Will RCCL be next...

Celebrity Cruise Line doing away with Formal Evening.

http://feeds.cruisecritic.com/~r/site/cc/news/~3/FPWXaJN2UCc/news.cfm

On our 8 night cruise on Jewel in September there were 2 formal nights. We didn't attend the first because we didn't bring formal wear. Our waiter told us the following night that what we wore every night was perfectly acceptable for formal night and we were not to miss the next formal night. Needless to say, we were quite surprised when we showed up for the next formal night and we saw no one wearing formal wear. We did see a few suits on the men, and a few fancier dresses on the women. But mostly the men were wearing Dockers with button up shirts and no ties. The women were wearing slacks with blouses or nice Capri pants and blouses. So yes, IMHO, it's time to do away with formal night.

On our 8 night cruise on Jewel in September there were 2 formal nights. We didn't attend the first because we didn't bring formal wear. Our waiter told us the following night that what we wore every night was perfectly acceptable for formal night and we were not to miss the next formal night. Needless to say, we were quite surprised when we showed up for the next formal night and we saw no one wearing formal wear. We did see a few suits on the men, and a few fancier dresses on the women. But mostly the men were wearing Dockers with button up shirts and no ties. The women were wearing slacks with blouses or nice Capri pants and blouses. So yes, IMHO, it's time to do away with formal night.

Small world...we also were on the Jewel Of The Seas in September. We were on the 18th sailing. IMO, I believe formal evenings will be gone soon on RCCL.

I really like what Celebrity is doing with the formal nights. Cruising has evolved in a way that it is much less formal. And while yes, it is nice to dress up once in a while, the jacket and tie thing are going by the wayside. A nice pair of designer jeans or slacks for men and a nice shirt are the new formal, or as Celebrity is calling it, "chic."

I would be very surprised if Royal doesn't follow this as they are under the same parent company and Celebrity is considered more elegant and higher quality.

HAL made the switch a few months ago and now Celebrity has followed suit. The number of lines with formal nights is dwindling quickly. I've no doubt that they will be gone by time we board the Allure in 2017.

so many people have the "it's my cruise I will wear what I want bad attitude"

So it does not really matter. They are and never were going to wear jacket and tie.. It is so dependent on the dining room staff to "police" the dress code. we have all seen countless people in shorts on formal night.

Personally Ii just avoid the MDR as much as possible. But If I do go on a formal night, I always dress as suggested.

I don't really care until they start banning Tuxedos from the MDR.

so many people have the "it's my cruise I will wear what I want bad attitude"

So it does not really matter. They are and never were going to wear jacket and tie.. It is so dependent on the dining room staff to "police" the dress code. we have all seen countless people in shorts on formal night.

 

Personally Ii just avoid the MDR as much as possible. But If I do go on a formal night, I always dress as suggested.

And I think this is what it really comes down to. Do people really need the staff policing attire because they can't or refuse to follow suggested dining attire? It should be embarrassing. The simple solution is to eliminate a standard all together and let people dress who they want, because like you said, they are going to anyway.

I've dressed in nice slacks and a sweater on formal nights which was fine with the staff.

While it hasn't been announced, those nights seem to have already stopped.

I haven't cruised in a couple years; however, the last time I did, I saw people wearing shorts and tennis shoes in the MDR on formal night.

For those longing for the old days, there is nothing preventing you from wearing formal attire whenever you please....I think this change is a good thing and other lines will likely follow....just hope it does not give the bean counters license to pull back on service and food quality....

HAL made the switch a few months ago and now Celebrity has followed suit. The number of lines with formal nights is dwindling quickly. I've no doubt that they will be gone by time we board the Allure in 2017.

Followed "SUIT"???.........Nice pun! Maybe it's more accurate that Celebrity followed non-suit! Thanks for the laugh ( intended or not......)

I've been rockin' shorts in the MDR for several cruises. Good to know I'll get less crap for it for 2-3 more nights per voyage.

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For those longing for the old days, there is nothing preventing you from wearing formal attire whenever you please....I think this change is a good thing and other lines will likely follow....just hope it does not give the bean counters license to pull back on service and food quality....

Well said and Amen! I think it's lovely that Celebrity seems to be acknowledging what is, and at the same time trying to be inclusive of those who want to dress up (or down). That said, I can't believe that Celebrity was the one to do it. Perhaps now the formal night bashing, for and against, on these boards can die down.

Pat

I have a legitimate question and I'm not simply kicking the beehive.

This subject has long divided many people on this forum. Statements have been made by both sides of the opinion that the TRUTH IS ______.

When The Grande restaurant opened, I made a statement that this simple thing should be quickly proven.

If formal dining is truly a preference for a large number of guests, but they have been shamed into dressing down by their fellow passengers' poor style choices, THIS PLACE SHOULD BE PACKED TO THE GILLS EVERY NIGHT WITH A FULL WAITING LIST.

If formal dining is really going the way of the dodo, but some people still keep up the tradition because they don't want to be looked down on, THIS PLACE SHOULD BE RELATIVELY EMPTY AND GETTING THINNER & THINNER CROWDS.

Does anyone actually know (facts, not just feelings) how The Grande is going?

Some of my first read reviews of DD said that there were complaints of the formal code not being upheld here either and how few people were in formal attire there.

I honestly have let my reading of this board slack. Are there hard numbers or firsthand experiences?

I have a legitimate question and I'm not simply kicking the beehive.

 

 

This subject has long divided many people on this forum. Statements have been made by both sides of the opinion that the TRUTH IS ______.

 

When The Grande restaurant opened, I made a statement that this simple thing should be quickly proven.

 

If formal dining is truly a preference for a large number of guests, but they have been shamed into dressing down by their fellow passengers' poor style choices, THIS PLACE SHOULD BE PACKED TO THE GILLS EVERY NIGHT WITH A FULL WAITING LIST.

 

If formal dining is really going the way of the dodo, but some people still keep up the tradition because they don't want to be looked down on, THIS PLACE SHOULD BE RELATIVELY EMPTY AND GETTING THINNER & THINNER CROWDS.

 

Does anyone actually know (facts, not just feelings) how The Grande is going?

 

Some of my first read reviews of DD said that there were complaints of the formal code not being upheld here either and how few people were in formal attire there.

 

I honestly have let my reading of this board slack. Are there hard numbers or firsthand experiences?

My spouse and I returned last week from the Anthem TA. We ate dinner one night in Grande, and were quite dressed up. The place was very crowded, BUT lots of guests were not wearing anything that remotely would qualify as formal attire or even very dressy attire. In particular, men were allowed in wearing open-collared, non-white, casual shirts, and permitted to borrow a jacket and then hang it off their chair. If that qualifies as formal attire, then the dress code is a joke, and RCI should just ditch it at Grande.

(BTW, nothing about the food or the service there was special enough to warrant making Grande a "formal" dining venue either.)

It is interesting that Celebrity is letting it go. They are the line that carried things so far that for awhile they applied the formal dress code to all public areas of the ship not just the dining room. That was one of my reasons for no longer cruising with them. If they are dropping formal night completely then I suspect RCI will certainly go the same route.

It's fine with me, I just wish they would enforce the no flip flops, shorts, ripped jeans, sweatpants rule more often. They need to keep some sort of regulations, or we might as well just go in our robes! :p

There seems to be a developing trend of designating a night for people to dress up if they want to (take photos, etc.), but not making it mandatory. I saw this personally for the first time on NCL last year and enjoyed it. It's a reasonable compromise.

I have a legitimate question and I'm not simply kicking the beehive.

 

 

This subject has long divided many people on this forum. Statements have been made by both sides of the opinion that the TRUTH IS ______.

 

When The Grande restaurant opened, I made a statement that this simple thing should be quickly proven.

 

If formal dining is truly a preference for a large number of guests, but they have been shamed into dressing down by their fellow passengers' poor style choices, THIS PLACE SHOULD BE PACKED TO THE GILLS EVERY NIGHT WITH A FULL WAITING LIST.

 

If formal dining is really going the way of the dodo, but some people still keep up the tradition because they don't want to be looked down on, THIS PLACE SHOULD BE RELATIVELY EMPTY AND GETTING THINNER & THINNER CROWDS.

 

Does anyone actually know (facts, not just feelings) how The Grande is going?

 

Some of my first read reviews of DD said that there were complaints of the formal code not being upheld here either and how few people were in formal attire there.

 

I honestly have let my reading of this board slack. Are there hard numbers or firsthand experiences?

I wouldn't expect it to be packed every night. When we sailed on Quantum's first two sailings The Grande was full on sea days and emptier on port days. American Icon was the exact opposite because it was casual. So in that logic the opposite could be concluded that everyone wants formal which is not true.

My spouse and I returned last week from the Anthem TA. We ate dinner one night in Grande, and were quite dressed up. The place was very crowded, BUT lots of guests were not wearing anything that remotely would qualify as formal attire or even very dressy attire. In particular, men were allowed in wearing open-collared, non-white, casual shirts, and permitted to borrow a jacket and then hang it off their chair. If that qualifies as formal attire, then the dress code is a joke, and RCI should just ditch it at Grande.

 

(BTW, nothing about the food or the service there was special enough to warrant making Grande a "formal" dining venue either.)

Sadly even when Quantum launched they were already using the cover yourself with a jacket game and it's OK policy. The experience was a more upscale and formal dinner though. They waiters all seemed to have a slightly higher level of class and formality to the way they did things. Everyone also got a glass of champagne when seated and a tray of little deserts was placed on the table when the desert menus were brought out. IMO the food was the main element that lacked the class with the whole experience, it was no more formal than Chic.

Everyone likes to blame the passengers for the lack of formal night, but it seems like Royal Caribbean is the real one to blame here. They've just gotten lazy in the past few years and stopped caring about the individual itineraries. I remember when we first started sailing it was normal for formal night to fall on the first and last sea days. It was rare to be on a port night. Now they just follow a predetermined listing from corporate with no concern for if the guests can reasonably follow it. They still list formal, smart casual, and casual on their website but it's been years since I've seen smart causal officially listed in the compass. Instead every night is always casual except for night 2 and one to two other nights.

The Quantum class is all about data and it has given Royal Caribbean an immense amount of data around people's eating habits. The most important one is when people want to get dressed up. On so many of our recent cruises we've wondered when a formal night would fall after several casual sea days only for it to land on a port day! When the itinerary is half sea days their is no excuse for that. On the Jewel sailing that others have mentioned above, we had formal night on day 2 with a 7pm departure and a captain's reception at 7:15pm. That IMO was a completely unreasonable schedule that anyone looking at it should have realized. The one sea day we had was of course casual though. On day 2 I wanted to see our departure and attend the captain's reception so I skipped dinner. I still made it to the Windjammer for dinner in my suit and just like when I skipped dinner on night 2 onboard the Grandeur, most people in the windjammer were dressed formally.

If Royal Caribbean would look at their data and actually take the time to plan (really no time since a computer could do it all for them) the itineraries individually I think they would get more people choosing to follow the dress code. On the Quantum we treated American Icon as casual (polo), Silk as smart casual (buttoned shirt), Chic as formal (suit), and The Grande as extra formal (tuxedo). I planned all of our nights out based on what we were doing that day and our departure times. I'm sure after a year they have to be able to at a minimum see a relationship between sea/port days and the casual/formal venues.

I've been rockin' shorts in the MDR for several cruises. Good to know I'll get less crap for it for 2-3 more nights per voyage.

 

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Per Celebrity's article... There is such a thing as too casual though. While designer-looking jeans will be acceptable, ripped jeans will not; nor will shorts and t-shirts be permitted in the dining room on evening chic nights.

It's kind of sad that the formal nights aren't formal anymore. On formal nights you used to see everyone getting pictures and drinking champagne at the captains cocktail party. Now when you are out on formal nights there are more people dressed casually around the ship. Even if people dress for dinner they change into casual cloths right after dinner. You feel kind of overdressed because everyone is casually dressed.

I am from the old school and still enjoy formal nights.

We stopped doing the formal attire a few cruises ago... Slacks & box tail shirt, no jacket for hubby, nice dress for me.... No one has ever said anything. So, we're "ahead of the curve" LOL! Trend setters! Ha Ha! Naw... Just too much to pack & fret over.... I am on VACATION, formal wear is not part of that for us. To each their own... I think it's a GREAT idea! You can still wear your formal attire if you want.

 

 

Sadly even when Quantum launched they were already using the cover yourself with a jacket game and it's OK policy. The experience was a more upscale and formal dinner though. They waiters all seemed to have a slightly higher level of class and formality to the way they did things. Everyone also got a glass of champagne when seated and a tray of little deserts was placed on the table when the desert menus were brought out. IMO the food was the main element that lacked the class with the whole experience, it was no more formal than Chic.

 

We had a totally different experience in Grande on the recent Anthem TA. The servers were harried and confused (which was the general situation in other "complimentary" venues as well). When one of them finally came over to our table, he immediately asked us what we wanted to eat; not even a "can I get you something to drink?" We had to stop him so we could place a drink order.

No glass of champagne, no little tray of desserts. While my main course (duck a l'orange) was quite good, the lobster bisque was totally inedible.

Truly nothing elegant, formal, or upscale about the experience.

glad to see these legacy cruise events being taken away, hopefully they will come to there senses and get rid of main or late dining.