Deen on Deck. It's a travel blog.

 Someone asked me this great question recently: how do folks find out about the special themed nights/parties on their cruises before the cruise actually starts?  While most agree that there’s no way to know for absolute CERTAIN (itineraries change all the time, after all), there are definitely some ways we can get some insight. Because, let’s face it, us girls want to bring the right clothes, now don’t we?  Ok, ok, and some of you fashionable dudes do as well.  I see you.  

Here are some ways to peer into the crystal ball of all your sailing’s themed festivities: 

1. Join some Facebook groups.  Your cruise’s “roll call” as well as the general groups for your cruise line are going to be full of knowledgeable folks who’ve either been on the same ship and route before or know someone who has.  Trust me, someone always has.    

2. If you’re sailing Royal Caribbean, download the Royal App to your phone a few days before you sail, log into it and you’ll get access to the full itinerary for your sailing under “Daily Planner”.  The themed nights, parties and activities are all listed right there.  Really simple and really reliable.  

3. If you’re cruising Carnival, check out this incredibly helpful article from the Cruise Spotlight blog which tells you which parties are currently being offered on each ship!  It’s like having a cheat sheet:  https://cruisespotlight.com/what-theme-parties-are-on-a-carnival-ship/

4. Royal Caribbean blog has an incredible resource where you can simply search by ship and find its recent Cruise Compasses, giving you the ship’s full itinerary.  You can search by ship and date to find the latest ones:  https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass?ship=279 

5. You old pal Reddit!  Reddit’s got some great cruising subs: Shoutout to r/RoyalCaribbean and r/CarnivalCruiseFans (to both of which I’m extremely addicted), as well as r/Cruise for more general info.  Post to one of these and you’re sure to find someone who’s sailed on your ship recently and can tell you all about the parties.   

6. If all else fails, we’ll just make assumptions!  Most cruises these days are offering an 80s night, with 70s nights coming in a close second.  I’ve also been hearing of the fabled 90’s night on many sailings… sigh… I’ll get to you someday, 90’s night…  White parties (where everyone dresses in, you guessed it, all white) used to be de riguer on most sailings and I do still hear of them quite frequently.  It can’t hurt to pack an all white outfit, just in case (you can wear it anyway, even if the White party doesn’t happen). 

Special thanks to my pals on Reddit and Facebook and especially the awesome Cydney Atkins for sharing their best cruise theme-night prediction tips with me for this article!