Luminae Formal Nights

[black forest]

As to luggage restrictions I really would appreciate not having to take formal dresses. It is vacation which means for me being dressed smart casual or a bit more is what I like. :-)

 

But as it is expected I have bought new cocktail dresses (no long dresses/gowns) can't see the old ones anymore. I will wear these some hundred meter to the restaurant and after dinner I do know my husband will go straight go back to the stateroom to change into jeans or chinos... that's what he usually does. He is retired and had to wear suits during is business life.

 

I wear gowns for ball room dancing but just for a dinner I think less formal is much more comfortable. My husband wears tailor made suits, so it is not, that they don't fit - but a chino or suit pant and a dress shirt is more comfortabel and it is vacation!

[jagoffee]

I am never sure why formal wear is not considered comfortable. There must be a lot of bad shoppers out their. I try never to purchase uncomfortable clothes, formal or otherwise.

 

Since you sort of asked.

 

IMO for men it is because of the buttoned collar and tie. I just find it more comfortable with my top shirt button open. I do not mind the jacket at all.

[Ma Bell]

Formal Night

http://s1287.photobucket.com/user/mabell85255/media/P1050799_zpsdxkxhjfh.jpg.html?sort=4&o=6

Edited July 28, 2015 by Ma Bell

[Ma Bell]

Regular night.

http://s1287.photobucket.com/user/mabell85255/media/P1050820_zpsjgct90qa.jpg.html?sort=4&o=2

[Redtravel]

Since you don't dress formal in Blu, Luminae, Specialty, Buffet, wouldn't it make more sense to make formal night optional in the MDR.. Dress up if you like. Dress smart casual is also okay. Years ago, formal attire was the norm. Wear it on formal night or skip dinner. As time has past, the world has become more casual. Casual attire is the norm most of the time. What I have seen lately on formal night runs from really formal tuxedos and long gowns to super casual with jeans and flipflops. Most people want to fit in. Many people do not own formal attire and may not want to book a cruise because they think that they will have to spend money to buy or rent formal attire. If the cruise line relaxed and made formal night optional, they may get more bookings.

[Ma Bell]

Since you don't dress formal in Blu, Luminae, Specialty, Buffet, wouldn't it make more sense to make formal night optional in the MDR.. Dress up if you like. Dress smart casual is also okay. Years ago, formal attire was the norm. Wear it on formal night or skip dinner. As time has past, the world has become more casual. Casual attire is the norm most of the time. What I have seen lately on formal night runs from really formal tuxedos and long gowns to super casual with jeans and flipflops. Most people want to fit in. Many people do not own formal attire and may not want to book a cruise because they think that they will have to spend money to buy or rent formal attire. If the cruise line relaxed and made formal night optional, they may get more bookings.

 

Do you really believe this? There are plenty of options for people who don't care to dress up on Formal Night.

[RocketMan275]

Most of the people in Luminae on our last cruise were dressed up on Formal Night, in fact most of them were well dressed on most nights. I don't know what you base your "guess" on but maybe you can make an educated guess when you have experienced a Celebrity cruise in Luminae.

 

If Celebrity felt the majority of their suite passengers wanted Luminae to celebrate formal nights, then there would be formal nights in Luminae.

[Ma Bell]

If Celebrity felt the majority of their suite passengers wanted Luminae to celebrate formal nights, then there would be formal nights in Luminae.

 

They are obviously giving them the option. I am only reporting what I saw and have shown photos as well. I've been on many Celebrity cruises and find that most people still dress up for dinner, even when it's not Formal Night. The designation is smart casual and most people actually know what that means and are not always looking for the low end of the scale.

[RocketMan275]

I am never sure why formal wear is not considered comfortable. There must be a lot of bad shoppers out their. I try never to purchase uncomfortable clothes, formal or otherwise.

 

Simple. If you don't like wearing something, you will feel uncomfortable regardless of whether it is properly tailored or not. Some do not like wearing formal clothes, therefore formal clothes are uncomfortable. Others like wearing formal clothes so they will be comfortable wearing formal clothes.

[RocketMan275]

Do you really believe this? There are plenty of options for people who don't care to dress up on Formal Night.

 

And, Luminae is certainly one of those options.

[RocketMan275]

They are obviously giving them the option. I am only reporting what I saw and have shown photos as well. I've been on many Celebrity cruises and find that most people still dress up for dinner, even when it's not Formal Night. The designation is smart casual and most people actually know what that means and are not always looking for the low end of the scale.

 

I appreciate your sharing those photographs but I don't know what would make you think that anyone on this thread is advocating moving to "the low end of the scale".

[Tudorcruisers]

I read posts where formal is not as popular and posts where it is very popular!!

 

I tend to cruise more in sept and have always found more passengers tend to dress up in formal clothes than not. This suits us as it is a real treat to get all dressed up as we don't go to formals at home so we love to do this on a cruise and I hope it doesn't die out. Also most of our cruises are med cruises though our next one is Bermuda which might be more casual and perhaps we will be in the minority but it is great that whatever we all wear it doesn't matter as long as we have a good cruise.

 

Even if we are the only couple in Luminae in formal clothes it won't bother me at all which is what I love about cruising.

[Pet]

Everyone is perfectly entitled to their views on what constitutes formal gear and dress according to their tastes. Me, I dressed in a dark two or three piece suite throughout a 45 year career and was only too glad to strip it off when I got home and get into slob clothes (please don't take that expression personally I don't want any "incoming" as blogger No 4 above said!).

 

However, now retired a cruise is the only opportunity I have to get done up and every year that I find I can still get into my tux without splitting something tells me I must be doing something right as the years roll by. So for me, a tux isn't just a style of dress - its a way of checking my health!! :D

[Gordoncruickshank]

I will have my kilt on in around 64 days on the Eclipse in Luminae in September.

[rockdoctor]

I am never sure why formal wear is not considered comfortable. There must be a lot of bad shoppers out their. I try never to purchase uncomfortable clothes, formal or otherwise.

 

My sentiments exactly. I wear my tux so frequently, I barely notice that I don't have jeans on.

[gdpups]

I read posts where formal is not as popular and posts where it is very popular!!

 

I tend to cruise more in sept and have always found more passengers tend to dress up in formal clothes than not. This suits us as it is a real treat to get all dressed up as we don't go to formals at home so we love to do this on a cruise and I hope it doesn't die out. Also most of our cruises are med cruises though our next one is Bermuda which might be more casual and perhaps we will be in the minority but it is great that whatever we all wear it doesn't matter as long as we have a good cruise.

 

Even if we are the only couple in Luminae in formal clothes it won't bother me at all which is what I love about cruising.

 

 

We were on the Summit to Bermuda in May and ate in Blu every night. After reading the boards and the discussion about formal wear or not in Blu I made it a point to observe what others were wearing in Blu on the two formal nights during that cruise. Both nights the venue was full and about 95% of the men wore suits or at least a dress coat. I just want to make sure we fit in on our next cruise in Luminae, so on formal nights DH will at least wear a dress shirt and coat.

[groryjm]

We were on the 10th July Reflection Eastern Med and on both formal nights the vast majority of men in Luminae were in a jacket and tie with a fair few in black tie (Tux in American). :cool:

[Sandtrap328]

Needless to say, I wore jeans the second formal night.

 

IMHO--jeans are never appropriate in any dining venue--except the buffet--during evening hours. Is it really so hard to wear chinos and golf shirts rather than jeans and T-shirts? Try to show some class. You paid a lot fot the cruise, so why do you need to look like a bum?

[gek]

IMHO--jeans are never appropriate in any dining venue--except the buffet--during evening hours. Is it really so hard to wear chinos and golf shirts rather than jeans and T-shirts? Try to show some class. You paid a lot fot the cruise, so why do you need to look like a bum?

 

That's your opinion which IMHO is complete and utter nonsense. Of course our opinions are irrelevant and in the end only Celebrity's opinion matters. Jeans are fine.

[Ma Bell]

I'm sure that most men really do understand that it's not the individual pieces of a wardrobe that make up a smart casual outfit but how they are combined.

 

Yes, Celebrity says good jeans with no rips or tears are acceptable. To make them smart casual they should be cut well, worn with a dressier shirt and perhaps a jacket or sweater. Nice shoes, belts and accessories are also part of a smart casual outfit. Dressier pants can get away with just a nice shirt or sweater.

 

Smart casual also encompasses sport coats and slacks even worn with a tie. Some men wear this outfit on Formal Night and even though this is not included in the Celebrity's definition of formal wear, men are not excluded from the MDR.

 

The trick to smart casual is to emphasize the "smart"' not the casual.

 

We all know this isn't going to happen in many cases but it's worth a try.;)

[Project_gal]

They are obviously giving them the option. I am only reporting what I saw and have shown photos as well. I've been on many Celebrity cruises and find that most people still dress up for dinner, even when it's not Formal Night. The designation is smart casual and most people actually know what that means and are not always looking for the low end of the scale.

 

Yes, I agree that the aversion to formal-wear exists more on Cruise Critic than on Celebrity ships. Like many things on the Internet, there are special interest groups who think that by the equivalent of shouting loudly about something in the virtual world, they can influence the real world.

 

There is also a large majority of people from the USA on Cruise Critic but they are increasingly less of a majority on Celebrity ships. Although generalisation always opens one up to attacks from the exceptions, from our personal experience, most nations still enjoy dressing for dinner [not just formal night] than some people from the USA. [And, I am deliberately saying USA for this post and not North America. In my experience, our Canadian cousins are more inclined to formal dress on cruises than those south of the border. And this is from someone whose very informal brother is now a Canadian.]

 

I have no axe to grind. If I wish to dress formally. I will. I just wish that Cruise Critic members would give new [Celebrity] cruises honest information rather than trying to influence them. The honest situation is that very many people still dress formally on formal night even if they eat in locations that are technically "smart formal and above". If you do not wish to dress formally there are locations to eat which have the lower dress code however, depending on the type of cruise, they may still find they are in the minority.

 

Not all cruises are created equal. In the Caribbean, the shorter the cruise, the less formal it is likely to be. What our American friends will call "Holiday" cruises are more likely to be formal. In Europe, it probably depends on where the cruise starts. Cruises from the UK are more likely to be more formal than those with more American passengers starting from non-UK ports where those passengers are more likely to take demanding shore excursions. Elsewhere, repositioning cruises are more likely to be more formal than those cruises which are more likely to involve more demanding shore excursions.

 

There is no standard answer to the general question "how formal will my cruise be". It all depends but you can guarantee that on every cruise there will be people who want, and do, happily follow the dress code and others who will deliberately ignore any dress code on principal and everything in between.

[emmas gran]

I do not want to go to dinner on formal nights and see men in baseball caps and jeans as we did on the Independence of Seas T/a about 3 yrs ago. It is called making an effort and although we are regular balcony not suite cruisers we still have standards we like to keep.

[Kevnzworld]

I like having the chance to dress up on the cruises, so I wear a jacket and tie, or dark suit. I don't actually wear formal wear.

We had three formal nights on our just finished cruise on the Silhouette. I observed all of them in Luminae

Most of the restaurant was smart casual but with dinner jackets, which I think is respectful.,

[Sandtrap328]

That's your opinion which IMHO is complete and utter nonsense. Of course our opinions are irrelevant and in the end only Celebrity's opinion matters. Jeans are fine.

 

My wording of "looking like a bum" was too strong. Sorry about that.

 

However, it is totally wrong to show up for dinner in the MDR or another restaurant- except the buffet - in ripped jeans, tee shirt, and a ball cap is just totally wrong. I doubt if you would be seated.

 

Hey, some jeans are expensive and very good looking (all depends who is wearing them!)

[Iamthesea]

And in your defense, we found our Alaskan cruise (Century) to be much more casual than any other cruise we have been on. Lot's of jeans (I took mine for the first and only cruise, but did not wear them to dinner), down vest, heavy sweaters, tennis shoes and boots were seen in the dining room.

Edited July 30, 2015 by Iamthesea