Formal night or nights?

[islandchick]

We just booked a 12 night Miami round trip for Nov 4. Does anyone know what days the formal nights will be on?  

[offtoalaska]

Your final documents will indicate the formal night(s); we typically get that package 3-4 weeks in advance.  Our experience has been that the first formal night is on the first sea day.  Not sure how many there will be on your itinerary; in January during our 14 day Caribbean cruise we had two; on a 12 day voyage I don't know.  BTW that's a nice itinerary.  Our favorite stop is Terre de Haut on Iles des Saintes ; rent an e-bike or electric cart from Green Car in advance; fun way to see the island.  The rentals need to be booked ahead of time; we missed out last trip as nothing was available.

[islandchick]

Thanks for the tip, I will have to look into that.

 

[doowopbob]

21 hours ago, offtoalaska said:

Your final documents will indicate the formal night(s); we typically get that package 3-4 weeks in advance.  Our experience has been that the first formal night is on the first sea day.  Not sure how many there will be on your itinerary; in January during our 14 day Caribbean cruise we had two; on a 12 day voyage I don't know.  BTW that's a nice itinerary.  Our favorite stop is Terre de Haut on Iles des Saintes ; rent an e-bike or electric cart from Green Car in advance; fun way to see the island.  The rentals need to be booked ahead of time; we missed out last trip as nothing was available.

Our final documents have nothing in them that indicate how many formal nights on our 20 day cruise.  Where did you see this info?

[dalliowner]

if you email the seabourn club  they will tell you how many but not on what day. This you have to wait til you are on board.

[wripro]

9 minutes ago, dalliowner said:

if you email the seabourn club  they will tell you how many but not on what day. This you have to wait til you are on board.

And how many is not always the case either.  I've seen them added and eliminated depending on certain circumstances. The best way to deal with formal OPTIONAL nights is to just bring jacket and tie or cocktail dress and not worry what to wear on any given night. Formal wear per se is no longer required.

[SLSD]

34 minutes ago, wripro said:

And how many is not always the case either.  I've seen them added and eliminated depending on certain circumstances. The best way to deal with formal OPTIONAL nights is to just bring jacket and tie or cocktail dress and not worry what to wear on any given night. Formal wear per se is no longer required.

I agree with Wipro.  We really didn't care which nights were designated as formal on our last cruise---and sometimes the days changed based on circumstances.  We try to dress appropriately (jacket/tie for my husband, black dress/pearls/sparkly earrings for me) and don't worry about which day is which.  In fact, we tend to dress about the same every night.  My husband is in the habit of wearing a jacket and tie to dinner occasions in our city.  He doesn't find it onerous at all.  I recognize that others see this differently and would never consider trying to make people see it our way.  I just mention it to say that you can skate through formal evenings with a modicum of dress up.  

[offtoalaska]

1 hour ago, doowopbob said:

Our final documents have nothing in them that indicate how many formal nights on our 20 day cruise.  Where did you see this info?

I  was wrong;  the nightly dress code info for the itinerary is in The Herald on embarkation day not in the final documents.  Hope you didn't spend too much time looking.  For those new to Seabourn, The Herald daily bulletin should be in your cabin when you check in and then delivered each evening with the following day's info.

 

[islandchick]

Thanks to all for the information. Its too bad they don't tell you ahead of time. We wanted to make sure to eat in the main dining room on formal nights and not book TK, but of course you have to book TK before the cruise. I know we could try to change our TK booking once on board but I would rather have everything taken care of ahead of time (I am a planner )

[offtoalaska]

3 hours ago, islandchick said:

Thanks to all for the information. Its too bad they don't tell you ahead of time. We wanted to make sure to eat in the main dining room on formal nights and not book TK, but of course you have to book TK before the cruise. I know we could try to change our TK booking once on board but I would rather have everything taken care of ahead of time (I am a planner )

If you book TK for a port day you'll probably be OK as most formal nights are on sea days.

[kd1224]

 

islandchick - we’re on the same cruise on Nov 4th.  Our 1st with Seabourn so we had the same question.  

 

Theres a (kinda slow) roll call that was started a while back before the itinerary changed from Cuba.  Thought you might be interested in joining:

 

 

 

Karen

[islandchick]

Thanks kd1224, I was meaning to join the roll call but just have not got around to it. I will do it soon.

[raphael360]

On 9/4/2019 at 11:58 AM, wripro said:

The best way to deal with formal OPTIONAL nights is to just bring jacket and tie or cocktail dress and not worry what to wear on any given night. Formal wear per se is no longer required.

     I agree with wripro, a sports jacket and tie is 'formal' enough for the MDR or TK (TK is a great place to spend formal night).

     For the first timers, expect 1 formal night every 7 days and it's always posted in the Herald the night before. We always try to do 21 - 30 day SB cruises and, as such, get 3 to 4 formal nights per cruise.  With THAT said, I call formal nights: "room service, movie, popcorn and get lucky" nights.  I'm not much of a neck tie guy.

     Also for the first timer, you can order popcorn via room service.  It's lovely with champagne.

[freddie]

One should bear in mind that even on Formal Optional evenings, that dress code is only applicable to the Restaurant.   The other dining venues and the rest of the ship remain Elegant Casual, if one prefers that mode. 

 

Thus, one is not forced to choose between dining at a table or having popcorn in one's cabin (although the latter may well be more fun).

 

Raphael - very cute bichon, by the way.

 

[islandchick]

Thanks everyone, very helpful info. 

[raphael360]

19 hours ago, freddie said:

One should bear in mind that even on Formal Optional evenings, that dress code is only applicable to the Restaurant.   The other dining venues and the rest of the ship remain Elegant Casual, if one prefers that mode. 

 

Thus, one is not forced to choose between dining at a table or having popcorn in one's cabin (although the latter may well be more fun).

 

Raphael - very cute bichon, by the way.

 

Thank you freddie, she's the love of my life.

Your formal/MDR comment is spot on. Due to a hearing issue I find the noise level in the MDR so painful when it gets full so I seldom eat dinner there.  I LOVE sitting outside for dinner in the Colonnades or Earth and Ocean and do so whenever possible.