Men's evening attire
Our tour is in September.
"During evenings aboard the riverboat, dress is resort casual. Items such as slacks and collared shirts are appropriate for men. For women, slacks, a dress or a skirt and blouse are suitable. For dinner and throughout the evening, guests should refrain from wearing shorts, t-shirts, flip-flops or sneakers. Your journey also includes one or two special occasion dinners, where a sport coat and tie for gentlemen and a dress/pantsuit for ladies are suggested (Your Tauck Director will advise you prior to those evenings)." (from Tauck website)
My question - do the gentlemen typically wear sport coats and ties? A coat will add over two pounds to our luggage, hence, if is not required, my husband would prefer to leave it at home. (He is certainly willing to wear a dress shirt and tie.)
Actual experience information is appreciated. Thank you.
Comments
We did a Danube river cruise May/June and had a palace dinner in Vienna. As you can see from this picture, most of the men had jackets, but not all. Our tour director told us this would be the night to wear dressier clothes, but never said jackets were required. My husband did wear a jacket, but it was the only night on the tour he did.
Same experience with the special.palace dinner in Vienna on a different cruise. Majority of men wore sport coats and ties but I doubt they'd refuse to serve him.
I’m having some angst over this as well. For our Northern Spain tour a jacket has always been listed as optional. Now the final papers arrive and it says required for the palace dinner (Madrid). This is our first Tauck tour having done many Rick Steves tours. While we look forward to the better hotels the need to “dress up” puts a crimp in our policy of not checking bags. We can pack a months worth of cloths in carry on only but a sport jacket to be worn once or twice at most does not cut it.
My husband has often worn his sport coat on the plane...they hang it up for him and problem solved. He's also packed it...summer weight of his sport coat hasn't been significant. We are soon traveling with a group of 6 couples...all our men voted to take one...do what you prefer is the best advice!
Frankly, I have never understood why there has been so much attention paid to attire. We are guests in other countries and, as such, should show respect to that host country, its people and venues.
As mentioned, the men can take their jacket on the plane and can wear it more than once, even as a cover-up on chilly nights. The few dresses I take on tours take up far less luggage space than dressy slacks and tops (which I also take.)
I think it makes for a far more festive evening when people are dressed up for the welcome and farewell dinners and other special events. We enjoy fine dining on some of our pre-and-post tour stays and will dress accordingly.
I realize this is not for everyone. If you abhor the thought of dressing for the occasion, then don't. Enjoy your travels, nonetheless.
I understand what you are saying about dressing up. It is not always convenient with the best of intentions. For example, our plane was delayed and barely made it for the welcome dinner and we just made to the dinner in the nick of time. The last thing on my mind was to change into dressier clothes. Often there is so little time between excursions and dinner that changing into evening clothes seems almost a chore. There isn’t even time to shower before dinner after being out all day. The same feelings incur at the farewell dinner. I also think I dress pretty classy or so I’m told and at the same time, I keep it simple, especially while traveling.
You can do ‘The Blue Danube’ without a jacket or a tie. Will you be under dressed? Yes. Do you care? If not, I suggest you sit at a table with the other people who don’t have a jacket or tie. I’m sure there will be others, but probably not many.
I was on this tour in June, and I don't think a jacket was specified as mandatory. There were 3 dinners at palaces, and per Sealord's picture most men wore jackets but not necessarily a tie. Out of our 9 Tauck trips, my husband has only taken a jacket one other time, but I know he's glad he took one this trip. I think I saw only ONE man without a jacket. Perhaps on your trip the mix may be different.
I appreciate everyone’s comments. Looks like a new sport coat should be added to our shopping list!
Wow, we sure flog this subject.
My husband took a jacket for I think, the first time on our just completed Alaska land, cruise ship tour. It was his trusty Ralph Lauren blue blazer. It was carefully folded but had to stay in the suitcase an entire week because it was not needed in the lodges. It was hung on a hanger as soon as we got on the ship, it looked crumpled. He put it in the bathroom and left the shower on, I thought it would drain all the ship’s stored water! He wore it at some of the ship dinners. Several of the men wore lumberjack shirts, or polo shirts,,,which I just class as t shirts. Even some of the women just wore sweat shirts at the two fancy dinner venues. Tauck gets seating in little corners of the restaurant to help with Covid mitigation with the large numbers on the ship. Same with dinners in Palaces, it is often a private Tauck dining experience. I forget what palace we were in and where it was on one tour and the TD said, there is no need to dress up, it’s only theTauck group! It was a bit annoying after packing something special.
This cruise is about the only time we have had plenty of time to change for dinner. After being stuck on a ship all day, it gives you something to do, so I quite liked it. I was complimented on several outfits, yikes! My husband got compliments on his bow ties. When we got home, my husband said he was never taking a jacket again, it take’s up too much room.
As far as your jacket being hung up by the flight attendants, not everyone flies business class. All I got on a five hour business class flight yesterday was a small glass of orange juice, nothing else was offered or served until we were about to get off the plane and an attendant quickly came round with a snack basket and asked us to grab a cookie or pretzels. Hang my jacket 😂😂😂
I agree traveling with with one is not the most convenient. That said, in our preparations my wife found a lovely travel sport coat for the Viennese Palace Dinner. It was budget friendly, packed easily, and hung out nicely once we were on the boat. I love the photographs we got that night.
I say bring one..