How to dress for dinner
For those of you who have traveled with Tauck, how do people dress for dinners? Have seen lot of conflicting information from this forum. Want to be dressed appropriately, - not overdressed or underdressed!
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For those of you who have traveled with Tauck, how do people dress for dinners? Have seen lot of conflicting information from this forum. Want to be dressed appropriately, - not overdressed or underdressed!
Comments
My wife and I were on this tour in 2023. It’s not overly dressy. I wore a sport coat a couple times, opening reception and one dinner in a fancy hotel restaurant. Most time for me, khakis or nice jeans and a polo shirt, My wife wore some nicer slacks and tops on a few occasions, but other wise nice jeans and a top. She accessorizes quite a bit with scarfs or a jacket to “dress up” her look. We did not go out looking for a nice or special restaurant on an off night. Switzerland is super expensive so we usually ate in the hotel restaurant or a more casual place.
Nice slacks and tops never goes wrong.
I have been on sixteen Tauck trips. There are few where there is not a venue that begs at least for a sport coat for men. That being said I was at one ‘special’ venue in Malta where one guy showed up in shorts and flip flops. You don’t need to ‘dress’ in Africa … most other places if men don’t have a jacket for a meal or two, they will be underdressed. Perhaps there should be two dining venues like on aircraft carriers. If you want to dine in the ‘ward room’, you wear the uniform of the day. If you are in a flight suit or working clothes, you dine in the casual dining mess. I did five cruises on aircraft carriers and never dined in the ‘ward room’ … I was always in a flight suit. On Tauck trips, I always bring a sport coat. You should do whatever makes you comfortable.
When you ask for this information on this forum you will get a narrow view from a few frequent posters which strongly leans toward dressing up. After three Tauck tours here is my personal experience: Northern Spain-one man wore a sport jacket at the opening dinner. The women looked nicely dressed in slacks, blouses, accessories but no cocktail dresses or such (The guy with the sport jacket gave everybody COVID, another story). At the closing dinner, two guys with sport jackets, women-same as opening. New Mexico-discontinued tour. No dress up anytime. Northern Italy-no sport jackets at opening dinner. One guy with a sport jacket at the closing dinner-me. I succumbed somewhat because of what I read on this forum and also because the venue was The Gritti Palace Hotel which is pretty swank. The women said I looked sharp. But, the jacket was not necessary. We like to pack light, carry on only. In Italy we needed to check a bag as once you start with items you’ll only wear once or twice, like a sport jacket (a particularly useless item of clothing for anything other than dressing up a bit)….well it grows. Since we added on a few days we now needed to schlep that big bag as well as our two rollaboard and personal small bags on and off trains and it was a PIA. So, long way of saying bringing a sport coat is a personal choice. You won’t feel underdressed without one. We are doing a new tour this year, Aegean Voyage, Athens to Istanbul. There are some dress up events and we are not extending our time with independent travel. So, I’m still debating the sport jacket for this one but leaning no.
So as one of those regular posters who says most do not wear sports coats these days, that is interesting. I’ve only been on about 40 Tauck tours, so wjat do I know.
I said “a few”. Don’t take umbrage.
I’m agreeing with you!
Mea culpa…
Well, I’ll be blunt, the two guys on the left look dreadful and your jacket is so creased. My husband looks better in a nice shirt and pants with proper shoes!
Tauck thought I looked good enough to feature me.
Men, how about taking a classic navy blazer with gold button trim with either decent navy or beige dress pants in crease resistant fabric, a crease resistant light colored shirt, either plain or with an under- stated pattern and neutral tie. Crumbs, you were in France.