Specialty Restaurant Dress Code

[carol&jeff]

When reading the Celebrity website, it says a jacket & tie are required for men for the specialty restaurant, but when I spoke to a person at Celebrity, she said it is always formal. This is not a problem for my husband because he will have his tux, but I do not have third formal dress to bring, only a black daytime dress (Jackie O looking). I'm afraid it won't be dressy enough if formal is required in the specialty restaurant. Can anyone comment on the dress code having actually been in the Summit specialty resturant?

[PathfinderEss]

Hi Carol and Jeff,

 

I've been on the Infinity and we ate at that specialty restaurant several nights and it is NOT formal dress unless your eating there on formal night. Jacket and tie for men and a dressey pantsuit or dress for you is what is required on all nights except for formal night. Your Jackie O black dress will be just fine.

[rjg41]

It is formal(suit or tux) on formal nights. All other nights a jacket is clearly required. I have seen people without ties but they may now have changed. I always where a suit whether it is formal night or not.

[wieslaw]

Hi, Have been in the restaurant twice on Constellation and once on Millennium.

It is 'Formal' dress code on the 'Formal nights' and Jacket and tie on rest of the nights.......although I also have seen men without the tie on some nights.

In addition, if you feel like being very elegant and you like it.....you may dress 'formal' on any night......and if you wear the same outfit what you have worn in the main dinning room.....no body will know......it is different restaurant and different set of people and no body probably remebers what you did wear before anyhow.

 

Wes

[JNLROSE]

My DH wears those new mock turtle silk shirts with coat & slacks on non-formal nights! I actually think they look a LOT sexier than a button shirt & tie!!! :D :D :D (just as formal too!) JMHO!!!;) I usually wear a nice cocktail length dress of a "fancy" nature whenever we dine in the specialty restaurant!

[hermang]

Hi Carol and Jeff,

 

I've been on the Infinity and we ate at that specialty restaurant several nights and it is NOT formal dress unless your eating there on formal night. Jacket and tie for men and a dressey pantsuit or dress for you is what is required on all nights except for formal night. Your Jackie O black dress will be just fine.

We ate at the Normandie on the Second formal night. I wore Jacket and Tie as did our friends - Wives wore Dresses not necessarily Wedding wear - we were not alone in our choice of dress and were not challenged as to being too informal.

 

Dinner was to die for.

[smdubowsky]

We were on the Infinity several weeks ago. Dress code is the same as main dining room except that jackets are required on casual night. BTW, the dinner was out of this world! We had a chateaubriand dinner for two topped off with a chocolate souffle for my wife and a Grand Marnier for me!

[katiel53]

We were on the Constellation last December and my husband, as well as all the other men with us, wore jackets, ties and dress shirts. We noticed many man with jackets, but no ties. The second night we went to Oceanliners, my husband and the other gentleman wore jackets, but no ties. Neither night was a formal night. The ladies did not wear formal clothes either. All were nicely dressed----same type clothes as going to a fine restaurant. Your black dress should be fine.

 

Katie

[girlbuffalo1]

I didn't realize how dressy the men need to be! My future husband (who will be husband by then)-does not own a jacket or a suit or really even dress pants! Generally on other cruises he has worn cargo pants and polo shirts and for formal night dress pants (which are too small now! hehe) and a shirt and tie no jacket......

 

we will have to do some shopping soon!

[ahoymatey3]

I didn't realize how dressy the men need to be! My future husband (who will be husband by then)-does not own a jacket or a suit or really even dress pants! Generally on other cruises he has worn cargo pants and polo shirts and for formal night dress pants (which are too small now! hehe) and a shirt and tie no jacket......

 

we will have to do some shopping soon!

 

I want this to be taken in the most helpful way, so please don't take it wrong: Celebrity is a very dressy line. Yes, some shopping is in order. I've gotten fantastic bargains on ebay for my formal wear, which turned out to be less expensive than renting.

[hajekfam]

According to my latest flier, JC Penny has tuxes for $99, shoes & socks for $29, and shirt and cumberbund & tie for $29 - just about the same price for rentals.

If you like to cruise, having your own formal wear is a plus - you know it fits you. And unlike women's dresses, a classic style is always in style. My hubby has worn his for many other occasions including taking me out for a gala New Year's Eve.

[canderson]

I didn't realize how dressy the men need to be! My future husband (who will be husband by then)-does not own a jacket or a suit or really even dress pants! Generally on other cruises he has worn cargo pants and polo shirts and for formal night dress pants (which are too small now! hehe) and a shirt and tie no jacket......

 

we will have to do some shopping soon!

Just as a point of curiosity -- how did you book this cruise? If it was through a "live" TA with whom you could speak, did they say anything helpful to you about typical dress on a Celebrity cruise when you were making the selection of cruises and cruise lines? I get the impression that more than a few TA's either don't inform or don't know, and people don't discover this until they get their cruise docs (or post here!).

[ahoymatey3]

Just as a point of curiosity -- how did you book this cruise? If it was through a "live" TA with whom you could speak, did they say anything helpful to you about typical dress on a Celebrity cruise when you were making the selection of cruises and cruise lines? I get the impression that more than a few TA's either don't inform or don't know, and people don't discover this until they get their cruise docs (or post here!).

 

Xcellant question.

[JNLROSE]

Earl & ahoymatey, don't you think some of those TA's out there try to book whatever they can to some of these unsuspecting folks on honeymoon's etc, just to make the almighty $$$$? It's their honeymoon, they want a cruise, who's a TA to tell them they have to conform to dress codes when they're booking????

My guess is they don't nor would they, unless pressed for an answer! These are the unsuspecting people who show up on board un-prepared because they have no resources to research! This pax is trying to learn the "ropes" before she sails! Kudos Kudos!!!

Girfriend, take your honey shopping for some nice dinner duds & look to the web site for Celebrity rental formalwear & get him all set up, you will have so much fun! Go buy yourself a couple of nice formal dresses & enjoy your honeymoon!!!

[caviargal]

Earl & ahoymatey, don't you think some of those TA's out there try to book whatever they can to some of these unsuspecting folks on honeymoon's etc, just to make the almighty $$$$? It's their honeymoon, they want a cruise, who's a TA to tell them they have to conform to dress codes when they're booking????

My guess is they don't nor would they, unless pressed for an answer! These are the unsuspecting people who show up on board un-prepared because they have no resources to research! This pax is trying to learn the "ropes" before she sails! Kudos Kudos!!!

Girfriend, take your honey shopping for some nice dinner duds & look to the web site for Celebrity rental formalwear & get him all set up, you will have so much fun! Go buy yourself a couple of nice formal dresses & enjoy your honeymoon!!!

 

 

As a TA for many years, I imagine there are some in the business that would sell anything just to make a sale, just like there are good and bad professionals in any other industry.

 

A good TA learns her clients likes and dislikes as well as their taste and style before recommending a cruise. However, some clients have their minds made up and nothing a TA or anyone else can say will change that.

 

I would never put anyone on an X ship that told me they would wear cargo pants and a polo to dinner. To me, that is a Carnival or NCL cruiser or a pax who never intends to dine in the formal dining room.

 

Good TA's set proper expecatations.

[girlbuffalo1]

We were originally going to sail on the RCL Enchantment for a 5 night cruise--however found out we would have more honeymoon/vacation time and wanted to switch to a longer one and there just happened to be a 10-day ultimate carribean on Celebrity sailing the same day--so we changed it. I have pleanty of formal wear! I probably have almost an evening gown I could wear every night (if I so chose). I have informed the future husband we will need to do some shopping for him though. He has pleanty of nice dress shirts and ties--however his dress pants are far to old and he despises the 1 suit he owns--so off to buy another!

 

We booked directly through RCL/Celebrity and no we weren't informed of the dress code--however I used to be a TA and I knew that Celebrity was a bit "dressier"--however I guess I didn't realize to what extent. (to my defense I worked for STA travel which specializes in student travel--so I booked about 5 cruises in the year I worked there most on NCL or Carnival).

 

I appreciated finding this thread so we can begin to prepare (the sailing is less than 2 months away)!

[ahoymatey3]

I'm sure you'll do fine. Congratulations, and happy sailing.

 

By the way, my first trip on HAL was booked directly with HAL. They never mentioned the dresscode. I found out by reading these boards and had to shop a little extra also.

[hdawson]

Caviargirl. Out of 18 cruises, 4 have been on Carnival and I've found that even on that much aligned cruiseline, 90% of the guests do in fact follow the expected standard of dress. Close to 98% on Celebrity and about 95% on Royal Caribbean. HAL matches Celebrity. These are only my observations.

[caviargal]

Caviargirl. Out of 18 cruises, 4 have been on Carnival and I've found that even on that much aligned cruiseline, 90% of the guests do in fact follow the expected standard of dress. Close to 98% on Celebrity and about 95% on Royal Caribbean. HAL matches Celebrity. These are only my observations.

 

hdawson: I wish those observations were in line with mine! I have seen RCI decline in recent years in several aspects, one being attire permitted in the dining room. Celebrity still seems to maintain a high standard and I look forward to my cruise on Mercury in a few weeks to see if that is still the case. I have only sailed HAL twice and that was at least 20 years ago when all of cruising was a lot more elegant.

 

My most recent CCL cruise was several months ago on Glory. There were shorts, ball caps and tanks in the formal dining rooms at dinner each night - despite written notice that they were "not permitted" and I would estimate that about 15% of the pax were dressed like this. I was, quite frankly, very disappointed! I think some folks will push the limits and Carnival allowed them to, so the behavior continued. On formal nights, about 70% were attired according to the line's recommendations, less on the second formal night. It was much more lax than on my last Carnival cruise in 1996, although there were lots of shorts worn after dinner in the public areas even then.

 

If I could afford Crystal, I would cruise with them as I really do enjoy an elegant atmosphere aboard in the evenings. It seems to me that cruising is becoming more and more casual and I for one find it a real shame.