I now understand why there is dress code confusion

[Luckybee]

We just booked a Century 5 night cruise for next April. After having searched these boards, and not finding a clear answer to the dress code and which nights are formal, informal, and casual I thought it was best to go directly to X to check. So I called a few minutes ago, and was told that there was 1 formal night which is the 2nd night of the cruise, and 4 smart casual. So far so good, except then my dh, who was sure the info he saw on the web site was different, had me dbl check. Sure enough the web site has 1 formal, 2 informal, and 2 casual. So we call back and get a different person who then says 1 formal, 1 smart casual, and 3 casual. When I asked about the discrepancy I was told"well it really doesnt matter other than the formal night, the dress code for the other nights is all the same". Well OMG if it is all the same then why call them something else, and if it isnt all the same then perhaps they could tell those of us who would actually like to know and plan accordingly. This cruise will be part of a 3 week trip for us, so we will be packing for more than the cruise, and we will have apprpriate clothing for any occasion, but I also plan on not opening some suitcases on the cruise and will therefore want a more clear answer...anyone know how to get one?

[4 cruisers]

I had a frustrating experience yesterday with the Captain's Club desk on another issue. It took getting upset on my part to get the issue resolved. At the end of the conversation, the gal asked if there was ANYTHING else she could help me with! I felt like saying "Not if I can help it!":rolleyes:

 

We're booked on a 5 day Century too and like to know the dress codes in advance (who doesn't, for heaven's sake?!). I honestly believe you will be better off getting your answer from the first wave of CC's than info you will EVER get from Celebrity. I wonder if they aren't sure what type of cruisers they are marketing these new shorter cruises to yet and want to "hang loose" and not commit. I sure hope it's the cruisers we have enjoyed on Century in the past. Not looking for a 5 day Carnival experience! We go next month (Nov. 18th) and I'll post as soon as we get home!

[Luckybee]

Omg...too funny...when I called back the 2nd time and the fellow started doing the quick step about the condradictions, he then asked me if"there was anything else he could assist with"...my answer was "dont take this personally, but you havent assisted me yet".

When you get back I would love to hear from you about both the dress code, and what nights are what(if u know what I mean ;). Have a great trip in Nov.

[HappyCruiser]

One thought - even if you want to be prepared, you also have to be prepared for change. I've been on a few cruises (mostly in the fall/hurricane season) when the itinerary changed, and when the ports change so does the dress code. The cruise lines try to coordinate the formal nights to times when the ladies have more time to prepare, and maybe use the stying salon. So, it's tough to plan exactly what night is what.

I think the statement about formal nights is accurate, that is the only night that really matters. Smart casual means many things to many people; they don't really call it semi-formal anymore; I usually just say that means that your clothes all match (coordinate). Or, if one of my dressier outfits is a bit on the small side - I surely wear that EARLY in the cruise, and not on the last couple nights LOL.

Go out and MAKE it a great cruise!

[Luckyladym]

Maybe this little bit from a very experienced cruiser will help...

 

The first and last night of any cruise is always casual. The first night because everyone is just getting settled, luggage may be late, etc. The last night because you usually have to plan according to what you will wear to leave the ship.

 

So, that takes care of 2 casual nights. If there is one formal night (for sure), that leaves 2 nights for informal/dressy casual wear.

 

This math is for 5 nighters but can be adjusted for longer cruises, too, by using the process of elimination. Long port days usually result in casual evenings.

 

Hope this helps...

[Shirley and Les]

One thought - even if you want to be prepared, you also have to be prepared for change. I've been on a few cruises (mostly in the fall/hurricane season) when the itinerary changed, and when the ports change so does the dress code. The cruise lines try to coordinate the formal nights to times when the ladies have more time to prepare, and maybe use the stying salon. So, it's tough to plan exactly what night is what.

I think the statement about formal nights is accurate, that is the only night that really matters. Smart casual means many things to many people; they don't really call it semi-formal anymore; I usually just say that means that your clothes all match (coordinate). Or, if one of my dressier outfits is a bit on the small side - I surely wear that EARLY in the cruise, and not on the last couple nights LOL.

Go out and MAKE it a great cruise!

Not trying to be a smart a$$, but I think most of the fights on this board have been about wanting to wear jeans when a tux is suggested (for the guys). For a male, a tux or a dark suit, a sportcoat/trousers combo or suit and Dockers fit all evenings for the three categories of clothing.

Have A Great Cruise.

Les

[Luckybee]

Thanks all for your advice...im sure it will all work out :). I guess what I find amazing it that the cruiseline doesnt seem to know what its own dress code is, or at best there is confusion amoung the staff and the web site as to what it is.

[Sheik]

when I cruise Celebrity, I always where a dark suit, formal, casual or informal. I choose not to wear a tie on casual nights and you know what? I'm always overdressed on casual nights. A lot of people still wear jeans, some people even don't wear a suit or tux on formal nights. Celebrity doesn't enforce their rules and thats just too bad plus people are getting confused.

[momofmeg]

On our 5 night Zenith cruise we had one formal night, one informal night and the rest casual-but as you said it was more what I call smart casual-all though the dress was considered "casual".

 

On informal night was not that much differant from formal night-except we saw no evening gowns or tuxes.

 

I mention my Zenith cruise because this past winter it was doing the run that Century will be doing this winter.

[bububr]

And have never had a problem. We also never feel overdressed or out of place when we are doing the right thing.

 

It was interesting to see some peoples faces on this past cruise. We attended HIGH TEA and the dress code was informal, jacket and tie. Well the code for dinner that night was casual. People would just stop and stare with these confused looks on their faces.

 

Here is an e-mail I requested a while back form the Captains Club before RCCL staffed it with their $5.00 per hour disposable employees..:

 

"Per your request the suggested dress code is as follows:

 

Two Night cruises: Both nights will be casual dress

Three Night Cruises: One formal and two casual dress evenings.

Four Night Cruises: One formal, one informal and two casual dress evenings

 

We read with great interest your comments regarding the attire worn by your fellow

guests onboard the Century. We do expect our guests to comply with our requests;

unfortunately, there may be instances when some guests might not adhere to our recommended

dress code. Nevertheless, your comments have been forwarded to the appropriate

management personnel for their review.

 

Mr. XXXXXX, we look forward to welcoming you, a loyal Captain's Club member

back onboard the Mercury and thank you for choosing Celebrity Cruises.

 

Doris Wilhelm

Customer Service Representative"

 

We have never been caught short by simply following the guidlines, even during port changes, scheduling changes, or bad weather. As some one said, it pays to be flexible......

 

BTW: Smart Casual is a RCCL term, not an X one......proves my point. RCCL is bringing down X.

 

Dave:eek:

[4 cruisers]

Thanks everyone for posting! We are a member of the "over-dressed because we like to" group when we are on vacation, so the code isn't so important to us. I'm also a mood dresser, so I always have extra clothes packed too! I think Luckybee's post just struck a nerve since our dealings with Celebrity's home office also have been so lousy.

 

I think you all have guessed correctly! I'll post when we get back!:)

 

Oh, and we're going to have a great cruise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!So looking forward to it!:cool:

[virgenia]

We found out the hard way that informal and casual are NOT the same--at least they weren't on our Constellation sailing this summer. Informal requires a jacket for men. My husband was dressed in a long sleeved shirt and nice pants and was asked to go back and get a jacket. Since he did not have one other than the tux jacket, he wore that into the DR and then hung it over the back of the chair. This policy was not uniformally enforced. One group of 20 people from Turkey were allowed to wear pretty much whatever they wanted. There were T-shirts, shorts, and jeans on both casual and informal nights. We were upset that this uneven enforcement of the rules was very apparent.

[geoherb]

The published guidelines in the materials we've received ahead of time and on the website don't always fit the published guidelines on the ship. For our 9-night Century cruise, we should have had 4 casual, 2 informal, and 3 formal. We ended up with 6 casual, 1 informal, and 2 formal.

 

As others have mentioned, there wasn't a lot of difference for some between casual and informal. I wore my sports coat.

[Drew B]

Not trying to be a smart a$$, but I think most of the fights on this board have been about wanting to wear jeans when a tux is suggested (for the guys). For a male, a tux or a dark suit, a sportcoat/trousers combo or suit and Dockers fit all evenings for the three categories of clothing.

Have A Great Cruise.

Les

 

That is simply not true. A tux is not appropriate for casual night and Dockers are not appropriate for formal night. The actual requested dress code is very easy to comprehend. The confusion lies in people confusing the requested dress code with what people actually do and what they can get away with.

[momofmeg]

That is simply not true. A tux is not appropriate for casual night and Dockers are not appropriate for formal night. The actual requested dress code is very easy to comprehend. The confusion lies in people confusing the requested dress code with what people actually do and what they can get away with.

 

I agree-maybe you can "get away" with dockers on informal night-I would have a fit if hubby did that though-but definetly no dockers with a tux.

[Jimsgirl]

Have just got off Infinity 14 day cruise. at a tabl;e with 5 other females, first night they all admitted "they were not going to dress up" even though they had read the recommendations in the pre cruise documents.

They did not dress up, their idea of suitable attire was jeans every night (even formal), tank tops (with heavy duty bra straps two inches outside the tank tops straps ) or T shirts.and two of them tucked their table napkins into the neck of the tanktops .

 

No one said a word to them about dress requirements. I changed my table, -that may bring down the wrath of the flamers, but bra straps and napkin "bibs" and bad table manners do not make for a very pleasant mealtime

[Luckybee]

The actual requested dress code is very easy to comprehend. The confusion lies in people confusing the requested dress code with what people actually do and what they can get away with.

 

Im sorry but I beg to differ. I personally believe that it is Celebrity itself at the root of the confusion. Let me start with the premise that Dh and and I tend to overdress when we travel. We are not those who would not dress up on formal night. We enjoy dressing for dinner and have found ourselves on more than one occasion overdressed .Then let me add that I would very much like to know if my dh, needs 1 or 2 jackets in addition to his tux, or whether the rule is smart casual for the add'l nights, or casual, or, or or....

I should not have to come to cc and start this discussion. I should not be finding one answer on the web site, a different answer from a rep at X, another different answer from another X rep, a third different answer today, and different answers from CC.

One of the posters suggested packing flexibly great idea if the cruise is the only part of a holiday, however we tend to take 3 or 4 week breaks a couple of times a year and in this case the cruise is just a small portion of our trip. We shouldnt have to pack flexibly(because we need to pack appropiately for the rest of our trip which will be fairly casual and we will be limited on space...I dont wish to, for this trip, bring more formal/semi formal clothing than we will need for the cruise) because we "wont really know what the dress code will be till we board " which is what I was told today when I tried to get someone to clarify the confusion from X.

[shoreless]

Im sorry but I beg to differ. I personally believe that it is Celebrity itself at the root of the confusion. Let me start with the premise that Dh and and I tend to overdress when we travel. We are not those who would not dress up on formal night. We enjoy dressing for dinner and have found ourselves on more than one occasion overdressed .Then let me add that I would very much like to know if my dh, needs 1 or 2 jackets in addition to his tux, or whether the rule is smart casual for the add'l nights, or casual, or, or or....

I should not have to come to cc and start this discussion. I should not be finding one answer on the web site, a different answer from a rep at X, another different answer from another X rep, a third different answer today, and different answers from CC.

One of the posters suggested packing flexibly great idea if the cruise is the only part of a holiday, however we tend to take 3 or 4 week breaks a couple of times a year and in this case the cruise is just a small portion of our trip. We shouldnt have to pack flexibly(because we need to pack appropiately for the rest of our trip which will be fairly casual and we will be limited on space...I dont wish to, for this trip, bring more formal/semi formal clothing than we will need for the cruise) because we "wont really know what the dress code will be till we board " which is what I was told today when I tried to get someone to clarify the confusion from X.

 

I agree with Luckybee. I think that a person who takes the trouble to call Celebrity to check on the requirements is trying to do the right thing, not trying to "get away with something". Expecting anyone to do more than this (i.e., search the website and brochures and all available opinions on cruise forums) does not seem reasonable. It's reasonable to expect a Celebrity phone rep to have the latest information; the rep might be underpaid or uninformed, but that's Celebrity's fault, not the passenger's.

[4 cruisers]

Amen, Shoreless.

 

:cool:

[Luckyladym]

This problem is not confined to Celebrity...it is an industry wide problem regardless of which cruise line you are traveling with. Lots of things factor into the confusion, not the least of which is the lack of communication between the ship staff and the office staff.

 

When we first started cruising, the only precruise advice you were given was how many formal evenings you could expect. On the other nights, women were expected to know what was socially acceptable...ie: modest, well-groomed, flattering. Men were expected to know that if they were dining (compared to eating) in a beautifully appointed dining room that they would wear a sports jacket and tie.

 

As our life styles have changed, the cruise lines have attempted to modify and anticipate what cruisers would like to wear. Those Hotel Directors, Maitre'de's and other ship personnel make their decisions very often based on the demographics of who is cruising and on what ship.

 

It is easy to understand how anyone would be confused.

 

IMHO, if a guy brings a tux or dark suit, a sports jacket, several pairs of slacks, and the appropriate accessories, and whatever casual clothing he feels he will need...he will be just fine. The same with the gals...something formalish..for the formal nights (1, 2 or 3 or more) several pants suits, skirts, tops, and/or dresses..and casual clothing which is appropriate for public view...she will be fine.

 

It's all about having a good time...and feeling comfortable and proud of our appearance at the same time.

 

Nuff said! !

[Pisces11]

Jims girl, we would have asked for a different table also. That was flagarantly disregarding the rules by your tablemates. They were daring the maitre 'd to say something to them. I don't understand why they just didn't eat dinner in the cafeteria. It was set up very nicely with linen tablecloths and good china for the people who didn't want to dress up for dinner. We discovered quickly on our Alaska trip on the Summit that they were not going to enforce any sort of dress code. It's one thing if someone does not want to wear a tie. It's on another level if tshirts and tank tops are worn in the dining room. It made us angry because we packed so many unnecessary things to conform to the supposed dress code. My husband shouldn't have bothered with his blazer because no one else was wearing one on the informal nights.

[WooKeef]

when I cruise Celebrity, I always where a dark suit, formal, casual or informal. I choose not to wear a tie on casual nights and you know what? I'm always overdressed on casual nights. A lot of people still wear jeans, some people even don't wear a suit or tux on formal nights. Celebrity doesn't enforce their rules and thats just too bad plus people are getting confused.

I just returned from an 11 night Med cruise. I was inquiring before we left about the dress code and my concern about the DH not wanting to get dressed up. Well...I managed to get him to ALL three formal evenings and we had a blast! I was even a little outraged one evening when a gentleman was in a Tommy Bahama style cabana shirt and very casual pants and shoes. It was definitely pushing the envelope and the DH even got dressed up for that night.

Anyway, there are variety of dresses. But overall everyone was clean and neat and I think that is what matters the most.

[4 cruisers]

This is just a tough subject no matter how you look at it.

 

Jimsgirl, that is just the pits. I was going to say I don't let what others are wearing bug me, but if they are litterally at your table, that is a completely different matter!

 

Were on Crystal Symphony in Med. in June and there were actually t-shirts and pants in the dining room one formal night. No dress code policing. Part of our group of 13 got very upset and complained, etc. It really was worse than just ignoring the situation to me.

 

I guess it's just the world today...not any particular cruise line.

 

The main point of this discussion to me was the matter of Celebrity making their dress preferences more clear to the customers who care.

[Drew B]

I agree with Luckybee. I think that a person who takes the trouble to call Celebrity to check on the requirements is trying to do the right thing, not trying to "get away with something". Expecting anyone to do more than this (i.e., search the website and brochures and all available opinions on cruise forums) does not seem reasonable. It's reasonable to expect a Celebrity phone rep to have the latest information; the rep might be underpaid or uninformed, but that's Celebrity's fault, not the passenger's.

 

Certainly if a Celebrity rep gave wrong information, that is a problem. However, I maintain that the intent of the dress code is perfectly clear, and is laid out on the website, the brochures, and in the daily newsletter once aboard. I have seen no significant inconsistencies among these sources. They tell you how many Formal, Informal, and Casual nights there will be (I don't know where the "Smart Casual" term even came up, as it's not a term Celebrity uses) and what the appropriate dress is for those three categories. Given how clear they make it, I'm confused as to why someone would need to even call a Celebrity rep to ask the question. HOWEVER, given that they did so, they should have gotten a consistent and correct answer...

[momofmeg]

Certainly if a Celebrity rep gave wrong information, that is a problem. However, I maintain that the intent of the dress code is perfectly clear, and is laid out on the website, the brochures, and in the daily newsletter once aboard. I have seen no significant inconsistencies among these sources. They tell you how many Formal, Informal, and Casual nights there will be (I don't know where the "Smart Casual" term even came up, as it's not a term Celebrity uses) and what the appropriate dress is for those three categories. Given how clear they make it, I'm confused as to why someone would need to even call a Celebrity rep to ask the question. HOWEVER, given that they did so, they should have gotten a consistent and correct answer...

 

You are right "smart casual" is a term used by Royal Caribbean and Princess-and if you go to their websites and read the definiton-it is differant for each line. Princess just means "casual" by this and Royal Caribbean is closer to Celebrity's defintion of "informal".