Every cruise line will have a specified dress code and when you book your holiday, you should be advised as to what it is. Some now operate “casual all the time” but most cruise lines will have informal and formal nights at some point.

This means ladies will be required to wear an evening or cocktail dress and men must wear a tuxedo or dark suit. Evening wear can be hard to come by on the high street (unless it is Christmas) so take a look at special occasion boutiques. These will have more choice and surprisingly have dresses that are a similar price point to high street ranges. Buying your evening dress from a boutique also reduces the risk of seeing someone else aboard in the same dress as you. Every woman’s nightmare – more so at sea where you can’t escape easily unless you fancy a swim!

Bear in mind that there are often a lot of steps on a ship and also it can get chilly in the evenings. A dress you can easily move about in is important and a shawl or evening bolero to keep you warm.

Fabulous evening-wear designers include: Mascara, Dynasty, Jora, Dynasty Curve (plus size collection), Gina Bacconi to name but a few.

Some formal nights on cruises are themed – often black and white is chosen as a colour theme or in the UK it might be red, white and blue. Again, check the itinerary.

For informal nights – this normally means jackets and trousers for men – no jeans - and a dress or smart trousers for ladies. The ideal answer to this conundrum is to find dresses that you can wear with heels for these evening events but will look equally great with your summer sandals or flip flops for the day later in the cruise.

Dressy day-wear designers such as Frank Lyman, Tina Taylor, Michaela Louisa and Allison are perfect for this – extremely wearable and easy to pack! Such dresses will also be perfect for the casual dress code nights so you can be sure to set sail in style!