Tie-Dye Maxi Dress

If you haven’t bought a maxi in years because you just can’t imagine yourself wearing one to your local mall or out to lunch with a friend, that’s understandable.  However, on a cruise, you’ll feel right at home wearing a maxi dress. Maxi dresses are perfect for sun and sail vacations.

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Colorful, breezy maxi dresses like this tie-dye maxi ( above) have an effortless look and feel and give off a relaxed holiday vibe. Complete your outfit by adding some comfy slides, a straw bag, and a small bag, and it’s smooth sailing ahead. This dress would be great by the pool ( it could be used a coverup for a cruise swimsuit),  for sightseeing or while having lunch at the ship’s buffet.

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Tropical Paradise

One of the joys of getting away in the winter is being able to slip into some lighter colors like this stunning peach coral maxi dress. Imagine what this would look like with even a hint of a tan! This dress is made of jersey, so it falls nicely against the body and has some lovely stretch to it. Plus, the design is really unique.

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Don’t you love the shapely front gathering, almost like a sarong, and sexy leg-revealing side slit? To play up the tropical feel, I’ve paired it with a cool straw bag, gold flats, and these very fun earrings. A cruise is a great place to wear bigger earrings than you would typically wear. Dangly earrings are fun and flirty.

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Bohemian Maxi Dress

Here’s an interesting Bohemian maxi, I have not seen before. It’s actually a stunning maxi dress – a full skirt -with a wrap criss-cross on the back. This is great for the gal with a trim middle who doesn’t mind a sexy flash of it showing through now and again.  It’s alluring in a classy way.

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This would be ideal for a nice dinner onboard the ship, and it’s got sleeves, that many maxis don’t!  If you want to wear heels, these chunky sandals are sturdier for walking around in, than high, skinny strappy sandals. Flats sandals would be fine too. You see tons of flats on board. It just makes sense.

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Asymmetrical  Maxi

If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you know, they have casual dinner nights and fancier dinner nights. This pretty, striped maxi is as colorful as a tropical island and would be lovely for dinner in the dining room or at many of the specialty restaurants onboard ships these days.

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This type of dress, with the high-low hem, really does look nice with a heel. So you could try something like this nude, low, open-toe pump. A slightly chunkier heel would be fine too.

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Nautical Striped Maxi

You couldn’t get more nautical than stripes, making them everyone’s print for cruising. Stripes are sporty, which translates into fun, energetic, adventurous, and youthful, precisely the look you are aiming for when you travel.

No skinny, too bare spaghetti straps here! Short sleeves give this navy and white striped maxi the coverage you want when you are out and about during the day and don’t want to get too much sun on your shoulders. Rope sandals and raffia tote with a magnetic snap are perfect for shopping onshore when you have lots of souvenirs to carry in your bag.

Off the Shoulder Maxi

This romantic blue off the shoulder dress by Lily Pulitzer is airy and relaxing, just what you need to settle into vacation mode. Add a pair of lacy, crystal-embellished sandals to dress it up at night when you go for dinner.

Note: be sure to wear in the sandals before you board the ship. Your new sandals may be a bit tight at first, and you don’t want the crystals on the sandals rubbing against some part of your foot and doing damage.

For more ideas on what to wear to a cruise, check out these ship-shape ideas. And please, let me know if you have worn a maxi on a journey, and did you enjoy it?

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Sandhya Garg is a Project Runway fashion designer. She studied and specialized in women's fashion at London College of Fashion, UK and has worked at Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Liberty London, Alice Temperley to name a few. She has her own successful resort wear, vacation dresses, special occasion dresses, wedding guest looks, swim coverups label. While on Project Runway Season 13, she won 2 challenges and was fortunate to show her collection at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week. The brand has been featured in Marie Claire US, Workshop at Macy's, Ftv.com, Elle Magazine, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Vogue online to name a few. 

She designs limited edition high end printed spring dresses, wearable art clothing, casual resort attire and swim coverups. Beautiful prints are inspired from around the world to be worn during travel, resort stay or cruise holidays.