Cruise dining etiquette

There’s some confusion, especially in first time cruise passengers, about the rules for dining. Check the dress code your cruise line operates, which may be anything from relaxed to smart casual to formal.

If ‘formal’ wear is required, you need to pack a tuxedo or suit for men, cocktail dresses or gowns for women. Informal or smart casual means jacket and perhaps a tie for men and attractive evening outfits for women, while casual translates into chic resort wear – but doesn’t include short shorts, jeans, sportswear or swimwear.

Ordering wine. Eight or ten strangers are seated at a dinner table and usually nobody is sure what should happen! The standard etiquette, assuming everyone drinks wine, is to take turns buying the wine but increasingly this isn’t happening so it’s a good idea to discuss the situation with your tablemates on the first night and decide some guidelines in advance.

Remember not everybody drinks and some people drink a lot: it’s not a happy situation if one couple drinks two bottles of wine each a night and another couple is teetotal and gets stuck with their wine bill!