Dress Code sparked by Explorer Doco

[Qld13]

Hi

 

We are going on our first Regent cruise in Jan 20 on Explorer around the Caribbean and was fairly OK about the dress code 'Elegant Casual' but now having seen the Explorer doco I'm a bit confused. A lot of the men seemed to be wearing jackets and ties in the restaurant scenes, which has worried me a bit.

 

Can I leave my jacket and tie at home, but be wearing long or short sleeve shirts with chinos in the evenings for dinner?

[FlyerTalker]

This is PURELY my opinion:

 

How else can you portray a ship as THE most luxurious, unless you have the folks in the photos/videos look "elegant and luxurious"?

 

And recognize - that "documentary" undoubtedly had a great deal of input from Regent marketing.

 

IMO, you will be fine.

[PinkMEB]

Very few men wore ties on the Explorer on our Mediterranean cruise. Some had on blazers especially in the speciality restaurants, but most just wore nice shirts. 

[poss]

What you suggest is fine  — absolutely, totally, 100% fine.   I'd imagine that especially on Caribbean cruises, the kind of attire you mention is more the rule than the exception.   But even on other itineraries, chinos (or other long pants, not jeans) and nice shirt (collared) are very common.    And what FlyerTalk said makes good sense to me.   Gads, the people in the brochures might have scared me off cruising Regent if I'd've seen those things first.      

[Travelcat2]

Not sure what chino's are but slacks (not jeans) is the minimum dress code for men (Dockers, etc. are fine).  Quite a few men wear sports jackets on the night of the Captain's Reception (and Farewell) as well as to the specialty restaurants.

 

Want to add that on the brochures that I've seen, the models are not that dressed up.  Maybe we are all looking at different brochures.  And, what you see on the documentary for Explorer is an accurate depiction of the passengers and what they wear as these are real Regent passengers.

[Qld13]

Thank you for your replies

 

26 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

Not sure what chino's are

 

 

According to Google

 

"Chino pants are often made of a lightweight 100% cotton or cotton-blend fabric in a tighter weave, while khakis are often constructed of a heavyweight 100% cotton twill fabric..."

[ronrick1943]

2 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

Not sure what chino's are but slacks (not jeans) is the minimum dress code for men (Dockers, etc. are fine).  Quite a few men wear sports jackets on the night of the Captain's Reception (and Farewell) as well as to the specialty restaurants.

 

Want to add that on the brochures that I've seen, the models are not that dressed up.  Maybe we are all looking at different brochures.  And, what you see on the documentary for Explorer is an accurate depiction of the passengers and what they wear as these are real Regent passengers.

Agree, also the shirt needs to have a collar.  It does stay cool in the dining rooms, long sleeve works best.

[Hambagahle]

"Country Club Casual"  - at our golf club for dinners etc lots of men, my husband included, wear Chinos with a short sleeve button down shirt.  No jeans, no golf shirts.   In winter he adds a sweater.   No tie aside from "gala" dinners so I suppose Regent has CCC dress code "nailed".

 

That documentary is really, really off-putting.   The woman narrating it has a tone which almost says "look what the rich people do - you can't possibly afford this".   I have heard her narrate before and do not like her voice-overs.  Plus much of it is "staged".  Like Friday's episode about the room steward being promoted to be in charge of public spaces.   The story line may well be true but there is no way he would be speaking to his wife back in Indonesia or the Philippines in English!   Nonetheless we continue to watch it.  Why ?  Because we love seeing pictures of the ship.   And the "behind the scenes" shots as in the galley and the laundry.

[kjbacon]

10 hours ago, Qld13 said:

Hi

 

We are going on our first Regent cruise in Jan 20 on Explorer around the Caribbean and was fairly OK about the dress code 'Elegant Casual' but now having seen the Explorer doco I'm a bit confused. A lot of the men seemed to be wearing jackets and ties in the restaurant scenes, which has worried me a bit.

 

Can I leave my jacket and tie at home, but be wearing long or short sleeve shirts with chinos in the evenings for dinner?

 

To specifically answer your question: yes, you can leave your jacket and tie at home. Your shirt with chinos will be fine. We are taking our next Explorer cruise in January to the Caribbean so maybe our paths will cross!

 

Our first Explorer cruise was a back to back earlier this year to the Canary Islands and the Med. We found the passengers to be very active and laid back, quite varied in dress. Passengers on board aren’t as hung up on the dress code and definitely don’t look like the brochures! We saw very few suits or jackets with ties, some sport jackets with open collars, many open shirts and slacks like you describe, some pushing the technical limits of the dress code (for example, one man usually wore dress slacks and shoes paired with a well tailored but non collared t-shirt style shirt), and very few blatantly out of the limits. We saw sloppy people and we saw sharp people in all varieties of dress. Only once in 22 nights did we see someone turned away from a restaurant and it was a male wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers with white gym socks.

 

So, bring your snorkel and your great attitude ... be ready for a fabulous time!

[DavidTheWonderer]

On Regent, I never bring a jacket or tie. That will include 4 months on board for the coming world cruise.

Some people like to "dress up", especially on the Formal Optional night. As far as I know, they never feel out of place.

One of the nice things about Regent is that the passengers tend to accept each other as they are.

The staff are in the unenviable position of enforcing the dress code.

[RJ2002]

Just a recent observation...  we are recently off the Navigator, and in Compass Rose I'd say about 90% of the men did NOT wear a coat or tie on Elegant Casual nights.  Slacks and collared shirts prevailed. 

 

However, on Formal Optional nights, and on the evenings when we dined in Prime 7, probably 80% of the men wore jackets - and some had ties, others did not. 

 

Note:  Our itinerary (Amsterdam to NY) was the last leg of the 77 night Grand Arctic Quest, from Southampton to NY.  The longer voyage, with more seasoned Regent guests, may have contributed to a higher percentage of gentlemen wearing jackets than what you might experience on a Caribbean cruise.  (We only had 12 first time Regent guests on our segment).

[wishIweretravelling]

I have assumed that they were filming on Formal Optional night (note the Optional in that) and/or  passengers were aware of the filming and gussied up to show off their best. I did notice that the attire was more casual on the whole in the second installment.

 

 

[Travelcat2]

While I cannot speak to the current documentary running in the U.K., I can say that no one was asked to dress a particular way when the Discovery Channel was filming on Explorer earlier this year (and they filmed in our suite).  The filming went on during the day, at night and on different nights of the cruise so there would not be more or less people dressed up.  Obviously, since this particular cruise was in South American, people tended to dress up more (just as people from Europe/U.K. tend to dress up more than people from the U.S./Canada on sailings).  Again, we did not know when we were going to be filmed (for the most part) so the upcoming series (Mighty Cruise Ships) will show Regent exactly how it is and I suspect the same was true when filming was done for the current series (if this was not the case for those of you that were onboard, kindly let me know). 

 

Also, it seemed that the current program has a higher percentage of people from the U.K. (generally 10-15% of total passengers).  Was this intentional? Were they trying to interview mostly Brits?  I didn't think that this was the case but if posters think that passengers were asked to dress a certain way, I guess that anything is possible. 

[mj_holiday]

We were just on the Navigator Amsterdam to NY - and as RJ2002 said, a large percentage of men did not wear jackets or ties.  On the optional formal evening I did see several men in Tux's but at the same time there were men dressed elegant casual.  Everyone seemed to feel comfortable in what ever they choose to wear.   I always wore black slacks and a dark sweater or pullover.  DH wore slacks and a golf shirt with a sweater (usually chilly in the dining room) in the dining room and Prime 7.

[Hambagahle]

18 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

Also, it seemed that the current program has a higher percentage of people from the U.K. (generally 10-15% of total passengers).  Was this intentional? Were they trying to interview mostly Brits?  I didn't think that this was the case but if posters think that passengers were asked to dress a certain way, I guess that anything is possible. 

Yes I think they were trying to interview mostly British... Channel 5 is ITV and "all that that entails" !   There were a couple of Americans too though.  (One lady who looked as though she was about to loose her top!  I kept waiting to see a "Censored" sticker!!)

[wishIweretravelling]

On 9/8/2019 at 2:01 PM, Travelcat2 said:

While I cannot speak to the current documentary running in the U.K., I can say that no one was asked to dress a particular way when the Discovery Channel was filming on Explorer earlier this year (and they filmed in our suite). 

I was not suggesting that people were asked to dress a particular way. I was wondering whether people were aware that filming was going on, and perhaps chose to dress up more just in case (or knew that they'd be interviewed). Apparently, you knew that you'd be interviewed, even if you didn't know exactly when. But I suspect they didn't just turn up in your suite without a little advance notice.

 

What was interesting was that many people in the background in the first installment were dressed up too, making me think that the dinner scenes were filmed on Formal Optional night.

[Floridiana]

2 hours ago, wishIweretravelling said:

Formal Optional night

 

I thought that Regent didn't have such nights.

Anyway, in my experience on other ships British passengers tend to dress up more than Americans and Australians. If people knew there was a film crew, they probably wanted to look more elegant.

[Qld13]

Hi

 

Thank you again for all your answers

 

Assuming I did leave my jacket and tie at home would I have a problem going into the other restaurants ie Prime 7, Pacific Rim etc and when there is the 'optional' formal night again are there restrictions on where you can eat if you have no jacket and tie?

[freddie]

Qld13 - There is no evening and no dining, drinking, or entertainment venue on a Regent ship on or in which you would have a "problem" entering without a jacket & tie.  There are no restrictions anywhere on the ships regarding a jacket & tie or lack thereof.   Whilst it is true that some posters may suggest that it is "appropriate" to wear jacket & tie in some restaurants or for some evenings, that is simply the personal bias of those posters, as that is clearly not the Regent policy.   We take our dress code clues from the Regent policies, rather than from the personal opinions and biases of other passengers.   Tommy Bahama Forever!!  

[UUNetBill]

I haven’t taken a tie since my first Regent cruise in 2009 when I didn’t wear one once.  I still take a jacket or two mostly because it can get a bit cool in the restaurants but you’re certainly fine without one.  And yes, I take a closet full of Tommy Bahama, too.

[Qld13]

😎👍

[wishIweretravelling]

12 hours ago, Floridiana said:

 

I thought that Regent didn't have such nights.

 

Only on cruises 16 nights or longer in duration.

[GrJ Berkshire]

15 hours ago, wishIweretravelling said:

I was not suggesting that people were asked to dress a particular way. I was wondering whether people were aware that filming was going on, and perhaps chose to dress up more just in case (or knew that they'd be interviewed). Apparently, you knew that you'd be interviewed, even if you didn't know exactly when. But I suspect they didn't just turn up in your suite without a little advance notice.

 

What was interesting was that many people in the background in the first installment were dressed up too, making me think that the dinner scenes were filmed on Formal Optional night.

This summer was our first cruise to include formal optional nights, Southampton to Amsterdam on the Navigator. We had previously been to Alaska and the Mediterranean with B2B cruises on the longer trips. We noticed on the formal optional evening that most men wore jacket and tie, having rarely worn a tie previously I was glad I packed a couple. We had 2 FO ev's in 20 days.

A jacket is always good as we find that the restaurants can be cool at times, plus it gives you a pocket for key card, glasses etc and this over a short sleeve shirt gives wardrobe flexibility, my wife also finds a little jacket and a pastime handy as well .

[Travelcat2]

15 hours ago, wishIweretravelling said:

I was not suggesting that people were asked to dress a particular way. I was wondering whether people were aware that filming was going on, and perhaps chose to dress up more just in case (or knew that they'd be interviewed). Apparently, you knew that you'd be interviewed, even if you didn't know exactly when. But I suspect they didn't just turn up in your suite without a little advance notice.

 

What was interesting was that many people in the background in the first installment were dressed up too, making me think that the dinner scenes were filmed on Formal Optional night.

 

I am also not suggesting that people dress in a particular way.  However, people that are new to Regent, or are considering Regent, need to understand the full range of acceptable wear at night since you can be in a suit and tie and the person at the same table may be in a polo shirt and Dockers.  As long as you are comfortable in that environment, you do not need to dress up.  My DH was not comfortable when dining in the specialty restaurants or on "special nights" so he wears a sports jacket, dress shirt and slacks while on other nights he doesn't wear the sports jacket.

 

Yes - you are correct that everyone knew that filming was going on (it would be hard to miss).  During the day everyone was still in shorts, jeans, etc. and at night they dressed for dinner.  We did know when they would be in our suite, however, we dressed the same as if we were going to dinner in CR (my DH may have been wearing his jacket - do not recall).  The television team was everywhere so one would have had to know in advance that they would be onboard and packed fancier clothing or just wear what they typically wear on a Regent ship.

[jeb_bud]

12 hours ago, Qld13 said:

Hi

 

Thank you again for all your answers

 

Assuming I did leave my jacket and tie at home would I have a problem going into the other restaurants ie Prime 7, Pacific Rim etc and when there is the 'optional' formal night again are there restrictions on where you can eat if you have no jacket and tie?

No.