and a 12 night mediterranean leg in between can anyone tell me how many formal nights this will involve ? Will be in a B5 category cabin- how is the storage for this kind of a cruise. Would love to hear from anyone who is going on this cruise or who has done it before.

WOW Congratulations, what a wonderful cruise!! I have not been on this cruise but someone will be on to help with your questions!!

Big Cunard fan! What a wonderful voyage! We're sailing next Fall ('08) on a r/t from NY- going over on the last crossing of the QE2, and returning on the QM2.

The crossings have more formal nights than most ships, but the QM has one fewer that the QE. Dining in the Britania Restaurant, you should have:

Three formal nights per crossing segment
One informal night per crossing segment
Two elegant casual per crossing segment

Here are the general descriptions from the website, which you may have already seen:

"Formal: Black tie or formal dark suit for gentlemen. Evening dress or other formal attire for ladies. (A range of gentleman’s formal wear is available to hire or purchase onboard ship).

Semiformal: Jacket and tie for gentlemen. Cocktail dress or trouser suit for ladies. No jeans.

Elegant Casual: Jacket, no tie required for gentlemen. Dress, skirt or trousers for ladies. No shorts or jeans."

That said, I'd add that the crossings in particular are dressier, and I always wear at least a jacket to the dining room at night. In the grill classes, you can count on most people dressing to at least the Semiformal standards on all nights. The formal nights on Cunard are dressier, so if you wear a long dress, you won't be out of place. The majority of men wear tuxedoes on formal nights.

Given that you're going on a Med crusie, I imagine the time in the Med will be a little more casual...perhaps even on formal nights, you'll see many more cocktail dresses than long gowns. I've never cruised on the QM2, just the QE2, and it seemed about the same, but in 7 days, we only had three formal nights. My guess is that you'd have four in the 12 nights, for a total of 10 on the entire cruise.

The most important thing to remember is that this isn't a fashion show or a competition, so don't feel you have to pack a different outfit for each night (unless you want to!). Chances are that many will just be doing one of the crossings, or just the Med cruise, and the laundry faciliies/dry cleaning aren't too bad for price, so you can repeat outfits- even more than once! (Added benefit is that you also save on photographs...no need to buy one every formal night! ) Also, for ladies, everyone I talk to says that mix-and-match is the key. Black dresses accesorized with different scarves/jewelry/jackets also help. Men do have it easy. You can even get away with one tuxedo and one formal shirt, although we always pack two or three formal shirts just to make our lives easier, and pack different ties, etc. With one tux, a nice dark suit, and a blazer, and you can go for WEEKS! Not fair, I know...

The rest of the time, it's about like most other ships....fairly casual, but remember to have nice slacks/tops for tea or other daytime events. I always thought it looked funny to be too casually dressed for such a nice tea.

Most of all, enjoy.

Andrew

I did this trip last September. I loved it. It's so much fun when you approach Southampton to think you don't have to pack and can look at all those suitcases in the hall and smile to yourself.
We had 3 formal on each crossing and 4 formal on the 12-day cruise. The nice thing is that with the 3 segments you are meeting different people so you can definitely repeat outfits and nobody will notice.
Last spring a friend did the Med. cruise only and their dress code was changed once aboard from what they had been told. In their case the semi-informal and casual nights were switched.
I did the same kind of thing this year to Norway, roundtrip from NYC.
I had an in-hull balcony. There are 4 drawers, and shelf-space in the cupboard housing the safe and life jackets. There is a floor-length cupboard with a shelf above and another cupboards with no rod that you can hang items if you have wire hangers. There is room under the bed to store suitcases. There is also a drawer in each nighttable with a shelf below.
There are two corner shelves in the bathroom beside the sink and there is also space under the sink where they store your beach towels and extra tissue and toilet paper.

Thanks Andrew good advice, will plan on 8-9 formal nights and will look forward to them all

Originally Posted by lindaann

I did this trip last September. I loved it. It's so much fun when you approach Southampton to think you don't have to pack and can look at all those suitcases in the hall and smile to yourself.
We had 3 formal on each crossing and 4 formal on the 12-day cruise. The nice thing is that with the 3 segments you are meeting different people so you can definitely repeat outfits and nobody will notice.
Last spring a friend did the Med. cruise only and their dress code was changed once aboard from what they had been told. In their case the semi-informal and casual nights were switched.
I did the same kind of thing this year to Norway, roundtrip from NYC.
I had an in-hull balcony. There are 4 drawers, and shelf-space in the cupboard housing the safe and life jackets. There is a floor-length cupboard with a shelf above and another cupboards with no rod that you can hang items if you have wire hangers. There is room under the bed to store suitcases. There is also a drawer in each nighttable with a shelf below.
There are two corner shelves in the bathroom beside the sink and there is also space under the sink where they store your beach towels and extra tissue and toilet paper.

Thank you this was just what I was looking for- did you have any favorite shore excursions to recommend in the Med.

Not really. I found it very HOT and crowded in a lot of places.
I did enjoy the "Visit to Nice". We took an open air tram thru the city and up to Castle Hill Park.

Oursbrun, glad to help. You'll have a great time! I'm doing a Med cruise in Oct. on another line, but am really looking forward to the ports. Once we get back, I'll try to remember to post some tips if there are any ports we share in common. I know we're in Nice.

Originally Posted by lindaann

Not really. I found it very HOT and crowded in a lot of places.
I did enjoy the "Visit to Nice". We took an open air tram thru the city and up to Castle Hill Park.

Thank you I was thinking about Nice- which tour did you choose in Rome- I'm a little concerned that the tours I am looking at there (arranged through the ship) are 10.5 hrs long and the ship is in port for 12 hours. As you can tell I tend to worry- any advice appreciated

Originally Posted by blazerboy

Oursbrun, glad to help. You'll have a great time! I'm doing a Med cruise in Oct. on another line, but am really looking forward to the ports. Once we get back, I'll try to remember to post some tips if there are any ports we share in common. I know we're in Nice.

Hope you have a wonderful cruise, and any shore updates would be very welcome. Thank you