dressing up

[hommey13]

DH and I are going on the celebrity eclipse next winter, and we're both non formal people. do we have to dress up on the formal nights? what does smart casual really mean? i'm a jeans and decent shirt kind of girl, and he wears jeans and a polo. if we don't go to the main dining room do we have to dress up? we're doing a 14 day cruise so I know there'll be many formal nights...

 

what can we get away with for evening outfits without getting in trouble!

 

thanks!

[paul929207]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

If you do not get an answer here, try reposting you question in the Celebrity section.

[cb at sea]

Nice slacks and dressy shirt should do for hubby. A dress for you......

 

Jeans will not be considered "smart" casual, although they will do for casual evenings. Polo/golf shirts for men are fine.

 

On formal nights, you will find most ( not all!) men in a suit or at least, a jacket. Many women will wear a cocktail dress or gown, but again...not all will!

 

If you decide not to dress up a little, there are other eating venues where the suggested dress code doesn't apply.

 

Whatever you decide to wear, you will NOT "get in trouble"!!!!!!

[NMLady]

Nice slacks and dressy shirt should do for hubby. A dress for you......

 

Jeans will not be considered "smart" casual, although they will do for casual evenings. Polo/golf shirts for men are fine.

 

On formal nights, you will find most ( not all!) men in a suit or at least, a jacket. Many women will wear a cocktail dress or gown, but again...not all will!

 

If you decide not to dress up a little, there are other eating venues where the suggested dress code doesn't apply.

 

Whatever you decide to wear, you will NOT "get in trouble"!!!!!!

 

On our two Celebrity cruises I never wore a dress or gown on formal night, just a glittery top and dressy slacks, usually palazzo pants.

[trish1c]

If you are not formal people, Celebrity may not be the best choice for you. It's one of the most formal lines out there. If you can still cancel & get ALL of your money back, consider booking a line like Carnival or NCL which caters to a more casual crowd.

If there are other reasons you are sailing on this particular ship, read through the FAQ section of the official website & check out the Celebrity boards on here.

While there are exceptions, "smart casual" rarely includes jeans. Think of it more like an outfit you could wear to a country club to play golf in -- khakis & a collared shirt for him, capris or a sundress for her.

Understand that the dress codes generally apply to the dining rooms for dinner. If you don't want to eat in a dining room, you have other options, including the buffet. Other than the dining rooms for dinner, the dress code is pretty much don't look like you just rolled out of bed or lost a fight and have a cover up of some sort if you are wearing a swim suit.

[Steviewonder1]

Other avenues are one of the Specialty Restaurants on Formal Night. You will pay for the dinner, but it will be a good dinner. We no longer do Formal Nights which require another suitcase to hold mine and her's. Less baggage is good and much easier to manage for even a longer cruise. We are doing 12 days in the Eastern Med and are NOT doing the two formal nights on the ship. Only taking 7 days of clothes and using the free laundry 2-3 times to lighten the load. PH Suites get free laundry and dry cleaning on Princess. We do not take jeans, just nice pants and a mixture of shirts for both of us.

[mathladyca]

You will likely feel and look out-of-place most nights in the main dining room if you wear jeans. Many people treat every dinner as a chance to "dress".

[kitty9]

From my experience on more than 30 Celebrity cruises, you'll not find many wearing jeans and a decent shirt in the MDR even on the smart casual and above nights. While jeans aren't prohibited, most Celebrity cruisers don't wear them, with one reason that its just too darned hot in the Caribbean for heavy jeans. On your 14 night cruise there will be 3 formal nights and you won't be allowed into the MDR on formal nights wearing jeans. At the bare minimum your husband will need jacket/tie/dress slacks/shirt and you'll need a nice dress or dressy slacks and top. And while the extra charge specialty restaurants are smart casual and above on formal nights, again you'll find most who go to those restaurants do dress more formally in suits or jackets and with or without a tie and the women in dressy pants and tops---you rarely will see jeans in the specialty restaurants on any night. Mostly, you'll see khaki type slacks with a collared shirt for the men, and nice slacks and tops or sundresses for the women.

 

While Celebrity has relaxed its dress codes recently, most of their passengers do tend to dress up a bit more. Oh, and BTW, no shorts in the dining room or specialty restaurants on any night.

[molly2kit]

I remember my first cruise and positively fretting about formal night attire.

 

You will see many different outfits, dressed up in tux and long formal dresses and then dressed down also. I have seen men turned away from formal night for wearing a rumpled shirt with no jacket and tie. However, my partner has been let in wearing a sports jacket with a tie and once even just a dress shirt and tie - no jeans though. I once wore a brand new dark denim skirt to the fancy afternoon tea - it didn't look faded, just like a dark blue straight skirt - they wouldn't let me in, I went back and changed to a different skirt - went in to tea and saw ladies wearing sweatsuits that had been allowed in - pastel coloured pants and sweatshirts that matched. This was a Celebrity cruise.

 

For myself, as I travel very light, I wear black slacks and a dressier top. I wear a lightweight shawl over this and have some sparkly jewellery. I wear the same outfit for every formal night on the cruise.

 

One Celebrity cruise I was totally in awe of a lovely woman at our table. She wore the same black dress almost every night but....she had a few different coloured pashmina shawls - the ones you can buy everywhere now for very reasonable prices. She looked fabulous every single night. I am now in possession of quite a few of these too - they pack small, keep your shoulders warm and change your whole outfit.

 

Have a wonderful time on your cruise.

[palofmine]

You dont HAVE to dress dress up, its not a requirement. I see people wearing polo shirts, and nice khakis on formal night. Wear what makes you feel good, but you cant wear jeans, and shorts in main dining is all. I get pretty dressed up every night, because well, we have 2 kids, and this is gonna be 7 nights of dates.

[silentbob007]

Formal night will be the strictest ... my dad was turned away for wearing khakis and a hawaiian shirt on a day we were sitting in port. There are signs that indicate that there is a dress code for the theater at night, but I have never seen that enforced.