Informal dining on Formal night of 4 night cruise?

[mermamasailsagain]

We've always followed the formalities of formal night but this time we really just want a rest and don't want to lug tons of luggage with suits and formals from Canada especially in this time of restricted carryons and security at airports, and for only one night on a short Century cruise.

 

We'll dine dressed up pressed shirt/tie, me in sequins so we won't be shabby but is there a bistro or buffet we can eat at instead of the formal dining room for that evening? We are in select dining so we won't disappoint any tablemates.

[FTLcruisers]

We live in Florida so we often go on the 4 day cruises and we do NOT bring formal wear - its our time for a long relaxing weekend which does not include formal wear. We do dress nicely and go to the main dining room and have never felt funny or felt we ruined the evening for tablemates.

 

Marianne

[dkjretired]

We've always followed the formalities of formal night but this time we really just want a rest and don't want to lug tons of luggage with suits and formals from Canada especially in this time of restricted carryons and security at airports, and for only one night on a short Century cruise.

 

We'll dine dressed up pressed shirt/tie, me in sequins so we won't be shabby but is there a bistro or buffet we can eat at instead of the formal dining room for that evening? We are in select dining so we won't disappoint any tablemates.

 

You can eat in the casual dining area in the buffet area. This is a sit down meal, served in courses by waiters. It costs $2.00 pp and reservations are requested. It is very nice.

[beynac]

We just did this on our 5-day Century. We dined in the casual restaurant that is in the buffet area and had a lovely time. That said, we were quite surprised at how casual the dining room dress was for the duration of our cruise. Our table mates thought we were crazy when we explained that we wouldn't be dining with them on formal night since we didn't bring coat/tie, etc. Clearly our more casual attire wouldn't have bothered them.

 

Regardless, we throughly enjoyed our meal in the casual restaurant, so it all worked out perfect.

[mermamasailsagain]

Thanks for your comforting reply. Either of those options would be good for us...and probably in the new select dining, there'd be a larger proportion of casual for casual dining in contrast to the traditional dining which would probably attract...the traditional formality!

 

We had to pay for tipping in advance because of choosing the new select dining..........do you think that now replaces the $2 charge which I would possibly think had helped compensate for the service there?

[JanineM]

 

We had to pay for tipping in advance because of choosing the new select dining..........do you think that now replaces the $2 charge which I would possibly think had helped compensate for the service there?

 

No - I don't think that the miniscle additional gratuity for casual dining is included in the prepaid gratuities. We love casual dining - it's a great option for any night!

 

And to the original question, when we have decided to forego a formal night we always go to casual dining rather than dress down in the MDR. I guess I'm a stick-in-the-mud, if the suggested dress is formal then I'd rather be respectful of that and choose another option for dressing down. :)

[jackdiamond]

Janine, you are not a stick in the mud, you just possess proper manners as do we.

[JanineM]

Janine, you are not a stick in the mud, you just possess proper manners as do we.

 

Thanks, Jack. <<blush>>