REAL reason for new evening chic

[GOLDENBONNY]

The "real reason" is because now they are listening to their guests, who will be cruising with them for the next 30 or more years!

 

Agree . Plus X need new blood- young families with kids .

[CruisingChick]

young families with kids .

 

Good luck with that. Their ships are boring compared to what is out there now.

[DWhit]

I think Celebrity is fighting hard not to become labeled as a line for older people, as people often label HAL.

 

I am sure its a tough line to walk to try to appeal to a younger crowd without antagonizing your more loyal customers who are already in the older demographic, or who over time will be getting there.

Edited November 11, 2015 by DWhit

[Patrick IL.]

I'm happy with the change. For the early part of our cruising tenure I would rent the tux, then we discovered aqua class and have not looked back. I think X is trying to widen their demographic appeal.

[drakes2]

He was taken off guard alright. HAHA.

The real reason, as all Canadians know: "Because it's 2015"

[varoo]

The "real reason" is because now they are listening to their guests, who will be cruising with them for the next 30 or more years!

..... and many of those guests cruising with them for the next 30 or more years will be the same people now in their fifties and sixties cruising with them today, as people are living longer and longer and remaining active.

 

With the advances in medicine and technology, that trend will only escalate in the coming years.

 

[ShawninFL]

The motto of some seems to be, "a day at work is better than a Formal Night on a sea cruise." Must be if they don't cruise just because of the Formal Night requirement.

 

Well actually yes, many of my friends would agree over a Formal night on a cruise they'd rather work. However, you miss the point that these people have other vacation options. They're not choosing to stay at work, they're choosing to spend their vacation budget with another company.

[perditax]

Good luck with that. Their ships are boring compared to what is out there now.

 

 

Agree, I don't think they're going to get that market away from the other big three family lines (NCL, RCCL, Disney). That said, I don't know what they think their market is.

 

If they were really going after Millennials they would fix all their broken technology and get an app that works.

 

I'm smack in the middle of generation X, and I'm trying out celebrity because I like a quiet cruise and I'm an introvert. :-) I wouldn't know proper formal wear if it smacked me in the face, but never forget rule one of the hospitality business: if you can pay you can play.

[ScarlettMLB]

I think that this is less about Celebrity making a change and more about them updating their policy to reflect what's really happening.

 

My fiance and I took our first cruise on Celebrity a few years ago and I was worried about formal night - he didn't have a tux and I asked on Cruise Critic if he needed one and I was assured he'd be ok with just a nice suit. I really paid attention that cruise - and really didn't see a lot of true "formal." It was mostly evening chic - men in suits and women in dresses, but not full on evening gowns.

 

Last year we took an Alaska Cruise and I was surprised at how casual people were for formal night. I brought semi-formal dresses and my fiance had full suits and we were the dressiest people at the table. I remember one woman had just regular pants and a basic sweater on - I'd be hard pressed to classify it as business casual. I didn't care, but it definitely wasn't formal - and we were dining in the MDR. Looking around we were some of the dressiest people there - again, very few tuxes.

 

It likely varies by itinerary, but I think that the true formal night is already gone. Celebrity is just admitting it. But by having it still called formal night it deters people who may not realize that there was flexibility. They see formal and think "gosh - in addition to the cost of an expensive vacation I have to shell out money to rent a tux / buy an evening gown." Those aren't things that everyone just has on hand and can be offputting. Not everyone knows about Cruise Critic and that they can ask and find out that they didn't really HAVE to wear a tux and evening gown to formal night.

 

It really feels like this is less Celebrity trying to rock the boat and more just Celebrity changing the policy to reflect the reality of the shift that's been happening already. At least on the ships I've been on, tuxes haven't been in a majority in years.

[Karynanne]

Formalwear does vary by itinerary. Cruises I'm Europe are dressier.

 

But I gather that will all be a moot point after December.

 

Sad...[emoji17]

[wallie5446]

I understand that cruise lines are moving to a 2 tier system. However, I fail to see how this will perpetuate that theme. This is simply a way to have folks who like to "dress up" for a couple of nights a way to to that with a bunch of others with similar ideas.

 

I mean, folks in any suites, high level cabins, regular cabins, ocean view cabins, and inside cabins would be able to do this.

 

And if they couldn't use a specialty resturant for this, they could put all those who want to participate in "Formal" style nights in a separate section of MDR, together.

 

Which could very well come to pass when the next big change comes, all select, no more early/late. Then those who like the nines go upstairs, and the rest stay downstairs.

[perditax]

I'm mostly on the sidelines for this argument (seems like the battle was fought and won/lost before I ever started cruising), but a specialty strict-formal dining venue does seem like a workable compromise. Meaning, an opt-in system, where you can only make the reservation with the understanding that it's white tie or whatever the terminology is.

 

(I guess I'm ambivalent--I like clothes NOW, but I spent most of my life hating fashion because I was very overweight till about age 35. I still have only the vaguest idea of how to dress myself fashionably, and learning more is just not high on life's list of important tasks. I can put on a cocktail dress and heels, no problem (and I have on cruises), but I get the sense the people who are passionate about this topic would not consider that to be sufficient.)

Edited November 12, 2015 by perditax

[jjh9]

Money! They have too many berths to sell. X is seeking the CCL,RCL.,NCL crowd that mistakenly thought Celebrity cruisers dined in gowns and tuxes nightly.

What is evening chic. What type of clothes are we talking about.

[Goof3]

I understand that cruise lines are moving to a 2 tier system. However, I fail to see how this will perpetuate that theme. This is simply a way to have folks who like to "dress up" for a couple of nights a way to to that with a bunch of others with similar ideas.

 

I mean, folks in any suites, high level cabins, regular cabins, ocean view cabins, and inside cabins would be able to do this.

 

And if they couldn't use a specialty resturant for this, they could put all those who want to participate in "Formal" style nights in a separate section of MDR, together.

 

I agree with this! I actually suggested something similar in another thread but nobody even noticed, they just kept arguing....

[neverbeenhere]

http://feeds.cruisecritic.com/~r/site/cc/news/~3/FPWXaJN2UCc/news.cfm

[maynich]

Which could very well come to pass when the next big change comes, all select, no more early/late. Then those who like the nines go upstairs, and the rest stay downstairs.

 

I agree with your point but having booked a cruise sailing in three weeks time I'm furious. We always book with Celebrity because of their formal policy and feel we should have been made aware much sooner about this change. In fact we wouldn't have booked and most certainly won't be booking with them again.

[Cruise Junky]

I agree with your point but having booked a cruise sailing in three weeks time I'm furious. We always book with Celebrity because of their formal policy and feel we should have been made aware much sooner about this change. In fact we wouldn't have booked and most certainly won't be booking with them again.

 

If you sail in three weeks does the new policy even apply to your cruise?

[neverbeenhere]

We will dress formal now and in the future. So don't be concerned with others.

[wallie5446]

I agree with your point but having booked a cruise sailing in three weeks time I'm furious. We always book with Celebrity because of their formal policy and feel we should have been made aware much sooner about this change. In fact we wouldn't have booked and most certainly won't be booking with them again.

 

Again, your not coming back, so why keep coming back?

 

Your post's just helped my wife and I decide to leave her gown and my tux at home next week. Maybe after 20+ years of sailing on Celebrity, our not dressing to your standard will help more decide to follow your lead.

 

Ok, it's been fun, but we have less suit cases to get out and fill now. See ya, off to the Roll Call!

Edited November 12, 2015 by wallie5446

[mrsgoggins]

 

 

It likely varies by itinerary, but I think that the true formal night is already gone. Celebrity is just admitting it. But by having it still called formal night it deters people who may not realize that there was flexibility. They see formal and think "gosh - in addition to the cost of an expensive vacation I have to shell out money to rent a tux / buy an evening gown." Those aren't things that everyone just has on hand and can be off-putting. Not everyone knows about Cruise Critic and that they can ask and find out that they didn't really HAVE to wear a tux and evening gown to formal night.

 

It really feels like this is less Celebrity trying to rock the boat and more just Celebrity changing the policy to reflect the reality of the shift that's been happening already. At least on the ships I've been on, tuxes haven't been in a majority in years.

 

I think the above post was excellent in its entirety, but the above selection, I believe, contains the REAL reasons for the demise of the true formal night, ie

 

• it's already gone
  
• it deters people (and especially the younger demographic Celebrity is so keen to attract!)
  

[seapals2]

Think it is inevitable with the amount of beds to fill these days. Cruise lines do not want to deter ANYONE from cruising. Someone somewhere will have done a study and decided this is what the majority of people taking a cruise vacation want. They haven't said no formal wear but in reality tuxs will become a thing of the past.

 

More and more passengers opt to dine in the buffet instead of the MDR just so they can eat without having to make any effort to dress formally. Perhaps they will introduce a speciality restaurant ... 007 ... hope someone pays me if they take up my idea.

 

Before long taking a cruise will loose its 'special' quality and then the cruise lines are really in trouble. It uses its heritage to promote a luxury vacation but in reality offers nothing more than a cheap package. Once the cats out of the bag so to speak it will be up to the small lines to offer something more.

[mrsgoggins]

Before long taking a cruise will loose its 'special' quality and then the cruise lines are really in trouble. It uses its heritage to promote a luxury vacation but in reality offers nothing more than a cheap package. Once the cats out of the bag so to speak it will be up to the small lines to offer something more.

 

I agree with some of what you say (except that I am firmly in the 'thank heavens the formality is on the way out' camp), but not the part about using heritage to promote a luxury vacation. This may be true of Cunard for example, but from my limited experience, Celebrity is definitely focused on the 'Modern' part of its 'Modern luxury' slogan and tuxedos and evening gowns definitely don't fit that image.

 

By the way, we're on the Regal the same date as you, so it will be interesting (for me at least) to see the Princess difference, as my only other sailing with them was Alaska in May, and truly formal attire was not worn by many on that sailing as I expected.

[DYKWIA]

Our last 3 cruises sailed full. Have 2 booked for 2016, 1 is sold out the other has 1 suite, a few OV & inside cabins left. Have 2 booked in 2017- again 1 sold out and the not far behind. They don't seem to have a problem filling the ships.

 

Just because a ship sails full doesn't mean they didn't have trouble filling it

[mcrcruiser]

Our last 3 cruises sailed full. Have 2 booked for 2016, 1 is sold out the other has 1 suite, a few OV & inside cabins left. Have 2 booked in 2017- again 1 sold out and the not far behind. They don't seem to have a problem filling the ships.

 

No ships sail 100% full because if there are cabin problems like water leaks ie ,the ships need to place people in unused cabins until repairs are completed .;)

Edited November 12, 2015 by mcrcruiser

[mickey89]

I can remember the days when there was a fancy dress night or a Toga evening - I always resented them. Why dictate a dress code, just say what is unacceptable and allow people to relax and enjoy their evenings. Dressing up for a special occasion should always be encouraged and applauded but never made a strict code.

Well done Celebrity, about time but get rid of Evening Chic it is meaningless

Edited November 12, 2015 by mickey89