Only 1 Gala Night on 8 Night Cruise - Can this be Right?

[ClefsDor]

We are on an 8 night cruise in early November on QE. We are packing all our finery and my husband has checked to make sure his tuxedo is in tip top shape. However, it appears there is only one gala night on our sailing. I was under the impression there would be at least two. Does the fact that we're sailing in Australia have anything to do with it? We will still dress up but it would be so nice if one is going to make the effort to pack it all that there was more than 1 night scheduled. I'll still dress up in the evenings but my husband will only wear his tux on the gala night.

[bluemarble]

Your cruise (Q231B: Nov 7-15, Fremantle to Sydney) is an anomaly regarding the number of gala evenings. As you know, there is only one gala evening scheduled for the evening of Nov 12. Cunard do state "At least twice on each seven-night voyage we’ll host a Gala Evening..." so I too would have expected two gala evenings on your 8-night cruise. I have no explanation other than Cunard have dropped the "ball" (literally) on this one.

 

They have stretched the concept quite a bit on other voyages (such as a 28-night Caribbean cruise with only four gala evenings earlier this year). However, this is the only case I'm aware of where a Cunard cruise of seven or more nights has only had one gala evening scheduled. There are no other instances like that on the remainder of QE's 2022 schedule for Australia/New Zealand.

Edited October 24, 2022 by bluemarble

[lissie]

Sounds right - we are on the Bcn-Sin leg of that trip and its 4 galas in the 20 night trip. No themes thank goodness except for b&w which makes it heaps easier 

[carlmm]

11 hours ago, bluemarble said:

Your cruise (Q231B: Nov 7-15, Fremantle to Sydney) is an anomaly regarding the number of gala evenings. As you know, there is only one gala evening scheduled for the evening of Nov 12. Cunard do state "At least twice on each seven-night voyage we’ll host a Gala Evening..." so I too would have expected two gala evenings on your 8-night cruise. I have no explanation other than Cunard have dropped the "ball" (literally) on this one.

 

They have stretched the concept quite a bit on other voyages (such as a 28-night Caribbean cruise with only four gala evenings earlier this year). However, this is the only case I'm aware of where a Cunard cruise of seven or more nights has only had one gala evening scheduled. There are no other instances like that on the remainder of QE's 2022 schedule for Australia/New Zealand.

@bluemarble, would you know the dress codes for the further, 2023, QE's Australia and beyond cruises?

I am considering a 18 nights one but not when there are too few formal nights.

[carlmm]

3 hours ago, lissie said:

Sounds right - we are on the Bcn-Sin leg of that trip and its 4 galas in the 20 night trip. No themes thank goodness except for b&w which makes it heaps easier 

How sad.

[LittleFish1976]

There are two gala nights on the 8 night voyage Q309A, Melbourne to Auckland.

 

I wouldn't be surprised @ClefsDor if you find once you're aboard that there are two. Having said that, it could also be that because your voyage was also sold as shorter segments, that has altered the schedule for formal nights.

 

Do I recall correctly that you're in QG? If so, Mr ClefsDor should feel comfortable in his dinner jacket on other nights as well.

 

[bluemarble]

5 hours ago, carlmm said:

@bluemarble, would you know the dress codes for the further, 2023, QE's Australia and beyond cruises?

I am considering a 18 nights one but not when there are too few formal nights.

 

Sorry, no, I don't have any information yet about QE's 2023 dress code schedule. I am dependent on those actually booked on cruises telling me what they are seeing for the schedules in their daily calendars for their bookings within My Cunard. So far I haven't heard any news about QE's 2023 dress code schedules being posted within My Cunard yet. If anyone is seeing those schedules please let me know.

[Pippa04]

My guess would be that you have been short changed as you are only taking a small section of a longer cruise.  We are on the complete cruise Q231C which goes from Perth to Perth over 25 nights but is spilt into several smaller sections.  If all of them had at least 2 gala evenings I think we'd be in our finery every other evening which might be slight overkill!

[bluemarble]

25 minutes ago, Pippa04 said:

My guess would be that you have been short changed as you are only taking a small section of a longer cruise.  We are on the complete cruise Q231C which goes from Perth to Perth over 25 nights but is spilt into several smaller sections.  If all of them had at least 2 gala evenings I think we'd be in our finery every other evening which might be slight overkill!

 

I'm only seeing two smaller segments for your 25-night cruise Q231C.

Q231B: Fremantle-Sydney, 8 nights, 1 gala evening

Q232: Sydney-Fremantle, 17 nights, 3 gala evenings

 

I would suggest Q231C as a whole might be considered short changed having only four gala evenings over 25 nights. Based on the average number of gala evenings over QE's entire schedule, a 25-night cruise ought to have at least five gala evenings. The 21-night cruise Q235A, Melbourne-Melbourne has six gala evenings scheduled. Some of that may have to do with Q235A being over Christmas and New Year though.

[TouchstoneFeste]

17 hours ago, bluemarble said:

 

Sorry, no, I don't have any information yet about QE's 2023 dress code schedule. I am dependent on those actually booked on cruises telling me what they are seeing for the schedules in their daily calendars for their bookings within My Cunard. So far I haven't heard any news about QE's 2023 dress code schedules being posted within My Cunard yet. If anyone is seeing those schedules please let me know.

FYI: Just checked my May 2023 crossing and the calendar stills says "dress code will be announced closer to departure" for each day.

[QM2_SYD]

I am on the QE 13 day New Zealand cruise ex Sydney on 7 January 2023 (Q303) and we have 3 'Gala nights scheduled.

[ClefsDor]

8 hours ago, QM2_SYD said:

I am on the QE 13 day New Zealand cruise ex Sydney on 7 January 2023 (Q303) and we have 3 'Gala nights scheduled.

So basically one every four days and it's not over Christmas and NY as opposed to just one on our 8 night cruise - very strange!

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, ClefsDor said:

So basically one every four days and it's not over Christmas and NY as opposed to just one on our 8 night cruise - very strange!

In 2019, we had a 9 night cruise, admittedly made up of bits of other voyages, where we had four formal nights, one added once we were on board.

[bluemarble]

14 hours ago, QM2_SYD said:

I am on the QE 13 day New Zealand cruise ex Sydney on 7 January 2023 (Q303) and we have 3 'Gala nights scheduled.

 

Thanks for that. Could you let me know which three dates are scheduled as gala nights and what the themes will be (if any) on those nights? I'll be glad to start a 2023 dress code and theme schedule for QE with this information as the starting point.

[ClefsDor]

As much as I would very much like to have more than one formal night during our 8 day cruise I hope they don't add another one on once we are on board. It's ok for the gents but for the ladies, we need to have a little more advance warning especially if it's a theme. The one gala night we do have is roaring twenties so as long as the one they add is black and white then it could be a little problematic. I have in any case only packed the one gala evening outfit but lots of other cocktails dresses which will have to do if there are more additions.

[QM2_SYD]

Hi Bluemarble. The 'Gala dates for QE303 are;

Day 2 - 08 Jan - Black & White Ball

Day 8 - 14 Jan - Masquerade Ball

Day 12 - 18 Jan - Roaring Twenties

[QM2_SYD]

Hi ClefsDor,

The other thing to take into account is that traditionally it is casual dress on departure nights and the nights prior to arrival (although Cunard do alter the latter one every now and then, especially on short 2 night 'sampler' cruises) . Your voyage has a number of ports so by the traditional rule it only allows a formal night between Fremantle and Adelaide. Although there are two possible nights here, you would not have consecutive formal nights. This may explain your situation.

[ClefsDor]

21 hours ago, QM2_SYD said:

Hi ClefsDor,

The other thing to take into account is that traditionally it is casual dress on departure nights and the nights prior to arrival (although Cunard do alter the latter one every now and then, especially on short 2 night 'sampler' cruises) . Your voyage has a number of ports so by the traditional rule it only allows a formal night between Fremantle and Adelaide. Although there are two possible nights here, you would not have consecutive formal nights. This may explain your situation.

That seems to make sense, thanks QM2_SYD.

[bluemarble]

I think I've lost the plot here. I'm afraid the schedule does not make much sense to me. @ClefsDor, here is what I have as the dress code/theme schedule for your cruise. Please correct me if I have this wrong.

 

07 Nov  Fremantle    Smart Attire    
08 Nov  At Sea          Smart Attire    
09 Nov  At Sea          Smart Attire    
10 Nov  At Sea          Smart Attire    
11 Nov  Adelaide      Smart Attire    
12 Nov  At Sea          Gala Evening (Roaring Twenties)
13 Nov  Melbourne  Smart Attire    
14 Nov  At Sea          Smart Attire    
15 Nov  Sydney

 

The one scheduled gala evening is on the sea day between Adelaide and Melbourne. There is ample opportunity for Cunard to have scheduled another gala evening between Fremantle and Adelaide but they have apparently chosen not done so. There doesn't appear to be an issue with having to schedule two gala evenings on consecutive nights to fit the port schedule. Or have they moved the gala evening to one of the earlier nights between Fremantle and Adelaide?

[ClefsDor]

I think I'm the one losing the plot! And yes, that is the gala evening that we have and yes, they could have added an extra one in on the 2nd, 3rd or 4th nights.

[BklynBoy8]

7 hours ago, ClefsDor said:

I think I'm the one losing the plot! And yes, that is the gala evening that we have and yes, they could have added an extra one in on the 2nd, 3rd or 4th nights.

 

If you are talking about Roaring 20's, our sailings had a lot of fun with it. The ship had a lot of people in various forms of dress that really added to the fun. The guys really fitted into the period. But the women really did the right dress. People were coming into the Princess Grill already dressed and ready to go directly to the Queens Room.