Celebrity's Dress Code

[dalgirl]

We will be sailing on our first Celebrity cruise next year. I enjoy dressing up (opera, symphony, special restaurants, etc.), but not lugging extra luggage for the privilege on my hard earned vacation time. We love to cruise and prefer "dress up or not" nights - resort casual is our friend. We never take formal wear. We have become experts at traveling with carry ons - yes, six European cruises and several European land vacations and we still carry on.

 

However, in order to respect that many passengers enjoy dressing up, we will be taking a separate suitcase for evening wear, not for us, but for those who put stock in such things. Yes, it is our vacation, but it is also the vacation of those who see dressing up as part of their experience.

 

If our checked luggage gets lost, well that will be fine;)

 

For better or worse dressing up for the theater, and even the opera, is going the way of the dodo - we have become a mostly casual society.

 

As for jeans to a wedding, that is also fine if it is a casual wedding and the bridal party has pre-approved it. But a pox on anyone showing up at a formal wedding in jeans - doesn't the bride have enough stress to deal with???

[Beanb41]

We will be sailing on our first Celebrity cruise next year. I enjoy dressing up (opera, symphony, special restaurants, etc.), but not lugging extra luggage for the privilege on my hard earned vacation time. We love to cruise and prefer "dress up or not" nights - resort casual is our friend. We never take formal wear. We have become experts at traveling with carry ons - yes, six European cruises and several European land vacations and we still carry on.

 

However, in order to respect that many passengers enjoy dressing up, we will be taking a separate suitcase for evening wear, not for us, but for those who put stock in such things. Yes, it is our vacation, but it is also the vacation of those who see dressing up as part of their experience.

 

If our checked luggage gets lost, well that will be fine;)

 

For better or worse dressing up for the theater, and even the opera, is going the way of the dodo - we have become a mostly casual society.

 

As for jeans to a wedding, that is also fine if it is a casual wedding and the bridal party has pre-approved it. But a pox on anyone showing up at a formal wedding in jeans - doesn't the bride have enough stress to deal with???

 

Bride having stress. Get a grip girl it is the groom that has all the stress on a wedding day. A woman doesn't appreciate the stresses and strains they put on husbands. Ever noticed why men die younger than woman and how much hair a man had on his head on his wedding day and how much he has twenty, thirty, forty years later.

Oh how I love this thread and witness so many people getting all uptight over a tie and black jacket.

[Fouremco]

So, is this jeans wedding dress suitable for formal night? :confused:

 

[keithm]

NO!

 

I really do enjoy the give and take on these threads. I have sailed on every major line except HAL and my level of formal has gone down on each cruise. This is vacation and vacations are meant to be relaxing and fun. I eat in nice restaurants on land and see people in jeans all the time. The MDR is just a nice restaurant at sea and as long as you are clean and hopefully bathed I don't care what you wear. My last Princess cruise on the Ruby I would say that more than half the pax wore an open collar shirt with no jacket. If you like to dress up feel free it will not ruin my good time. If you like to dress down feel free my food will taste the same. But whatever you do relax, have fun and don't judge. Not everyone has your sense of style.

Sorry, but a lot of us do! We always did Cunard(until recently) & they will be pretty forceful in enforcing the dresscodes. If anyone wore flip flops & shorts(at night)to the MDR they would not gain entry. I was very vocal to a slob in wife beater shirt & shorts who snuck by the Maitre D(on the QM2). The guy was promptly asked to leave & was never seen in the MDR after that night. As to wearing jeans to a wedding...If it was informal(and I've seen them, we own a catering co.)No issues. To wear jeans to a formal wedding..Any relation to Onslow from "Are You Being Served"?

[keithm]

So, is this jeans wedding dress suitable for formal night? :confused:

 

Perhaps, if you're the Ice Queen from Narnia, but other than that I'd say no.

[Fouremco]

Perhaps, if you're the Ice Queen from Narnia, but other than that I'd say no.

Those Narnians get all the breaks! :)

[New Hampshire]

Just off NYE cruise on Reflection and can say without a doubt the formal nights are no more. I felt so out of place in my tux it was uncomfortable for me. I even wore it on the optional formal for NYE. My guess is only 10% of the men wore them and they were my age(61) or older. Lots, and I mean lots of men just wore nice shirts and long pants on formal nights. No ties, no jackets. Forget that handing out of the jackets. Not enough to go around. After seeing the failure of dress code endorsement on Carnival, NCL, Princess and HA in the past 10 years I was hoping for at least an attempt to be formal on X but it was not. Not complaining, it is what it is and for me at least I won't be lugging the full tux outfit on my next X cruise either. Even the CD was less than full formal on formal nights.

 

We had the same experience on our last three cruises, the Silhouette in the Caribbean, the Reflection in Europe and Summit to Bermuda. If only those who were formally dressed went to the MDR on formal nights, the MDR would be 80 % empty. Each subsequent cruise had fewer men in tuxes or even jackets in the MDR on those nights. Women still tend to dress up more even when their husbands are wearing dockers and golf shirts. My husband has worn a tux on every cruise we've taken, but after these last few experiences, he's decided to bring a sport jacket on our next cruise in March. He is not ready to forgo a jacket all together as long as there is such a night with the label of "formal " on it.

 

We have been cruising for a long time and loved the ambience and elegance of formal nights when the entire ship was dressed formally throughout the ship the whole evening. Over the years this has been changing and it's time for us old timers to accept the changes. Remember when people were all dressed up to go on an airplane? I remember going to Broadway plays all dressed up from head to toe. Nowadays half the passengers on a plane are dressed in sweats and in NYC jeans are worn everywhere.

 

Many people who are fairly new to cruising, over the last five to ten years, even on Celebrity, have never experienced the formality that used to be standard on formal nights. No matter how much many of us want to turn back time, that's not going to happen. No one will ever be prohibited from wearing a tux or evening gown, but I think even the designation of "formal night" will soon be disappearing.

[detsteve]

Sorry, but a lot of us do! We always did Cunard(until recently) & they will be pretty forceful in enforcing the dresscodes. If anyone wore flip flops & shorts(at night)to the MDR they would not gain entry. I was very vocal to a slob in wife beater shirt & shorts who snuck by the Maitre D(on the QM2). The guy was promptly asked to leave & was never seen in the MDR after that night. As to wearing jeans to a wedding...If it was informal(and I've seen them, we own a catering co.)No issues. To wear jeans to a formal wedding..Any relation to Onslow from "Are You Being Served"?

 

I do believe there is a difference in wearing shorts and flip flops and wearing a nice pair of jeans. Since you like to dress to the nines then please feel free. It's your cruise and you should enjoy it. I wear a shirt and tie everyday to work because my boss pays me to. On vacation I pay them. Fashions have changed with the times. A collared shirt has become the new "dressy". This is the very reason the cruise lines have stopped enforcing it.

 

"Traditions". They evolve and change. 30 years ago it was the norm to wear business attire to fly. People realized that it is more comfortable to dress casual and thus more enjoyable. Cruising is changing. It is no longer a venue for the few that could afford it. There are over 100 cruise ships sailing the world and that means over 300,000 people a week cruising. With the influx of all of these people the traditions will change. I say do what makes you happy and let the others worry about themselves.

[MicCanberra]

..Any relation to Onslow from "Are You Being Served"?

I think Onslow was in "keeping up appearances" wasn't he.:D

[MicCanberra]

Those Narnians get all the breaks! :)

Not all of them get the breaks, didn't the queen get exiled or something worse.:p

[Fouremco]

Not all of them get the breaks, didn't the queen get exiled or something worse.:p

All the breaks, sartorially speaking! :)

[keithm]

Those Narnians get all the breaks! :)

Yes,I know!

[keithm]

I do believe there is a difference in wearing shorts and flip flops and wearing a nice pair of jeans. Since you like to dress to the nines then please feel free. It's your cruise and you should enjoy it. I wear a shirt and tie everyday to work because my boss pays me to. On vacation I pay them. Fashions have changed with the times. A collared shirt has become the new "dressy". This is the very reason the cruise lines have stopped enforcing it.

 

"Traditions". They evolve and change. 30 years ago it was the norm to wear business attire to fly. People realized that it is more comfortable to dress casual and thus more enjoyable. Cruising is changing. It is no longer a venue for the few that could afford it. There are over 100 cruise ships sailing the world and that means over 300,000 people a week cruising. With the influx of all of these people the traditions will change. I say do what makes you happy and let the others worry about themselves.

I definately dress casual during the day,especialy when doing excursions. I just don't think dressing in jeans is proper at dinner in the MDR. Though I'm a fan of dressing up( a reason we like Cunard)I feel that a nice shirt..Polo/Collared,etc. & nice khackies & decent shoes should be at least the minimum i/e Oceania/Sea Dream. Jeans... maybe in the low budget lines Carnival/RCCL/NCL, but not on a line like Celebrity/Cunard/HAL/Princess,etc. I don't care if the jeans are $400(or more)they should be for casual day wear.

[F5Loar]

Whether someone does not like to dress up or not, the cruise line puts formal night in place to keep a certain atmosphere. Everyone who books a cruise knows there will be a formal night, they are given notice, its on the websites. There should be no surprise about this. I am just saying that if you choose not to participate in it find an alternative dining venue on that night and let the people who enjoy that formal atmosphere enjoy it.

 

This is the way I feel. The Captain and his staff have asked nicely to come to a formal evening dinner. Out of respect for them, you should at least put on a jacket with a tie or else follow their guidelines to dine elsewhere on the ship. Those other venues cost all of us in higher ticket prices. There was a day when there was no Lido evening dinner to go to. You had to go to the main dining room or else it was room service. I went up on the Lido on Reflection and it seemed to never be crowded yet there was tons of food up there while the dining room was full of men in open shirts with pants. I get it, just don't understand why others refuse to get it. And for you married/engaged guys, if you don't dress up for the Captain and his staff, the least you can do is dress up for your lady. She really likes it when you do that for her. To me, when a married man does not dress for formal night and his lady does, this is a form of mental spousal abuse.

[Theodorable]

I am certainly wearing jeans to the dining room on smart casual nights (not formal). I have lovely shoes that look great with jeans and lots of different tops. We have lots of smart casual nights on our cruise and I want to keep packing to a minimum. Jeans are unobtrusive.....who can see them when you are sitting round a table!

 

Nicola

[WpgCruise]

To me, when a married man does not dress for formal night and his lady does, this is a form of mental spousal abuse.

 

IMHO, when serious issues such as mental and spousal abuse are brought into dress code discussions ............frankly while you may well be entitled to your opinion, if you don't know what you are talking about your opinion really does not matter.

Edited January 8, 2014 by WpgCruise

[gek]

As for jeans to a wedding, that is also fine if it is a casual wedding and the bridal party has pre-approved it. But a pox on anyone showing up at a formal wedding in jeans - doesn't the bride have enough stress to deal with???

 

Never been to a "formal wedding" and all the brides I've known have been far too concerned about how they look themselves to be worried about other people. Anyway I thought the idea was for the bridal party to stand out - bit hard to do that if everyone else is dressed formally.

[gek]

 

IMHO, when serious issues such as mental and spousal abuse are brought into dress code discussions ............frankly while you may well be entitled to your opinion, if you don't know what you are talking about your opinion really does not matter.

 

I fear this thread is close to being locked. When generalised insults start flying around we are getting very close to all out war :D

[ORV]

 

I fear this thread is close to being locked. When generalised insults start flying around we are getting very close to all out war :D

 

These threads should be locked before they're even started. It's always the same old, same old.

[Ma Bell]

These threads should be locked before they're even started. It's always the same old, same old.

 

Great idea. They should just provide a link to the Celebrity website.

[brady19]

Its fun to go back a forth as long as it stays civil

[dalgirl]

I think that dress would be fine on a young girl on any ship.

 

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[babysmama]

I will be traveling with 2 girlfriends on the March 6th Panama Canal Cruise. I love the atmosphere of a lovely restaurant, people dressed beautifully, and nice service. I am from New Orleans, a retired stewardess (not flight attendant), and someone that wants to keep certain traditions alive. I am so happy that we have the choice to dress or not. The Girls and I may or may not bring formal clothes. In the least I will search out those that are dressing, and wish them a beautiful, unforgettable night.

[MicCanberra]

I think that dress would be fine on a young girl on any ship.

 

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Personally, I would prefer if they were not wearing it.;)

[MicCanberra]

I will be traveling with 2 girlfriends on the March 6th Panama Canal Cruise. I love the atmosphere of a lovely restaurant, people dressed beautifully, and nice service. I am from New Orleans, a retired stewardess (not flight attendant), and someone that wants to keep certain traditions alive. I am so happy that we have the choice to dress or not. The Girls and I may or may not bring formal clothes. In the least I will search out those that are dressing, and wish them a beautiful, unforgettable night.

Welcome to Cruise critic, great post and I hope you have a wonderful time whether you are dressed (to the code) or not. The canal is a great cruise as well, so very memorable for you.:D