Formal Nights - Alaska

[2tsquared]

Can't begin to thank all of you experienced cruisers for providing such great information on Celebrity and ports of call. We're first-time cruisers on X -- Summit 6/11/04 southbound Seward to Vancouver (sooooo excited!). Wondering which 2 evenings are the "formal" nights?

Much thanks, Teri

[Shirley and Les]

I don't know. But, formal nights will not be the first night or the last night of your cruise. The first day and evening is dedicated to getting everyone on board and getting them settled in. The last evening is dedicated to getting all of the passenger luggage to the unloading hatch as soon as possible. There are a few rules for formal nights.
The first formal night is the "Captain's Welcome Aboard Ceremony." Obviously, this works best if early in the cruise. Say second night.
If it works, the cruise line likes to schedule formal evenings on days when the ship is at sea.
On Celebrity, the last formal night co-incides with the grand midnight buffet. Typically, this is two nights before you arrive at your home port. If your cruise ends on Friday morning, the last formal evening will be on Wednesday evening. This is an educated guess.
Have Fun On Your Cruise.
Les

[brigittetom]

2Ts, That has been our experience also for most cruises. On a very few cruises we have had a formal night on a port day due to the itinerary.

I'll be honest, I have actually never cared which nights were formal. I pack 3 formal dresses and save the least form fitting one for the last formal evening. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] I just go by the dailies and dress accordingly. It doesn't take me anylonger to get dressed for formal but it does take longer for great hair which, for me, is why I'd much rather have formal on a seaday.

This question has been asked so many times so obviously there are many pre-cruise passengers who want to know. Is it because an intensive port day might ruin the formal evening because of being just plain tired? Is it because there might not be enough time to get ready??

Zenith from Jacksonville
Feb. 13 05

[2tsquared]

Les and Zenith -- thanks for the replies. Zenith, in response to your questions regarding "why" -- in our case it is because we are considering making reservations at the Normandie on one of the formal nights (to celebrate my birthday). Other than that, I agree... go with the flow and let the "dailies" tell us what's happening. Again, thank you for the response.

Teri