Reply To: Cruise Clothes (dining)
Echoing Chet, I lack a tux (something I aim to rectify soonish), but bring 1 or 2 suits (brought 1 last year because of the shorter cruise), a couple of proper shirts for the suit(s) + ties, 2 pair of chinos, and 4 or so shirts for the not-formal nights. Last year, I wore the same suit and the same shirt with 2 different ties and that was sufficiently different.
I’ve got a “two-suiter” that typically swallows all my formal clothes as well as Kim’s. The polo-style shirts I tend to wear on casual nights can be safely folded and placed in the pack bags (I got mine from LL Bean years ago, there are other sources) that go in my main suitcase. You wouldn’t think that a simple cloth-and-mesh bag would be an improvement over just putting everything in the suitcase directly, but they are a great help in both maximizing capacity and keeping things unmangled and sorted.
Also, most of our group falls into the “so what?” category when it comes to repeating fashion choices in a closed environment with limited supplies. While it’s always a treat to see the special outfits people wear, particularly on the formal nights (and in @chicazul’s case, sometimes created THAT VERY DAY), it’s far more important to spend time with our friends than worry about whether they wore that same dress on the other formal night.