This Is What Makes the Perfect Cruise Dress (5 Must-Have Features)

People often ask me about the dresses I wear when I cruise.

I have always liked to wear dresses. They are easy to put on, comfortable to wear, and can look both smart or casual, depending on what you wear them with.

There are certain things I look for in a dress if I want to wear it on a cruise. In this article, we look at what those things are.

When I am choosing a dress, I look for these things:

1. It Doesn’t Crease Easily

Any dress that I take on a cruise has to be packed in my case, and I don’t want it to come out looking creased and crumpled.

I don’t want to pay extra to send things out to be ironed once onboard, or be checking to see if the ship has a self-service laundry I can use to iron my dress.

You can’t take your travel iron onboard a ship, it will be confiscated. Fires are one of the biggest risks onboard a ship, and Irons are considered a safety hazard.

Find out more about that here:

These Are The 5 Items Most Regularly Confiscated by Cruise Lines

You can buy the nicest-looking dress in the shop and then find out it is impractical because it shows every crease. Packing a dress like that is a waste of time and space.

It’s better to only buy dresses that don’t crease, you will get far more use out of them

If you want to see where most of my dresses are from, check out this post:

Cruise Dress Examples – (Everything I Wear Onboard: Emma Cruises)

2. It Has Proper Pockets

Like most people, I like a dress with pockets.

I want to carry my cruise card, my phone and maybe even a snack!

I don’t understand why so many dresses don’t have pockets. I see them as essential!

Unfortunately, I haven’t found many formal night dresses with pockets, so I often end up carrying my cruise card and phone in my hand. I am not one for carrying a handbag around when on a cruise.

3. Works Well As Day Or Evening Wear

If you can find a dress that is suitable for wearing both in the daytime and in the evening, you will not have to pack as much.

Versatility is the key when cruising.

4. It Dries Quickly

I have many dresses I can wash in the sink if necessary, and they don’t take too long to dry out in the cruise ship bathroom.

In my experience, dresses made of man-made fibres dry far quicker than those made of cotton.

I’ll also give the dress a bonus point if it survives a bit of sea spray without marking!

5 It’s Comfortable

I don’t want a dress that will easily blow up in the wind – I don’t want to be forever adjusting it, or pulling it down!

Also, I don’t want something that looks see-through when you get in the sunlight!

I just want to relax on my cruise and know my dress is comfortable and looks good.

I find jumpsuits particularly good in rough or windy weather because they don’t blow up or shift position at an inopportune moment!

Popsy make lots of fantastic dresses and jumpsuits that wear well, don’t crease – and have pockets. Have a look at them here:

Before You Go

Find out what people wear on cruise ship “themed nights” here:

Theme Nights On Cruise Ships (Everything You Need to Know) – Examples

Find out how to skip formal nights on a cruise ship if you don’t want to dress up here:

You Can Skip Formal Nights on a Cruise – Here’s How