Help! Recent Brilliance Panama cruisers

[kcl]

I know I can always count on Cruise-Critic members to give me the straight story, so here goes:

 

Just got an email from the travel agent arranging a group cruise that my husband and I will be going with on 1/13/06. She is addressing people's questions regarding "dress code" for the 10 day cruise. She states that there are 2 formal nights, 6 smart casual, and 2 casual nights. I thought I had read on this forum in the past that there are 3 formal nights, not 2. Also, she recommends that men wear a sport jacket and tie (!) on smart casual nights. On my past 7 cruises, men wore "nice" shirts and pants, not sports jackets on those nights.

 

Please, anyone who has sailed the Brilliance Panama itinerary since she returned from Europe, what's the story?? Thanks for your help.

[jebl]

We are on the 1/2/06 sailing of the Brilliance. I emailed RCI for the dress codes for our cruise. The reply was

 

Eleven Night Cruises:

 

Two formal nights

Two smart casual nights

All other nights are casual

 

Casual: sun dresses or slacks and blouses for women; sport shirts and trousers for men.

Smart Casual: dresses or pantsuit for women; jackets for men.

Formal: cocktail dresses for women; suits and ties, or tuxedos for men.

 

Shorts, T-shirts, and bathing attire are not considered appropriate attire in the dining rooms at dinner.

 

Casual dress dining is available nightly in the Windjammer Cafe.

 

Thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International.

 

Maria Perez

Customer Service Representative

 

Hope this helps.

[madforcruising]

I know this might turn out into a fight about dress codes again. So I´m just stating what RCI says about it.

What are the dress codes onboard?

There are three distinct types of evenings onboard: casual, smart casual and formal. Suggested guidelines for these nights are:

Casual: Sport shirts and slacks for men, sundresses or pants for womenSmart Casual: Jackets and ties for men, dresses or pantsuits for womenFormal: Suits and ties or tuxedos for men, cocktail dresses for women

 

As this is the official dress code suggestion from RCCL I´m sure that´s why your TA recommends Jackets and ties!

 

But I can hardly believe that there will be 6 smart casual and only 2 casual. I would think it would be more like 6 casual and 2 smart casual, but this is only an assumption on my part.

[gailc]

kci - We were on the 10 day Panama on the Brilliance in 2003, We are going again in March 2006, but we will be doing the 11 day one. Every cruise we have been on does list smart casual. I agree with what you said with what everyone wore on those nites. You would see an occasional sport coat, but that was about it. Personally, I don't think you can tell the difference between smart casual & casual anymore which is fine with us. I can't imagine men bringing their suits/tux's & a sport jacket.

 

We have never had 3 Formal nites on a 10 day cruise. It's always been 2.

 

Gail

[debmkay]

Hi, Just got back from the Brillance, 11/22 cruise, we had thought there was only going to be 2 formal nights as well but it turned out there were 3! Boy was I surprised, luckily I had brought an extra dress in case one of my other ones did not work out and I was covered. Hope this helps a little and have a great cruise!

[gailc]

Were you on a 10 or 11 day cruise?

 

Gail

[madforcruising]

We have never had 3 Formal nites on a 10 day cruise. It's always been 2.

 

Gail

 

Different experience to me. I had mostly 3 formals on ten night cruises.

 

Probably they vary depending on the itinerary.

[debmkay]

Gail, We were on a 10 day.

[gailc]

I hope we don't have 3. I used to pack 2 different outfits for Formal nite. Now I just pack 1 & wear it to both. My luggage is full enough with just 1 outfit. I can compromise & pack 2 tops which would work.

 

Gail

[cruisingrightalong]

hey gailc-yep...I usually do 1 long black dress with different over things! works for me!

 

2-3 just redo something you had on night 1....except by night 3 it might not fit...due to the buffets!

 

Lou

[gacruiser123]

Just returned from the 10 night Panama cruise that sailed 12-2-05. To my surprise we had 3 formal nights. The rest were pretty much casual, including theme nights. One was country/western, people wore jeans etc. One was Rock & Roll and one was Caribbean. There may have been another theme night but I have forgotten already. But on the non-formal nights, people were dressed from casual to sport coat and tie. Just your preference in my opinion. I will be posting a full review of the cruise in the next day or so. Let me know if you have any other specific questions, I will be glad to answer.

[hardingk]

We were on the 1/14/05 10 night Brilliance Panama Canal sailing. We had 2 formal nights, 2 smart casusal and 6 casual.

[Aubiecruiser]

I have been on two, 11 day cruises on the Brilliance and both time we only had two formal nights, two listed as smart-casual and the rest were casual. That is also the way it will be on our April 2006 cruise on her again.

Aubie

[newkidintown]

Oh, I guess I better make room in the suitcase for a 3rd formal!! We're on the 12/23 Brilliance cruise. Can't wait!

[LynandBill]

I know I can always count on Cruise-Critic members to give me the straight story, so here goes:

 

Just got an email from the travel agent arranging a group cruise that my husband and I will be going with on 1/13/06. She is addressing people's questions regarding "dress code" for the 10 day cruise. She states that there are 2 formal nights, 6 smart casual, and 2 casual nights. I thought I had read on this forum in the past that there are 3 formal nights, not 2. Also, she recommends that men wear a sport jacket and tie (!) on smart casual nights. On my past 7 cruises, men wore "nice" shirts and pants, not sports jackets on those nights.

 

Please, anyone who has sailed the Brilliance Panama itinerary since she returned from Europe, what's the story?? Thanks for your help.

 

Hi,

We are going on the 1/13th Brilliance cruise. We just got a cruise documents yesterday and the document book says 2 formal, 3 smart casual and the rest casual. Our last cruise they added an extra formal night so we will be prepared just in case. Only 30 days away !!!! Bill and Lyn

[claudiaj]

Just returned from the 10 night Panama cruise that sailed 12-2-05. To my surprise we had 3 formal nights. The rest were pretty much casual, including theme nights. One was country/western, people wore jeans etc. One was Rock & Roll and one was Caribbean. There may have been another theme night but I have forgotten already. But on the non-formal nights, people were dressed from casual to sport coat and tie. Just your preference in my opinion. I will be posting a full review of the cruise in the next day or so. Let me know if you have any other specific questions, I will be glad to answer.

 

 

I am a little confused on cruising the Panama Canal. I see there are shore

excursions during your cruising of the Canal. Is this correct. Should you take any of the shore excursions or should you stay on the ship. Any recommended shore excursions we should do? Thanks

ClaudiaJ

[Driftwoodgal]

IMHO the best shore excursion when you are going through the canal is staying on the ship. We will be doing our second partial transit through the canals and will be staying once again on the ship. I guess if I do this for a third time I might consider taking a shore tour, but the process of watching the ship being raised and lowered is something to behold.

 

Back to the OP on our Splendour 12 night we had 3 formal nights. We also had 3 formal nights on the Brilliance when we were on her in Feb 2005. They did not list three formal nights in our documents, but the compass did have three.

[gacruiser123]

I am a little confused on cruising the Panama Canal. I see there are shore

excursions during your cruising of the Canal. Is this correct. Should you take any of the shore excursions or should you stay on the ship. Any recommended shore excursions we should do? Thanks

ClaudiaJ

 

Claudia, I will be posting my review right after this post. Let me know if you have any questions after reading it. I will be glad to answer. I was ready to get off the ship. After going through the locks on the way in, I didn't feel I would miss anything on the way out. Tours are expensive though, but with all the sea days, I wanted to spend time ashore. We might have done better chosing a different tour, but everyone's opinions will be different.

[kitanagrey]

We just got back from Brilliance 12/02 sailing and there were definetly 3 formal nights.

 

In Panama we watched going through the first set of locks then took off and did the ship excursion to Portobello. We found out that you couldn't get off until Christobal unless you went on a ship excursion. We saaw some old pirate fortresses and the black christ church and some children did a dance in the area in front of the customs building. Then we got some local beers on the way back for .50$, and tried some local cheese. I would recommend this tour to anyone.

[signman]

Wear a suit or tux on formal nights. Then just dress nicely for all other nights.

 

I did a 14 night Panama on Radiance in Oct/Nov and never wore my sportcoat.

[Driftwoodgal]

Kitanagrey,

 

By chance did you keep your Compasses? I would love to know what activities were planned on the first sea day. We have a Billiards tournament that we have planned for the first sea day on our Jan 23/06 sailing. I am trying to plan on a time to get everyone together.

 

Thanks.

[Inshape]

Just a question for this thread, since you are talking about Brilliance and the 10/11 day cruises doing partial panama canal. Would you think this is a good cruise to bring children? I am wanting to book while on board Mariner in Jan 22, 2006 for our jan 2007 trip and take advantage of the credits offered. The 2 kids are going to be 10 and 12 next year, girl and boy. After 2 Voyager cruises will this ship be enough for them. The are good kids, whom we do not allow to run around alone. Theya re quieter than most kids and not rowdy at all. We thought this ship would be fine since it had the mini golf, and the rock climbing. They love the ice skating but we can do without if needed. They do not care for FOS since it will have people watching the surfers and they would not even try it since others are watching... So I am off the hook for going onto that mega mega ship. I read all the posts and the Radiance line is suppose to be beautiful while still having enough to do for the kids. I found a great price for this cruise on Celebrity Zenith but have been told that the kids would hate it since there is NOTHING to do for such a long time. What are the opinions here about kids in Jan (when there are not many other kids on the ships), and the Radiance line on a 10 or 11 day Panal canal cruise. Thanks, and I appreciate the info given to me. Happy holidays to all !