How formal are the formal and semiformal nights?

[TorontoTL]

I've never cruised with Celebrity and was noticing the three levels of dinner attire. How formally must a man dress for formal night and semiformal night? Is a suit absolutely required to dine in the dining room on these nights? Please don't get mad, I'm just checking to see what I would need to bring to be dressed appropriately on a Celebrity cruise as I have not cruised with Celebrity before. Would I have to have a tuxedo or would a suit be sufficient on formal night?

[Hilary]

Formal nights are typically a tux or dark suit for the gentlemen and a cocktail dress or gown for the ladies. Informal nights (Celebrity doesn't have "semiformal) is a jacket and tie for the gentlemen and a dress or pantsuit for the ladies. Casual is slacks and a sport shirt for gentlemen and skirt/top, pants/top for ladies.

 

My husband likes to rent a tux from cruiseline formal for our cruises. It saves a boatload of packing (don't have to take a suit, only a blazer) and is nice to be able to just leave it in the cabin when we disembark. He also doesn't have to worry about fitting into an owned suit or tux (or having it altered) everytime we cruise, since we only cruise every 2 years or so. VERY convenient and worth the money to us. Oh yeah, and he says that the tux is FAR more comfortable than a suit.

[CelebrityMan]

TorontoTL,

 

Celebrity makes a concerted effort at giving all their ships a very "upscale" look and feel. The decor is sophisticated without being pretentious, and as a general rule passengers' shipboard attire will be in that same vein.

 

It will add to the ambience of the dining room if you adhere to the requested style of dress for the evening. Semi-formal evenings would be as though you were dressing for one of the finer restaurants in your city (i.e., dress slacks, dress shirt, sportcoat and tie, or business suit; something correspondingly 'dressy' for the ladies). Formal evenings attire would be elegant, preferably what you'd wear to a 'black tie' event.

 

Celebrity's rules are not unbendable. My experience sailing with this wonderful line, though, is that the majority of passengers abide by the dress codes.

 

 

 

 

CM

[hdawson]

In choosing Celebrity, you have chosen probably the dressiest of the mainstream lines. For men on formal night, upwards of 50% will be dressed in a tux. The balace will be in suits and ties. Informal nights a sport coat or blazer will suffice. Tie is now optional. It is strongly requested that guests remain dressed the same for the entire evening. Jeans (or shorts) are never acceptable in the evening in the dining room. Shorts are ok for breakfast or lunch in the dining room.

[Sky Sweet]

Formal nights are typically a tux or dark suit for the gentlemen and a cocktail dress or gown for the ladies. Informal nights (Celebrity doesn't have "semiformal) is a jacket and tie for the gentlemen and a dress or pantsuit for the ladies. Casual is slacks and a sport shirt for gentlemen and skirt/top, pants/top for ladies.

 

My husband likes to rent a tux from cruiseline formal for our cruises. It saves a boatload of packing (don't have to take a suit, only a blazer) and is nice to be able to just leave it in the cabin when we disembark. He also doesn't have to worry about fitting into an owned suit or tux (or having it altered) everytime we cruise, since we only cruise every 2 years or so. VERY convenient and worth the money to us. Oh yeah, and he says that the tux is FAR more comfortable than a suit.

If you rent a tux do they give it to you for the duration of the cruise, or do you have to rent one for each formal night?

[hdawson]

Tux rental is for the duration of the cruise and for a seven day comes with two formal shirts.

[AnthonyF]

Just returned from century. Two formal nights, wore a dark suit. Everyone dresses up nicely, but it depends on your comfort level. Other five nights, slacks and polo shirts. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

People get way too uptight. Hell, last night they let someone in wearing shorts!;) :eek: Packed way too much thinking I had to dress up different every night.

[cruiserdenny]

What is the approximate cost of tux rental for a 7 night cruise? When you call the 800 number, do they have you go to a local tux shop for fitting?

[TWOFERTWO]

What is the approximate cost of tux rental for a 7 night cruise? When you call the 800 number, do they have you go to a local tux shop for fitting?

Here is the site that I have used three times sailing with Celebrity. It will answer all of your question. I have been happy with the cost and service. :)

http://www.cruiselineformal.com/

[drfun48]

What is the approximate cost of tux rental for a 7 night cruise? When you call the 800 number, do they have you go to a local tux shop for fitting?

$85.00 go to http://www.cruiselineformal.com ClicK on Celebrity and fill in the data-or call 1 800 551 5091 mon-Fri business hrs

Any alterations can be done in board ----but try it on as soon as you get it to be sure.I've done it a dozen times....easy.

[RodPat]

Was on the Century last week with Anthony. I would say that at least 50 to 60% of the men wore Tuxes. The other nights when a jacket and tie were to be worn ,some men wore just shirts and nice pants ,most wore the right thing but there was someone sitting at the next table wearing a Tommy Bahama shirt and a pair of shorts. I felt that if he could afford the shirt he could have bought a sport coat for a little bit more. After that I know that they will let you in the dining room wearing anything you want. We always follow the rules and it really annoys me when some people feel rules don't apply to them.

[AnthonyF]

Closer to 40% I'd say formal nights. In any case I thought every other night only the older people wore suits. Don't think anyone under 50 wore a jacket.

 

There was a couple who arrived late after Nassau in shorts and there was a conversation, but they let them sit down. I thought it was no big deal but was borderline....

 

But TorontoTL don't let anyone pressure you how to dress....

[garykool81]

I'm actually only 23 and my partner is 22....but we typically wear the jackets on informal nights as well. But, that is also half because of how cold the darn ships can be sometimes :-)

[hotspur]

As hdawson pointed out, the "request" for informal nights states jacket and slacks for men. No mention of ties. Progress.

[garykool81]

This policy might actually vary from ship to ship and from crew to crew, as most items. The "official" policy, as still listed at Celebrity.com, states: "On informal nights, men are requested to wear a jacket, shirt and tie, while women may want to wear a suit or dress."

 

Personally, I wouldn't think anything of it if someone were to wear a jacket minus a tie on, or vice versa, on an informal night. I think the definition of "informal" is somewhat vague, and honestly, I question why they even have it :-)

 

I'd almost prefer reverting to just casual and formal.

[Lyn2005]

So do you think a dress shirt and tie with no jacket would be acceptable on informal nights?

[garykool81]

Lyn -- Oh, definitely. I'd say that is what most people I've seen wear. Like I said, about half the reason I wear a jacket on informal nights deals solely with the fact that Celebrity LOVES air conditioning :-)

[geoherb]

Packed way too much thinking I had to dress up different every night.

I save a lot of room by not overpacking pants. I can get by having a couple of pairs. For this cruise, I plan on taking one pair of khakis and one pair of black linen slacks. Both go with my sports coat for informal nights and both can be worn with casual shirts for the casual nights. And with the shirts, I usually plan on bringing ones that can be worn again during the day later during the cruise.

 

So, for our 9-night cruise (plus two nights) I plan to pack:

tuxedo and accessories

1 sports coat (no ties)

1 pair of linen pants (will wear the khakis on the flight down)

3 pairs of shorts

2 swimsuits

7 pairs of socks (on sea days, I wear sandals most of the day)

11 pairs of underwear

4 polo type shirts

2 T-shirts

3 undershirts

2 long-sleeved shirts for informal nights

1 formal shirt

2 tropical shirts

1 pair of shoes for formal nights

1 pair of casual shoes

1 pair of sandals

will wear tennis shoes on the flight

 

There's laundry service onboard in case I need to get the pants, formal shirt or other items cleaned.

[wallie5446]

</IMG>formal attire (n

 

full dress, dress uniform, jacket and tie, evening dress, black tie, formal wear

 

semi- (adj)half, partial, quasi-, demi-, hemi-

 

informal (adj)relaxed, casual, familiar, easy, unceremonious, comfortable, easygoing, natural

[AnthonyF]

I saw very few on informal nights in jacket.... Certainly no one under 70 :rolleyes: .

 

Enough pretenses..... It is 85 during the day and I wore a polo shirt every night. Packed better, but saw no need to wear others. Frankly I wore suits to school from age 7, so I know about dress.

[lindajeff]

Last week on The Millie, probably about 50% tuxes on formal nights. Only a few that still haven't figured out that the rest of us like to dress up and to be around others that do also. If you want to wear shorts to dinner, sail something other than Celebrity (or eat pizza by the pool). Only one semi-formal night (that they insist on calling informal) instead of the two as per the brochure. Mostly jackets, but probably less than 50% ties.

[Sekhmet]

Two weeks ago on Zenith, the "informal" rules were jacket (but not necessarily a tie), and 75% of the guests complied. For the three formal nights, I did a quick count of the dining table photographs, and noted 50% tux or dinner jacket, 48% dark suit, and the other 2% nowhere near formal.

[hdawson]

Sekhmet. Pretty much my experience on four Celebrity cruises. Soon to be five. One exception; 50% tux, 49.5% suits or blazers/sportcoats and .5% other. Contrary to previous post, I've never seen shorts in a Celebrity dining room in the evening. I could understand one or two incidents out of code if luggage had been lost in transit and I would not mind in that circumstance.

[elaineo]

formal 30-40% tux, others suits, no necessarily dark. on informal, 75% coat, but a sportscoat is fine. my husband took tux (where else can he wear it?). I wool sportscoat, 2 pairs of khakis, 1 pair of darker pants, 2 diff shirts, 2 diff ties. He wore the khakis on other nights, as well, with polos. If he had not had the tux, we would have added 1 suit with an extra white shirt and tie. Ladies are much more of a variety---from long gowns to pants (black silk pants, sequined top and/or black dinner jacket for ladies is perfectly acceptable even for most formal night). you will not feel out of place in either a suit or tux

[stephendedalus]

one possible suggestion: do what i did (i'm sailing on the millennium in less than a week): instead of renting a tux for $100 (i'm from canada so i'm just converting the $85US to CAD), donate that $100 to a local charity. :)

 

i have a dark suit which is what i'll wear and truthfully, dressing up is not really my cup of tea. i dress business professional every day for work and would rather relax and enjoy my first cruise than prep myself prim and proper.

 

that's not to say that i discourage anyone from wearing a tux - i think it's a great idea and personally if i owned one, i would definitely bring it along. there are some people who scrimp and save just to go on a trip every once in awhile and simply cannot afford to dress-up. i would definitely hope that no one chastises these people and would give people who dress down in the dining room the benefit of the doubt.

 

rationally, one may point out that i could forgo going on my cruise altogether and just donate the entire funds to charity but that, of course, is a fatalistic argument. for the 12/12 millennium cruisers, see you soon!

 

david & thanh & baby isabelle :)