Are Cunard cutting down on number of Gala nights

[Windsurfboy]

I notice on my forthcoming 2 week Mediterranean cruise there are only 3 Gala nights, is this the new normal,  hope not.

[Host Hattie]

It depends on itinerary but we only had 3 in 14 nights on Queen Victoria last year.

[D&N]

We'll have 14 in 14 on our next crossings. 15 in 15 if it's via Le Havre.

[2Oldpeopleinlove]

We prefer to make every night a gala night! (At least in terms of what we can control.) but I agree it’s too bad to be cutting back. As I recall, on our roundtrip TA in 2019, we had 6 in the 14 nights. This December, there will be only 2 in a westward crossing of 7 nights.

[3rdGenCunarder]

It seems the new rule is 3 gala nights in 14 days, unless you're doing a B2B of two 7s. Then it's 2 for the first cruise and 2 for the second. There should be more!

 

I still follow the old rule of three levels. Formal (gown) for gala nights, and any other sea day that isn't gala is a semiformal (cocktail dress). Port days are more casual, depending on when I get back to the ship, but even then I'm more dressed up than many others. For me, dressing up is part of the fun of cruising. 

 

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

I notice on my forthcoming 2 week Mediterranean cruise there are only 3 Gala nights, is this the new normal,  hope not.

 

That has been the new normal since the restart of operations in 2021. That corresponds to when Cunard cut back on the number of Gala Evenings from three to two per crossing on QM2.

 

Cunard does state the following on their "What to pack" page.

"At least twice on each seven-night voyage we’ll host a Gala Evening"

 

However, that does not necessarily mean they will host four Gala Evenings on a voyage of fourteen nights. They will host two Gala Evenings each week of a fourteen-night voyage if it is also sold as individual seven-night voyages. But if it is only sold as a fourteen night voyage, they typically only schedule three Gala Evenings now.

 

There was one case shortly after QM2 resumed operations where a 28-night Caribbean cruise in Jan-Feb 2022 had only four Gala Evenings scheduled during that entire cruise.

 

Quoting from my "Dress Code and Theme Schedules for 2021-22" thread:

 

"Now here's a final update on the number of gala evenings per week for each ship for 2021-22.

 

QM2: 1.87 Gala Evenings per week

QE: 1.68 Gala Evenings per week

QV: 1.75 Gala Evenings per week"

[3rdGenCunarder]

8 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

QM2: 1.87 Gala Evenings per week

QE: 1.68 Gala Evenings per week

QV: 1.75 Gala Evenings per week"

 

That's just wrong. ☹️

(not your math, the facts)

Edited April 29, 2023 by 3rdGenCunarder

[BigMac1953]

Even before Covid, it became 3 per fortnight on a cruise and 2 per week on a crossing.

[D&N]

5 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

Even before Covid, it became 3 per fortnight on a cruise and 2 per week on a crossing.

We were booked on M019 & M021A for June/July 2020. Both would have had a third non themed gala night.

[Victoria2]

10 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

It seems the new rule is 3 gala nights in 14 days, unless you're doing a B2B of two 7s. Then it's 2 for the first cruise and 2 for the second. There should be more!

 

I still follow the old rule of three levels. Formal (gown) for gala nights, and any other sea day that isn't gala is a semiformal (cocktail dress). Port days are more casual, depending on when I get back to the ship, but even then I'm more dressed up than many others. For me, dressing up is part of the fun of cruising. 

 

I love the formal nights and would be happy to have two a week/four a fortnight etc. I follow my 'two' rule for evening wear. Formal [usually a long dress but not a casual maxi or an ultra formal gown] and 'other' which would probably have been deemed 'semi formal' in the past.

Mind you,  during the day, I'm a scruffy mutt as I wear jeans, long or cut offs, white or blue denim. 😄

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

I love the formal nights and would be happy to have two a week/four a fortnight etc. I follow my 'two' rule for evening wear. Formal [usually a long dress but not a casual maxi or an ultra formal gown] and 'other' which would probably have been deemed 'semi formal' in the past.

Mind you,  during the day, I'm a scruffy mutt as I wear jeans, long or cut offs, white or blue denim. 😄

Although I have never worn a jean, I really cannot summon up much interest in dressing up, though I like seeing other people do it. However, on a practical level, particularly for men, it does seem to me that, if you are going to go to the trouble of packing dinner jackets and proper shoes, etc, you may as well get some use out of them, and have lots of formal nights.

[Windsurfboy]

Just Sad it's going thus way😟

 

I love formal .

 

I also follow the ships dress code each day what ever the cruise line. I'm not one to deliberately over dress.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Windsurfboy

[bluemarble]

6 hours ago, BigMac1953 said:

Even before Covid, it became 3 per fortnight on a cruise and 2 per week on a crossing.

 

Before the shutdown, all QM2 crossings had three gala evenings (as @D&N has mentioned). The gala evenings were on days 2, 4 and 6 with the evening of day 4 having no theme. Since the resumption of service, the evening of day 4 is no longer a gala evening.

 

When I examine the dress code schedules for 2019 and what was planned for 2020, it's a bit hit-or-miss concerning the number of gala evenings on 14-night voyages. Some of them did indeed have only three gala evenings while others had four scheduled.

[Slugsta]

We have 4 in 16 days on Queen Vic, departing in 8 days time 🙂 We both enjoy the formal evenings and are sad that they seem to be reducing even on Cunard.

[BigMac1953]

I'm curious as to where Cunard get their ideas from.

 

Nobody on this board ever states that they wish they could dress as a slob more often. Quite the reverse.

 

The general consensus seems to be that more formal nights would be better, so who exactly are they trying to attract?

[Victoria2]

5 minutes ago, Slugsta said:

We have 4 in 16 days on Queen Vic, departing in 8 days time 🙂 We both enjoy the formal evenings and are sad that they seem to be reducing even on Cunard.

I too would be happy for more formals but I'm in the 'happy to see the line continuing to attract enough passengers in order to keep the line going' side of the of Cunard regulars' fence and if that means cutting the number of formals in order to do so, along with any non jacket furore, then I'm content with that side of the fence.

[Victoria2]

1 minute ago, BigMac1953 said:

I'm curious as to where Cunard get their ideas from.

 

Nobody on this board ever states that they wish they could dress as a slob more often. Quite the reverse.

 

The general consensus seems to be that more formal nights would be better, so who exactly are they trying to attract?

The general consensus here, but we are but a small number  of Cunard passengers. There must be some underlying reason for the changes.

[BigMac1953]

1 minute ago, Victoria2 said:

The general consensus here, but we are but a small number  of Cunard passengers. 

 

That's true, but I know many others who regularly travel Cunard and DON'T post here. They all have the same opinion. This must also apply to many others who DO post, so between us lot, and our acquaintances, we could fill the ships many times over.

[exlondoner]

9 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

I too would be happy for more formals but I'm in the 'happy to see the line continuing to attract enough passengers in order to keep the line going' side of the of Cunard regulars' fence and if that means cutting the number of formals in order to do so, along with any non jacket furore, then I'm content with that side of the fence.

But Cunard’s ships usually seem pretty full, as far as one can tell.

[Cruisin'allovertheworld]

5 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

...Nobody on this board ever states that they wish they could dress as a slob more often. Quite the reverse...

To be fair I feel that there is some difference between dressing as a slob and meeting formal dress requirements...hyperbole I'm sure!

I would enjoy every night being formal attire if I'm honest but as long as there is one or two on my upcoming 10 day voyage I won't complain. 😄

[Victoria2]

31 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

But Cunard’s ships usually seem pretty full, as far as one can tell.

I agree.

 

It would seem on the face of it, Cunard tweaks don't seem to have had a negative effect. Itineraries are getting booked up too so moving forward, it would again seem the tweaks haven't had a negative effect. Could be the regulars are saying s7d it, we'll keep up traditions and it could also mean newbies are giving the line a tryout.

Either way, the ceiling has not yet collapsed  on Cunard due to the relaxing of their dress code.

 

 

[Victoria2]

52 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

 

That's true, but I know many others who regularly travel Cunard and DON'T post here. They all have the same opinion. This must also apply to many others who DO post, so between us lot, and our acquaintances, we could fill the ships many times over.

Apart from acquaintances made onboard over the years, I don't have many friends who cruise, and those who do, don't cruise with Cunard so can't give an opinion on that but to fill all four Cunard ships on all itineraries  would be a heck of an undertaking for fellow CC members, friends and acquaintances.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Victoria2

[exlondoner]

11 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

I agree.

 

It would seem on the face of it, Cunard tweaks don't seem to have had a negative effect. Itineraries are getting booked up too so moving forward, it would again seem the tweaks haven't had a negative effect. Could be the regulars are saying s7d it, we'll keep up traditions and it could also mean newbies are giving the line a tryout.

Either way, the ceiling has not yet collapsed  on Cunard due to the relaxing of their dress code.

 

 

Equally, one could take the view that the more formal dress code has not put people off. But other things might have much more to do with it, such as seasons in Australia and Alaska. Me now, I just wish QE would come home, not that it would actually make me book more cruises.

[Cruisin'allovertheworld]

9 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Equally, one could take the view that the more formal dress code has not put people off. But other things might have much more to do with it, such as seasons in Australia and Alaska. Me now, I just wish QE would come home, not that it would actually make me book more cruises.

What would seasons in Australia and Alaska have to do with reduced formalwear?

I'm very glad that I'll be on my first Cunard cruise (and only my 6th ever) next January!

[exlondoner]

9 minutes ago, Cruisin'allovertheworld said:

What would seasons in Australia and Alaska have to do with reduced formalwear?

I'm very glad that I'll be on my first Cunard cruise (and only my 6th ever) next January!

Nothing whatsoever. You seem to misunderstand my point, which was that they might increase passenger numbers more than changes to the dress code do. However, now you mention it, from what I read on here, many Australian passengers have limited affection for formal nights.

Edited May 1, 2023 by exlondoner