JohnAndGary

My partner and I will be onboard as well as two friends of ours.

Living in Birmingham with Mobile 4 hours away, Holiday was our first cruise.

We usually go to the past guest party, and yes the drinks are free, but in February on Triumph, the last night of the cruise, they had free drinks for EVERYONE in the aft lounge for a couple of hours. As I said, I am used to them doing that for the past guest party, but they did it for the entire ship.

We were on Triumph in February and there were still quite a few people dressed "elegant", but very vew dressed "formal". We did not see anyone that was offensive, but when on the Fascination in October 2008, our table mates were... well... I guess "just a little bit country" would best describe them. On formal night, the gentleman wore a golf type shirt under his overalls which was a dramatic improvement over other nights. I think Carnival has migrated from formal to elegant to accomodate those who do not feel they should have to dress-up, or for those who packing may be an issue. I will align myself with a previous poster and say I do not advocate one way or the other, but I did read a post a while back from a mother of 4 who stated that if she packed for formal night, the only time the shoes would be worn would be formal night, and she could not justify taking 6 extra pairs of shoes (herself, husband, and 4 kids) just for one night, so I guess I can understand that.