| NCL tightens dress code

NORWEGIAN Cruise Line (NCL) has tightened its dress code for its specialty dining restaurants, introducing a more formal atmosphere at some of the more elevated venues on its ships.

Certain casual wear will no longer be permitted in some of NCL’s restaurants, with signs now enforcing restrictions on some of its ships.

Flip flops and shorts are no longer permitted for dinner at Palomar (pictured), Onda by Scarpetta, Cagney’s Steakhouse, Le Bistro, and The Haven.

The only restaurant with a specific dress code in the past was Le Bistro.

Reaction has been mixed online, with one social media commenter observing NCL’s new ‘It’s different out here’ campaign reinforced its status as the first cruise line to abandon dress codes for dinner (CW 13 Jan).

These changes come at a time when other lines, many of them in the luxury space, work to make their onboard spaces less formal.

NCL’s sister line Regent Seven Seas Cruises recently introduced a new casual evening dining option at its Pool Grill.

The ultra-luxury cruise line also recently relaxed its ‘elegant casual’ evening dress code, allowing “refined denim” and “dress sneakers” in all public areas after 6pm (CW 04 Aug).