Dress Code Policy changed ?

[junglejane]

Here's good one, anyone else sailing soon, can you confirm this?

 

It might just be for this itinerary or for Europe. It would be nice to hear from others

 

We're flying to Venice tomorrow for the June 16 Summit Med cruise. Our cruise docs reflect the usual formal/informal/casual schedule. Will report back later if there's any change or if we hear anything "official" onboard.

 

--Junglejane

[nycglitter]

I realize that formal is not for everyone, but I have spent a year planning my upcoming cruise (July) and have gone out of my way to purchase gowns for the formal nights and semi-formal dresses as well, especially for this vacation. ( I am insane obsessive when it comes to finding the "right" dresses and spend waaaayyy too much time finding them! - My problem I know)

 

Yes - I realize that I can still wear them even if the "rules" change, but while I like attention, I don't think I'd enjoy standing out that much.

 

Rules changing?...Fine with me, but with some advance warning, say 6 months or so. I don't thing for a company the size of Celebrity/Royal that would be too difficult. Decisions like this are not made lightly and have no doubt been in the works for quite some time.

 

Before you flame me, please understand that this is my 20th anniversary cruise and I have been dreaming and planning this for oh....about 19 years now. :p

 

I just want it all to go the way I have been planning for. Anything past July 22 is fair game.

[Roland4]

Hate to be a "party pooper" as it were, but being a TA we have not seen anything from Celebrity regarding changes to the dress code. That is the kind of thing we would be notified of. Also just took a look at that itinerary and it is VERY port intensive. Excluding the first and last full days onboard (when you wouldn't have a semi-formal dress code and also both port days) there are five port days and two sea days. Assuming the Formal nights are the two sea days......... I suspect the change may only apply to this cruise and for that reason. Just a thought.

[Cruise Junky]

Hate to be a "party pooper" as it were, but being a TA we have not seen anything from Celebrity regarding changes to the dress code. That is the kind of thing we would be notified of. Also just took a look at that itinerary and it is VERY port intensive. Excluding the first and last full days onboard (when you wouldn't have a semi-formal dress code and also both port days) there are five port days and two sea days. Assuming the Formal nights are the two sea days......... I suspect the change may only apply to this cruise and for that reason. Just a thought.

 

I had 1 1/2 half sea days on my 12 day Med. Cruise and they still managed to do the informal so I don't think it's the port intensity.

[Host Anne]

nycglitter ~ HAPPY 20th ANNIVERSARY! Go and have a great time regardless of what the dress code is. It's your special celebration and you should enjoy every moment. Even on casual night I probably dress a bit more than the dress code requests and I've never felt like I stand out. I can honestly say I really don't notice much about what others are wearing. You'll have a fantastic time! Please be sure to come back and tell us about it. ENJOY!

[Roland4]

I had 1 1/2 half sea days on my 12 day Med. Cruise and they still managed to do the informal so I don't think it's the port intensity.

 

Be that as it may, these types of significant "policy" changes are generally communicated to the agent community. Usually in advance. I may well be incorrect, but I thought I would mention it.

[Cruise Junky]

Be that as it may, these types of significant "policy" changes are generally communicated to the agent community. Usually in advance. I may well be incorrect, but I thought I would mention it.

 

Not saying you're wrong on the change, just saying it's certainly not based on port intensity.

[kidznp]

I realize that formal is not for everyone, but I have spent a year planning my upcoming cruise (July) and have gone out of my way to purchase gowns for the formal nights and semi-formal dresses as well, especially for this vacation. ( I am insane obsessive when it comes to finding the "right" dresses and spend waaaayyy too much time finding them! - My problem I know)

 

Yes - I realize that I can still wear them even if the "rules" change, but while I like attention, I don't think I'd enjoy standing out that much.

 

Rules changing?...Fine with me, but with some advance warning, say 6 months or so. I don't thing for a company the size of Celebrity/Royal that would be too difficult. Decisions like this are not made lightly and have no doubt been in the works for quite some time.

 

Before you flame me, please understand that this is my 20th anniversary cruise and I have been dreaming and planning this for oh....about 19 years now. :p

 

I just want it all to go the way I have been planning for. Anything past July 22 is fair game.

 

I spent my 20th on X (Constellation 2004) as well and I just want to encourage you to wear your lovely dresses just as you had planned, regardless of the dress code. I wore a dress every night other than embarkation and DH wore his sport coat or tux every night except the first and last. It made our celebration just that much more special!! Honestly, I did not even notice what anyone else wore except on the formal nights and then only when women had on really gorgeous gowns. The ships are just so elegant that dressing up at night IMHO is the best way to enjoy the experience. I can wear jeans and flip flops at home:p :p Congratulations on your anniversary:cool: ;) :)

[hajekfam]

Wasn't there a post a while ago regarding something in someone's documentation and it turned out that when the documentation was put together they accidentally included Royal Caribbean pages instead of Celebrity?

[dkjretired]

Wasn't there a post a while ago regarding something in someone's documentation and it turned out that when the documentation was put together they accidentally included Royal Caribbean pages instead of Celebrity?

 

I think what you might be thinking of is several people got documents indicating the smoking policy was drastically changed long before the policy was actually changed. Turned out the documents sent out were Azamara documents and not Celebrity's. I thought the same thing when I read the OP, somebody sent out the wrong documents again...

[Cote d'or]

We have just received our tickets for 10 night Galaxy 1st Aug 08 Eastern Med. and they show 8 nights casual and 2 nights formal. Informal nights being dropped.

 

You already received your tickets ? That's soon !

We think this would be great news. We love to dress up for formal nights and we love the casual nights (as long it's country club casual). We don't like the grey zone in between.

[JCDeck]

I spoke with the person I book all my X cruises with at RCCI and he assures me there has been no change in the dress code at X. Who knows?

[margincall]

We are going on the Summit in January and the only reason i would like to see the policy changed is because of the airlines new baggage policies-I may need a lot of ironing as I intend to REALLY squeeze those clothes in tight --lol

[nycglitter]

nycglitter ~ HAPPY 20th ANNIVERSARY! Go and have a great time regardless of what the dress code is. It's your special celebration and you should enjoy every moment. Even on casual night I probably dress a bit more than the dress code requests and I've never felt like I stand out. I can honestly say I really don't notice much about what others are wearing. You'll have a fantastic time! Please be sure to come back and tell us about it. ENJOY!

 

I spent my 20th on X (Constellation 2004) as well and I just want to encourage you to wear your lovely dresses just as you had planned, regardless of the dress code. I wore a dress every night other than embarkation and DH wore his sport coat or tux every night except the first and last. It made our celebration just that much more special!! Honestly, I did not even notice what anyone else wore except on the formal nights and then only when women had on really gorgeous gowns. The ships are just so elegant that dressing up at night IMHO is the best way to enjoy the experience. I can wear jeans and flip flops at home:p :p Congratulations on your anniversary:cool: ;) :)

 

 

Thank you both for your words of encouragement. My husband and I cannot wait to take this trip! We have had many other wonderful vacations and have been to Europe, but thought of this being a second honeymoon is really making this feel extra special.

 

You are both right! 20 years of a happy marriage deserve to be celebrated in style! We will most certainly share our journey when we return!

 

Here's to feeling like a bride all over again! Thanks!:)

[dmk]

ItaliaBella, you can still wear your semi-formal dresses - depending on the region, you can probably wear them for formal night! (I've seen lots of women do that.) And you are also, of course, free to wear them on casual nights. Just because other folks choose to dress down doesn't mean you have to.

 

One troubling thing that I see in these dress code threads is the frequent comments about how other folks' clothing choices impact them. To me, the dress code is all about how *I'm* going to dress, and I pay little attention to what others are wearing. It simply doesn't affect me. I truly believe that everyone would find cruising to be a more pleasurable experience if they didn't allow themselves to be so negatively affected by what others are wearing.

 

The good news is that Celebrity is a cruise line on which, historically, most pax do respect the dress codes, so if you dress to the nines on formal night, you won't feel out of place. And even on casual nights, most pax will at least be dressed somewhat nicely, so if you choose to go a little nicer, you won't stand out. If anything, you'll just inspire lots of smiles because you'll look so nice! :)

 

Hooray! I am with you LeeAnne. I like to dress up. If it's casual night and I feel like wearing something a bit more dressy,:) I do.

[Karynanne]

We just returned from Infinity yesterday, and the dresscode was the usual for a 7-day cruise. 2-Formal, 2-Informal, and 3-Casual.

 

I also dress more towards Informal on Casual evenings, so I never second guess myself when it comes to the dresscode.

 

7 day cruises usually run the whole gamut, when it comes to dress...and this cruise was no exception. We saw one family (seated at the foot of the staircase) wearing jeans almost every evening. One teenager in the group had a baseball cap on (worn backwards), and fell asleep with his Ipod in his ears. I attribute this to the parents lack of enforcement, and their lack of respect for the cruiselines code.

[ccletzgo]

As long as the casual nights don't get too casual, this works! Me thinks they mean more of a country club casual not beach casual!!

 

 

AGREE.. I really hope they will be strict about it..

[C 2 C]

The documents for our upcoming Century 12 night cruise in July still indicate:

 

3 formal nights and 3 semi-formal and the rest of the nights are casual.

[nycglitter]

That is great! Thank you!

[Bruin Steve]

I have not yet received my docs for my July 19 cruise...So, I'll wait and see...Until then, I'll plan on schlepping a sports coat...

 

For me, it's never an issue of more elegance/less elegance or whether or not I like dressing up...or if my wife likes it...

 

It's more of a practicality/packing/airline restrictions thing...

 

When I cruise Europe, it's typically a 14 night cruise...plus, we'll schedule an extra few days pre- and post-cruise...

 

Of paramount importance to me is how to pack all the stuff I need for three weeks of vacation...

 

I typically get around the formal night issues by renting a tux rather than schlepping my own from home...The tux with all the acoutrements and the tux shoes take up a lot of space/weight in the luggage...On casual nights, it's dockers and sports shirts for me--khaki, olive and tan...So, for "informal", I basically wear the same, but I bring along a greenish tweed sports coat I can throw over it to dress it up a little...

 

That sports coat weighs a lot and takes up a lot of room in the luggage...If I didn't have to bring it, I would be delighted...

 

Of course, the women don't even have it that easy...You can't just rent your formal wear...and tend not to wear the same things for up to three formal nights...

 

Though I love the elegance and tradition of Celebrity, I actually appreciated the "every night casual" approach of Oceania...It's not like anyone was slipping to jeans with holes in them and tank tops at dinner...I was able to wear dockers and a sports shirt every night...(No, I still wouldn't wear a T-Shirt or a Golf Shirt or jeans to dinner)...But, it did make packing so much simpler--shorts and t-shirts for the days, dockers and nice short sleve cotton shirts for the night...

 

With the airlines allowing less and less weight in luggage and just the practicalities of being able to drag around no more than a couple of pieces of luggage each (For that three week trip upcoming, I will pack one 26" rolling bag and one small rolling garment bag...Each must be under 50 lbs. If the triporiginated in Europe rather than the US, the weight limits would be even less...If the trip were entirely in the US now, most airlines would be charging me $40 per person for the two bags!! The days are over when anyone packed a LARGE trunk for that ocean voyage...

[Albert Ross]

On all sailings on or after August 1, 2008, there will be no informal nights - There will be smart casual nights and formal nights only, on all sailings fleetwide.

 

Also no more gormet bites at night - a late night in Cova Cafe; and there will be a brunch instead of the midnight buffet.

[Cote d'or]

Double post.

[Cote d'or]

On all sailings on or after August 1, 2008, there will be no informal nights - There will be smart casual nights and formal nights only, on all sailings fleetwide.

 

Also no more gormet bites at night - a late night in Cova Cafe; and there will be a brunch instead of the midnight buffet.

 

Hi Albert Ross, do you have this information directly from Celebrity ? This would be great news, also regarding the brunch.

[janfran813]

After reading the OP's info., I became concerned about our upcoming June 20th cruise. I put in a call to Celebrity and the rep. told me that the dress code change will apply to sailings AFTER Aug. 1. The policy change will be 2 formal and the rest casual. Up until then the dress code remains the same. Our cruise docs specify 3 formal, 2 semi-formal, and the rest casual.

I too was hoping to leave DH's sport coats and shirts home, however in light of the conversation with the Celebrity rep. we'll have to lug the semi-formal wear in addition to his formalwear with us. Since we're traveling around Italy for a few days before our cruise, it just seems like a lot of superfluous clothing!

[DC2OC]

On all sailings on or after August 1, 2008, there will be no informal nights - There will be smart casual nights and formal nights only, on all sailings fleetwide.

 

Also no more gormet bites at night - a late night in Cova Cafe; and there will be a brunch instead of the midnight buffet.

 

This would be fine with me.For a lot of us who eat late the Midnight Gala was a waste.Sure it was beautiful but was never really hungry.The Brunch is a fantastic idea........................Frank:)