Certain nights of your Royal Caribbean cruise will have a theme to them, and you might want to pack your suitcase accordingly.
Each night of your Royal Caribbean cruise will typically feature a unique theme or attire suggestion. These themed nights create a vibrant, fun atmosphere onboard and help set the tone for the night. Picture a Caribbean-style celebration, a Greek toga party or a throwback to the 80s with music, dancing and costumes.
In addition, one of the most popular themed nights is formal night, known as “Dress Your Best” on Royal Caribbean. On this night, guests are able to dress to the nines with elegant attire. For formal night, you can expect to see evening gowns, cocktail dresses, suits, and tuxedos.
Themed nights will vary significantly based on your particular ship and itinerary. Longer itineraries will normally have multiple themed nights, while Royal Caribbean’s shorter itineraries might only feature one or two. Certain ships might have specific themed nights or parties that you won't find elsewhere, such as the Toga Party on Royal Caribbean's Utopia of the Seas.
According to the cruise line’s website, sailings with four or more nights will have themed nights onboard. Royal Caribbean states that specific themed events, including dates and times, might not be available until you board the ship. You can expect to find the themed nights communicated in the Royal Caribbean app or onboard in the daily Cruise Compass.
Even if you can’t see the themed nights beforehand, we have are a few strategies to help you plan ahead and pack appropriately. Here’s what you can expect for Royal Caribbean’s themed nights onboard your cruise and some of our best tips to plan accordingly.
How can I find the themed nights on Royal Caribbean before my cruise?
Finding the themed nights for your Royal Caribbean cruise ahead of time has never been easier. First, you should check the Royal Caribbean app for information about your sailing a few weeks before your embarkation date. Download the Royal Caribbean app to your phone and login to see your specific sailing.
Around two to three weeks before cruising, you should be able to see specific activities for your cruise. Scroll under the “Daily Planner” section to preview the hourly details and event descriptions.
Navigate to the dinner time slot, around 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM, and look for the “Tonight’s Attire” event. You should be able to see the evening theme for each night of your itinerary. You can swipe through every day in the daily planner for a full preview of your cruise.
In addition, if you go under the “Helpful Hints” banner on the home screen, you can typically see the nightly attire displayed here for your cruise. In fact, if you look at your Day 1 overview, Royal Caribbean provides a general outline for what to pack for evening attire. We recommend checking the app before packing for your cruise to ensure you don't miss out on any of these themed evenings onboard!
What if my sailing is further in the future?
If your sailing is still several weeks or months away, you can still use the Royal Caribbean app to get an idea of the themed nights on your itinerary.
By checking your ship’s current sailing, you can see the daily planner and anticipate what to expect for your cruise. This hack works best for ships sailing on routine itineraries, such as Icon of the Seas, but you can still get a good idea of what to expect for each night.
Here's how to do it:
- Open the Royal Caribbean app
- Go to the Profile tab (the icon of a person in the top-right corner)
- Select the option to ‘Select a different cruise’
- Scroll down to the bottom where it says ‘Don’t see your cruise?’ and tap ‘Let’s add it now.’
- Choose ‘Browse Ships’ and select the ship you will be sailing on
- Select a sailing date that includes either today or the following week
- Select an itinerary with a duration similar to yours
After this, the Royal Caribbean app will load the itinerary you selected and allow you to browse through the daily planner for events and activities. You should be able to find the current itinerary’s themed nights in this way. Cruise ships operate on a routine schedule usually, so you can likely anticipate similar themes during your cruise.
You could also look online for past Cruise Compasses that were posted online by prior guests. Take a look at our Cruise Compass page, where we try to upload past Cruise Compasses as often as we can from other cruisers. Your itinerary or cruise ship's Facebook page could also be a good resource for this. By looking at older Cruise Compasses, this allows you to get an idea of activities and themed nights on your cruise ship based on earlier sailings.
What themed nights can I expect on Royal Caribbean?
While you might not have the exact themed nights before embarkation, Royal Caribbean tends to have the same themes across its fleet. To be prepared, you should plan to pack a variety of evening attire for your Royal Caribbean cruise.
That said, there’s no need to stress about your outfits! In general, Royal Caribbean’s main dining room leans towards the more casual side these days. Here’s a breakdown of the cruise line’s most popular themed nights, along with descriptions of what to expect for each.
Formal - Dress Your Best
Almost every itinerary will feature at least one formal evening, known as “Dress Your Best” on Royal Caribbean. The cruise line encourages guests to embrace a more glamorous and chic look for these evenings. Formal attire includes cocktail dresses, evening gowns, tuxedoes and suits.
These black-tie outfits are intended to reflect elegance and sophistication. In addition, some itineraries could feature a “Dress Your Best or White Night” attire where guests can choose to wear white or formal wear.
To help guests prepare, Royal Caribbean provides general guidance on the number of formal nights to expect on its website. The guidelines are based on the length of the cruise, along with the typical schedule you are likely to find onboard.
- 3-5 Night Cruises - (1) Formal Night: Usually on Day 2
- 6-Night Cruises - (2) Formal Nights: Usually on Day 2 and 5
- 7-Night Cruises - (2) Formal Nights: Usually on Day 2 and 6
- 8-10 Night Cruises - (2) Formal Nights: Days vary
- 11-14 Night Cruises - (3) Formal Nights: Days vary
- 15+ Night Cruises - (3-4) Formal Nights: Days and number vary
Casual
During your cruise, most evenings will feature casual attire in the main dining room. Royal Caribbean encourages guests to wear relaxed, comfortable outfits on these evenings for a laidback atmosphere. In my experience, casual night is very flexible, with most outfits being acceptable as long as they adhere to Royal Caribbean's dress codes.
Casual night is designed to be easygoing - you're on vacation, after all! Casual attire includes jeans, polo shirts, sundresses, and blouses. The cruise line also prohibits shorts for dinner in the dining room, although these are allowed for breakfast and lunch. Additionally, swimwear, tank tops and bare feet are never allowed in the dining room on Royal Caribbean.
Occasionally, casual nights may also include a themed element. For instance, Utopia of the Seas has its famed Toga Night onboard. For the evening, this theme is called “Casual or Toga Night," in which guests have the opportunity to bring out their inner Greek god or goddess with their “most elegant toga to celebrate the occasion."
Smart Casual
One step above casual wear is smart casual; albeit a very small step. Royal Caribbean describes smart casual attire as elevated typical dinner wear. Smart casual could include collared shirts, dresses, skirts, blouses and pantsuits. The cruise line also encourages jackets, sports coats and blazers as a “nice touch” to outfits.
Again, in my experience, this is loosely followed by Royal Caribbean cruisers onboard, allowing for plenty of outfit flexibility. While some passengers enjoy dressing up a bit more, most opt for attire similar to what they would wear on casual nights.
Tropical / Caribbean Night
Along with casual night, Royal Caribbean’s itineraries will usually feature at least one tropical or Caribbean themed evening. The cruise line describes this as, “Dress casually, but with a tropical twist. This is the reason you brought those floral-patterned shirts!”
If you’re heading to the Caribbean, be sure to pack a Hawaiian shirt or tropical pattern attire for this evening. Tropical night is also common on itineraries outside of the Caribbean, so don’t hesitate to pack Caribbean-themed clothes on other destinations too.
For certain cruises, you might see tropical night paired with Red Night as well. For this theme, guests are encouraged to wear bold and vibrant red outfits - or they can stick to the classic island-inspired attire too. Red Night is more common on Royal Caribbean’s newest ships, such as Utopia of the Seas or Icon of the Seas.
White Night
Another popular theme night on Royal Caribbean is known as White Night. For Royal Caribbean, guests are encouraged to dress in their best white attire for this evening. This could include white collared shirts, linen pants, blouses, polo shirts, or dresses. The more white you can incorporate into your outfit, the better!
As mentioned previously, sometimes Royal Caribbean will pair White Night with Dress Your Best night. This provides an opportunity for cruisers to showcase their elegant white attire on formal night. In addition, there is often a white-out party in the evening where all party-goers don their best white outfits.
This theme has skyrocketed in popularity, with many guests eagerly participating in the white night theme. As such, don’t hesitate to pack your best white outfit!
70s/80s Night
Decade-themed parties are also very popular on Royal Caribbean cruises. These themed nights can be usually coupled with casual nights, in which guests have the choice to be casual or “get groovy” with their outfits.
For this evening, guests have the option to wear retro-inspired outfits for certain decades (usually the 70s or 80s) or stick to casual staples, such jeans and dresses. On this themed night, you can also expect a fun decade-themed party at some point in the night. Don’t be surprised to find the promenade packed with groovy cruisers dancing the night away.
