Observations re dress code compliance - Summit 10/17-10/23

[PatHobby]

After reading the many heated threads re dress codes on Celebrity these last few weeks, I found myself more observant re my fellow passengers attire than I would normally have been. My unscientific observations: Formal nights found about 10% of men in tuxes, 70% in dark suits and ties, 20% in sport jackets/slacks sans tie. Didn't spot anyone sporting jeans, shorts, or funny t-shirts. All women seemed "appropriately" attired.

Our last four cruises were on Crystal and Silverseas, where approximately 80% of men wore tuxedos or dinner jackets on formal nights. Of course, these were considerable longer cruises. This was our first Celebrity sailing, and I felt a bit "conspicuous" in my tux, much as I did on a much earlier HAL Alaska cruise - I was even the only guy in a tux at the Captain's table the first formal night aboad Summit. Still, almost all passengers were in basic compliance with the suggested attire. If we sail Celebrity again I'd probably forego packing the "formal wear" and opt for the dark suit option, despite my guilty pleasure of feeling like the reincarnation of Fred Astaire, Cary Grant and James Bond for two, three or four nights on an elegant ship.

 

Would like to thank all those on this board whose advice, insights, recommendations and warnings helped make our cruise a most enjoyable experience.

[ahoymatey3]

It is much better to be the best dressed person in the room than the worst dressed. Stay with your tuxes.

[celtic selke]

If you are on Constellation in April 2006 or Millenium in April 2007, you will not be alone. My SO will be wearing his tux for two nights and his white dinner jacket for another.

If it makes you feel that good, why change?

 

celtic

[emcee207]

Yes, stay with the tux. I bought my first Tux last Dec when I was married and then took the Constellation for our honeymoon. Must mention that I am 52 and married for the second time. Tried on the tux yesterday and I'll be wearing it on the Constellation in about 6 weeks, 12/10/05 Southern Caribbean route!! Gotta get my monies' worth!;)

[Ma Bell]

It really varies doesn't it?

 

We were on Summit Sept 16-30 and I would say we had 50% tuxes, 45% suits and 5% jacket and tie. It was a very well dressed group and many looked like they were dressed in informal wear even on casual nights. Maybe it's because they had 700 plus Captain's Club members.

[tbelian]

Still, almost all passengers were in basic compliance with the suggested attire.

 

THIS one simple statement is everything (I mean EVERYTHING) you need to know about dress code on Celebrity.

 

Nuff said?

[shofer]

I have found that the longer the cruise, generally the older the crowd, the more formal the dress. Our Hawaii cruise in 2002 was about 50% tuxes and I have to admit that for the first time, my husband expressed an interest in doing a tux the next cruise. On our trip to Alaska a year later there were hardly any tuxes. The women (of course) all looked fabulous both times.

On this next 14 day cruise to Hawaii in January, the 4 men in our group are all going to go the tux route and looking forward to it.

 

I can honestly say that I have never seen anyone deliberately go out of their way to be inappropriate in their dress on formal nights. Perhaps a gentleman is wearing only a shirt & tie without a jacket but if he is neat then I would consider the effort was made. I do try to keep it in perspective that for some people this might be the only cruise they will ever take because they just can't afford it. Also there are a lot of people who have no reason to ever own a suit and can't see spending money on something they will never wear again.

 

I just can't see why people get so worked up over the dress code. The secret to a long and happy life is to realize you can only control what happens to yourself (to a limited degree) and to others not at all. Live and let live, people. What someone says in these threads and what they do may not be the same. Try to have a little compassion.

[Sailfish]

I am no Celebrity expert by any stretch of the imagination, but on both of my Celebrity cruises (a few years apart) most men wore dark suits, a few wore tuxes. I'm sure there were a few jackets and ties in the mix, but I never came across anyone who wore jeans.

 

But I do find the advice on this board a little misleading, al beit well intentioned. I really got the impression that Celebrity was a lot more formal than Royal Caribbean; that passengers really got dressed up for dinner - and not just on formal night. I figured my first Celebrity cruise was an exception; NOT SO!

 

My husband and I got invited to the Captains table on our October 3rd Mercury cruise (with the hotel Director), and only one guy, out of four had on a tux (that was the case all over, from what I could tell that night - about 75% wore dark suits). I was the only woman in a floor length gown, I think. We had a great time, but I will bring my black silk coctail dress next time in place of of the floor length gown.

 

I believe people here to be well intentioned, when they recommend you dress a certain way. But the reality might be different. Most people who cruise have never heard of Cruise Critic. I believe the age of passengers and regional lifestyle probably have something to do with how formal/casual a cruise will be. Here in the Pacific Northwest, from what I could tell, things are very laid back and casual! Same holds true for cruises out of California.

 

We had a great time aboard the Mercury; so much so, we booked back to back voyages for next fall. I found the Mercury's laid back elegance to be just the ticket for us.

[celtic selke]

I once saw blatant disregard of the dress "suggestion" on an Alaskan cruise on Galaxy some years back.

One young man showed up for every dinner in shorts, a tee shirt and a baseball cap. Needless to say, he looked ridiculous.

It didn't ruin our cruise, but I always wonder how he felt. I wonder if he did it on purpose, or maybe he really didn't know any better.

If you don't find a good source of information, like these boards, you can make some mistakes.

 

 

celtic

[hermang]

I am no Celebrity expert by any stretch of the imagination, but on both of my Celebrity cruises (a few years apart) most men wore dark suits, a few wore tuxes. I'm sure there were a few jackets and ties in the mix, but I never came across anyone who wore jeans.

 

But I do find the advice on this board a little misleading, al beit well intentioned. I really got the impression that Celebrity was a lot more formal than Royal Caribbean; that passengers really got dressed up for dinner - and not just on formal night. I figured my first Celebrity cruise was an exception; NOT SO!

 

My husband and I got invited to the Captains table on our October 3rd Mercury cruise (with the hotel Director), and only one guy, out of four had on a tux (that was the case all over, from what I could tell that night - about 75% wore dark suits). I was the only woman in a floor length gown, I think. We had a great time, but I will bring my black silk coctail dress next time in place of of the floor length gown.

 

I believe people here to be well intentioned, when they recommend you dress a certain way. But the reality might be different. Most people who cruise have never heard of Cruise Critic. I believe the age of passengers and regional lifestyle probably have something to do with how formal/casual a cruise will be. Here in the Pacific Northwest, from what I could tell, things are very laid back and casual! Same holds true for cruises out of California.

 

We had a great time aboard the Mercury; so much so, we booked back to back voyages for next fall. I found the Mercury's laid back elegance to be just the ticket for us.

You hit the nail on the head when you say that PEOPLE recommend you wear thus and so - based on their interpretation on "formal or informal dress suggestion or recommendation by Celebrity or any other cruiseline, NOT the Cruiseline it self.

 

If you disagree with THEIR interpretation you are wrong - and thats where I get defensive and say they are phony formalists.

 

I would never wear shorts and a t shirt to dinner in the dining room on any night - but that's me - if you want to do that go ahead. But to tell me I might be turned away from the dining room because I am not dressed according to their interpretation of the rules is wishful thinking on their part.

 

If Celebrity did that the Public relations nightmare would be very costly. Would it ever get to court - maybe yes maybe no - but thats exactly the cannon fodder the anti-cruise folks love to pick up on -

[hermang]

I am no Celebrity expert by any stretch of the imagination, but on both of my Celebrity cruises (a few years apart) most men wore dark suits, a few wore tuxes. I'm sure there were a few jackets and ties in the mix, but I never came across anyone who wore jeans.

 

But I do find the advice on this board a little misleading, al beit well intentioned. I really got the impression that Celebrity was a lot more formal than Royal Caribbean; that passengers really got dressed up for dinner - and not just on formal night. I figured my first Celebrity cruise was an exception; NOT SO!

 

My husband and I got invited to the Captains table on our October 3rd Mercury cruise (with the hotel Director), and only one guy, out of four had on a tux (that was the case all over, from what I could tell that night - about 75% wore dark suits). I was the only woman in a floor length gown, I think. We had a great time, but I will bring my black silk coctail dress next time in place of of the floor length gown.

 

I believe people here to be well intentioned, when they recommend you dress a certain way. But the reality might be different. Most people who cruise have never heard of Cruise Critic. I believe the age of passengers and regional lifestyle probably have something to do with how formal/casual a cruise will be. Here in the Pacific Northwest, from what I could tell, things are very laid back and casual! Same holds true for cruises out of California.

 

We had a great time aboard the Mercury; so much so, we booked back to back voyages for next fall. I found the Mercury's laid back elegance to be just the ticket for us.

You hit the nail on the head when you say that PEOPLE recommend you wear thus and so - based on their interpretation on "formal or informal dress suggestion or recommendation by Celebrity or any other cruiseline, NOT the Cruiseline it self.

 

If you disagree with THEIR interpretation you are wrong - and thats where I get defensive and say they are phony formalists.

 

I would never wear shorts and a t shirt to dinner in the dining room on any night - but that's me - if you want to do that go ahead. But to tell me I might be turned away from the dining room because I am not dressed according to their interpretation of the rules is wishful thinking on their part.

 

If Celebrity did that the Public relations nightmare would be very costly. Would it ever get to court - maybe yes maybe no - but thats exactly the cannon fodder the anti-cruise folks love to pick up on -

[Cam6959]

Just an FYI for people cruising the first, second or etc... time. If you go to Celebritys site and click on first time cruise with Celebrity, then go down the list you will see a caption of appropriate wear to dinner for formal, informal and casual. There are no words like should or suggested. Just the appropriate attire for these nights.

[Ma Bell]

You hit the nail on the head when you say that PEOPLE recommend you wear thus and so - based on their interpretation on "formal or informal dress suggestion or recommendation by Celebrity or any other cruiseline, NOT the Cruiseline it self.

 

If you disagree with THEIR interpretation you are wrong - and thats where I get defensive and say they are phony formalists.

 

I would never wear shorts and a t shirt to dinner in the dining room on any night - but that's me - if you want to do that go ahead. But to tell me I might be turned away from the dining room because I am not dressed according to their interpretation of the rules is wishful thinking on their part.

 

If Celebrity did that the Public relations nightmare would be very costly. Would it ever get to court - maybe yes maybe no - but thats exactly the cannon fodder the anti-cruise folks love to pick up on -

 

Herman,

 

As the lady said almost everyone was wearing dark suits or tuxes. That is what Celebrity considers formalwear. Personally, I have no idea what you mean when you say there is interpretation of what Celebrity means by formalwear. It's very clear in black and white. What in the world are you talking about? I've never heard anyone complain about anyone wearing a suit, why would they?

[PatHobby]

I truly tried in my original post in this thread to avoid it becoming another debate about "how" one should dress on respective nights on a Celebrity cruise. I just described my impression of how Celebrity passengers dressed compared to passengers on some other lines, so that others would know if they would be comfortable with the Celebrity milieu.

I live in Los Angeles, and LOVE dining at Spago, L'Orangerie, Valentino's, and Pink's Hot Dog Stand. I consider all to be great culinary experiences. But in deciding where we should spend an evening, we also consider the ambiance we are looking for on that occasion. I guess that if the couple in front of us on the line for a chili cheese burger at Pink's were in formal wear, it might not detract from the ambiance we chose. But the reverse, couples dressed in sweat pants and t-shirts filling L'Orangerie, would definitely impose on the "ambiance" we layed out the big bucks for.

We've now learnt that if we're in the mood for a truly "elegant" experience, we'll go Crystal, Silversea, or perhaps Seabourn (haven't tried it yet). If we want "respectable, but comfortable," we'll book Celebrity or HAL. If we're feeling "I worked a whole life in imposed uncomfortable clothes and if I'm paying for a vacation I'll damn well dress as I like" we'll go to Club Med, Kona Village, or a self defined "casual" cruise.

We've been to resorts, like Post Ranch in Big Sur, that have both usual and nude sunning/swimming options. Some ships have "topless" sunning areas. To wear casual clothes on a formal night on a ship which chooses to have formal nights, is, IMHO, the equivalent of showing up nude at the family pool at Post Ranch because "I paid the same 500 bucks a night as these effete, repressed snobs, and so I can do whatever I want." Nowhere have I seen it written in the "contracts" of these resorts that you can't walk around naked in non-designated naked areas - they assume you'll respect their guidelines.

I'm only surprised that there aren't any outraged posts from parents who haven't been allowed by Celebrity to plop their four year olds in the T-Pool for long, rainy afternoons - maybe next week...;)

[flagger]

I cannot imagine spending my time on a cruise noting what others are wearing. Then again others cannot imagine spending their time on a cruise with their feet up on their balcony reading a book and never hitting the bars.

[cruising with marti]

Pathoby

 

A great post, and I could not agree more with your conclusions:)

 

Phil

[morriscats]

We just got back from Infinity to Hawaii and saw lots of different styles. For formal nights, tux's and dark suits but also saw slacks and cardigans. Informal was lots of Aloha wear, muumuu's and shirts and ties. Casual was anything. Flipflops, capri's and yes I saw 1 lady in short shorts and several with jeans. No one was turned away. I love Celebrity but I did put this on the comments form - if they say something, then enforce it. They say no shorts or jeans, no saving pool chairs, no saving theater seats and no flash photography yet they allow it all. Guess it is the same on all ships.

[Host Karen]

Don't give up the tux. I wouldn't care if DH was the only man in the room wearing one. I think he looks fabulous and handsome. I would guess most wives/girlfriends/SO feel the same way about their men. :)

[Sailfish]

A few years ago, I took my first Celebrity cruise. Until then, we had cruised with Princess, Royal Caribbean, NCL, Carnival and other lesser known lines. We weren't new to cruising, but new to Celebrity, and I was curious, before our cruise, what type of clothes to pack.

 

Because our agent told us that Celebrity was "more formal" than the other cruise lines we had been on, I came to the Celebrity forum for ideas and recommendations. I followed suggestions of packing more shirts and ties for my husband, and more dressy outfits for myself, and found we could have made due with nice dockers and polo shirts most nights for my husband and nice resort wear for myself. Back then, there was a lot of talk at Cruise Critic about Celebrity's "rebranding efforts" - remember?

 

Suffice it to say, a few years went by before we decided to take another Celebrity cruise. We had an awesome time on our first Celebrity cruise, so making the decision to cruise again with Celebirty was a no brainer.

 

Well, again, I stopped by to see what people were saying about Celebrity's dress code. From the comments I was reading, Celebrtiy was more formal now than before! I wasn't interested in the comments surrounding formal night, as we always dress in formal wear. I was more interested in the rest of the week.

 

Although we have no probelms dressing up for formal night, the last thing my husband wanted to do is wear a shirt, tie and jacket to dinner every night! But he knew that if that's what he had to have, he would do it. Well, guess what! He didn't have to wear a jacket and tie to dinner most nights aboard our most recent cruise on the Mercury! There was NO DIFFERENCE between what people wore on informal nights and casual nights.

 

So, based on my limited experience with Celebrity (note I have only two cruises with X under my belt) the dress code is no different than what we observed with Princess or Royal Caribbean - upscale resort wear** most of the time, formal night attire one or two nights. I found a good number of comments surrounding the dress code at this site to simply be "wishful thinking". I saw very few men in shirts, ties and jackets.

 

 

**I define "upscale resort wear" to be country club type attire - things like nice dockers and golf shirts and attractive pants, tops, sundresses, etc.

[Ma Bell]

Maybe it's because we usually go on longer cruises, but with the exception of one of our Celebrity cruises, most of the men were wearing jackets on informal nights. We've been on 23 Celebrity cruises. Our last cruise on Summit in Sept. had many men wearing jackets on casual nights. I was surprised.

[usha]

Ma Bell, I agree; it does seem that the longer the cruise, the more dressed up the passengers get.

[Sailfish]

I have found that the longer the cruise, generally the older the crowd, the more formal the dress.

 

And many of the Celebrity "regulars" here at CC (probably not all - there are some exceptions) commenting about the dress code probably fall into the group of people who do longer cruises.

 

My first X cruise was a 7 night cruise out of San Francisco to Mexico and the second a five night cruise departing Seattle to Canada. Both had a younger, more active and casual crowd, according to staff. We had so much fun, we just booked the same cruise for next year out of Seattle!

[albertiger]

Flagger,

you just freaked me out!:eek: I never noticed before that your weimeraner winks!!!!;)

[AstridSJ]

I also think that Ma Bell is on track with her observation that the length of the cruise might have something to do with the way people dress.

 

We were on the same cruise as Sailfish sailing Mercury on 10/03/05

This was a 5 night cruise from Seattle.

On this particular cruise people dressed a LOT less formal than what we have seen on any of our other Celebrity cruises.

This cruise was also the shortest cruise we have ever taken with Celebrity.

 

We sailed Galaxy this past April on a 12 night Panama cruise out of Galveston, people were dressed a lot more formal. We sat at a large table and all men at our table wore tuxedos on formal night.

 

Astrid

[dkjretired]

You hit the nail on the head when you say that PEOPLE recommend you wear thus and so - based on their interpretation on "formal or informal dress suggestion or recommendation by Celebrity or any other cruiseline, NOT the Cruiseline it self.

 

If you disagree with THEIR interpretation you are wrong - and thats where I get defensive and say they are phony formalists.

 

I would never wear shorts and a t shirt to dinner in the dining room on any night - but that's me - if you want to do that go ahead. But to tell me I might be turned away from the dining room because I am not dressed according to their interpretation of the rules is wishful thinking on their part.

 

 

 

 

 

Not wishful thinking but fact, I have seen it done on a number of occasions and you have no recourse, the bad public relations may be not to do it. Also, I really don't care what you wear.