TheRobinsons

Or just put on what ever the hell you want and mind your business and not other peoples.
If your vacation is about what others should have on, then you are missing your trip. And the point.

Just discovered this website/blog/forum 🙂
We're a family of 4 - two girls age 10 and 12 🙂 

You will see shorts and T-shirts all the way to tuxedos on formal night.
 
The food still tastes the same though.

I’ve seen shorts and flip flops on formal nights. 

DH always wears slacks and a nice shirt for most nights, and dress slacks, button down long sleeve shirt & a tie for dress up nights.  I only wear long, tank style dresses if I'm going to wear one, so that or dressy palazzo pants are my go to on the dressy nights.  I can't wear heels, so the long dresses and dressy slacks are a better option for me anyway.  But, as others have said, many people don't bother dressing up at all - if you want to look a little nicer, then pick something you are comfortable in that maybe has a little sparkle to it, but no one bothers you if you don't

You'll get some mixed answers from some people that refuse to allow formal night to die, but Formal night is completely voluntary nowadays.  My wife wears Jeans or a pair of nice shorts and a polo or button up shirt. I wear Jeans (even khaki shorts occasionally on formal night, but shorts EVERY night for the rest of the nights) and a plain color t shirt or polo\golf shirt.  You'll be fine...like @Xaa said, it's almost to the point where more people do not dress up than do. 

Hey, so I noticed that two of the nights are noted as Formal - put on your black tie and cocktail dresses.  Is this compulsory, as I do not wear dresses at all, not casual, not cocktail, I just about wore a wedding dress.
Would a pair of chino shorts and a button up shirt be ok?

Our original cruise has been cancelled so now we will go on this one:
WILL BE FLYING INTO BOLOGNA, which makes much more sense and is only one hour / one train from Ravenna
Venice (Ravenna), Italy
Departs At 
17:00

Split, Croatia
From 
07:00 - 16:00

Cruising
Day At Sea 

Mykonos, Greece
TENDERED 
07:00 - 20:00

Santorini, Greece
TENDERED 
07:00 - 19:00

Olympia (Katakolon), Greece
From 
09:30 - 20:00

Cruising
Day At Sea 

Venice (Ravenna), Italy
Arrives 
06:00
 

Okay so my Ms positive over here is getting salty on your behalf. 😡 There is a way to gracefully handle this by Royal and they are missing the boat (pun intended) big time. 
This is a tough one, at this point for me I would be like I hear you universe, peace out. Can you get a full refund for the sailing even fcc and start fresh? In my little world 6pm dining alleviates the standing in line and waiting for a table at my time, but losing the black Friday deals is making me angry for you. No way that's right. Reach out [email protected] with a calm explanation start with the cruise planner specifics to at least request they respect the pricing you secured. Good luck, I am so rooting for you. 
We're you able to engage a TA? They could help as well. Positive thoughts coming at you. Royal isn't perfect by any means I am comfortable saying this is not something that is frequent. 🙏

So they haven't fully protected the price, we are unable to get my time dining now and are stuck with 6pm, this just feels like a disaster of a first experience with Royal Caribbean.
 
They have cancelled off all our special black friday deals we got on our drinks, so thats gonna cost more now, and to be honest, as the supposed best cruiseline in the world, this is a bad experience for me so far.

Are they willing to price-protect your fare if you choose any of the cruises in Option #1 ?

And here I thought The Robinsons always went on space trips

Explorer on 9th July from Ravenna has been cancelled, so now we have choices to make, the dates were perfect for us.  We cannot go any later than this as I have work commitments that I simply cannot get out of 😞   The itinerary was what we were looking forward to the most.
Options they offered:
 
Option 1: Re-book one of the following 2023 7-Night itineraries onboard Explorer of the Seas sailing to:
Split, Croatia | Mykonos, Greece | Santorini, Greece | and Olympia (Katakolon), Greece on July 2nd  (NOT REALLY THE ITINERARY WE WANTED BUT SIMILAR) Split, Croatia | Mykonos, Greece | Santorini, Greece | and Dubrovnik, Croatia on July 16th   (I CANNOT MOVE TO THIS DUE TO WORK COMMITMENTS) Kotor, Montenegro | Corfu, Greece | Athens (Piraeus), Greece | Mykonos, Greece | and Argostoli, Greece on July 23rd   (THIS ONE IS THE SAME ITINERARY AS WHAT WERE MEANT TO HAVE, BUT I CANNOT MOVE TO THIS DUE TO WORK COMMITMENTS) Option 2: Re-book any other Royal Caribbean International sailing  - This will prob cost more money than we can kind of afford to change to
Option 3: If you can’t find a new itinerary that works for you and choose to cancel, we’ll be sad to see you go.  - We dont get to do the holiday we wanted.
I am just sad that this has happened, will probably go for option one as its the only dates that really suit.
Someone comfort me 😞 lol

This one is cancelled.  😞 Royal Carribean have cancelled the ship.

The universe has her reasons. You just may enjoy the similar itinerary as well. Focus on the positives of this trip, and make the best of it with those you hold dear. Enjoy every minute of the experience, so very disappointing express your sadness maybe they toss in some OBC or a nice dinner. I have learned in my 50 + years on the beautiful earth in a situation such as this to be positive and go with it, tell yourself this was meant to be and I'm going to have the best holiday! 
What ever you choose, I wish you happiness 🙂

I hate that your level of stress is high TheRobinsons, but you've got some time to figure it out.  I'm not sure it's fair to blame cruising for not being as simple as it appeared, I'm certain you knew that you would have to get to port to embark on your cruise.
 
This particular cruise appears to have some arrival challenges.  I know you'll get them worked out and have a great cruise.

First Timers!!
Can't wait for our first cruise, I have loads of Questions, so will post them accordingly 😄
J.

Hey,
Thanks for this awesome blog and boards, I am sure they are going to be very helpful for us in these coming months.
Even when booking the cruise I was so confused about what was included, what was not, and now I have all these dining options and drinking options to choose from.  
1. I chose the my time dining, do I still need to choose a time every night (paid gratuities in advance, but will of course give more at the time if the service is good).  Do we have to take additional dining and drinks, or is there enough 'complimentary' items to keep you alive?  Haven't really been able to find a concise list of what is included and what is not. 
2. Are you allowed to bring drinks and snacks on board from the ports
3. Do you have to get off at every port, or can you stay on the boat, follow up, when you get off, do you have to do a shore excursion
4. Does it cost extra to go to the onboard shows and movie screenings
5. If you don't opt for a drinks package, are drinks very expensive, same kinda question, if you dont opt for a dining package and do fancy somewhere some night, is it terribly expensive?
 
Explorer of the Seas in July 2023 is when we are going if that holds any relevance/information 😄
J. x

Hey,
Thanks for this awesome blog and boards, I am sure they are going to be very helpful for us in these coming months.
Even when booking the cruise I was so confused about what was included, what was not, and now I have all these dining options and drinking options to choose from.  
1. I chose the my time dining, do I still need to choose a time every night (paid gratuities in advance, but will of course give more at the time if the service is good).  Do we have to take additional dining and drinks, or is there enough 'complimentary' items to keep you alive?  Haven't really been able to find a concise list of what is included and what is not. 
2. Are you allowed to bring drinks and snacks on board from the ports
3. Do you have to get off at every port, or can you stay on the boat, follow up, when you get off, do you have to do a shore excursion
4. Does it cost extra to go to the onboard shows and movie screenings
5. If you don't opt for a drinks package, are drinks very expensive, same kinda question, if you dont opt for a dining package and do fancy somewhere some night, is it terribly expensive?
 
Explorer of the Seas in July 2023 is when we are going if that holds any relevance/information 😄
J. x