Summit From Puerto Rico - To Tux or Not

[eandr]

We're sailing on the Celebrity Summit 12/13 out of Puerto Rico, 7 Days. Trying to decide whether to drag the tuxes or just go with suits. Anyone with experience on Summit in Caribbean with formal night dress? Are most men in tuxes or are suits more standard?

[luv2cruisemore]

We're on the Summit the week after you (12/20) and I'm not planning on bringing a tux. I had been thinking of bringing a dark suit (lightweight), a dress shirt and possibly a tie, but I may just bring a sports jacket that I can wear with different slacks.

 

We spent two weeks last December on the Azamara Quest and there were no formal nights---and that was great.

[drfun48]

When out of Florida or Puetro Rico, I always rent a tux on board. It's even easier than bringing along a suit.My only problem is being mistaken for Brad Pitt.

[Ma Bell]

Either a tux or suit are part of Celebrity's formal wear guides, a sport coat is not formal wear.

[Plumfy]

We are also on the Summit just after you.

 

Mr. P will definately be wearing his tux (actually his dinner suit as we call it over here). It's in the hall ready to be taken to the dry cleaners as I type!

 

Brad Pitt? Naaaaaah, I'm sure drfun48 and Mr. P are much more dashing in their tux's!!!!!!

 

:rolleyes:

[lucky white heather]

Haven't sailed out of PR on Summit but we're just off the ship after its last fortnight cruise of the season in the Med...frankly you could turn up in fleeces and trainers on formal night and still be in the gang! I never thought that after the demise of Formal , Informal and Casual this year the result would be so underdressed in the "smart casual and above" category...most of the diners we saw every night wore what they had travelled in ...or that was what they looked like ... if I am being honest and not diplomatic.They would have looked ok popping into Mcdonald's for a burger...not sitting at a beautifully set table with gleaming cutlery and glassware and a waiter in a "tux" offering good service / lovely food, presented beautifully . We were feeling totally overdressed every evening in the clothes we packed which were suitable for the Celebrity former "casual" standards.

IMO the new "dress code" is a disaster....it is not any code at all .... we're considering going to another line where standards are expected to be above what we are finding now on Celebrity after 30 odd cruises over many years with them. Such a shame , when it used to be so nice to mingle with people who had tried to pack according to the expected standards......and I excuse those who were virgin cruisers and knew nothing about "dress codes" or lost luggage victims.

The rest were obviously content to look like they did....you have to wonder what they pack in their 2 bags of 50 pounds? We manage on one bag of 44 pounds or less and still look appropriate (or even above) the required dress code.

[kenevenpar]

To the OP: We have a fairly active roll call going on for this cruise, and should you be interested, please join us.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=787432

 

Ken

[Jacqueline]

I agree that the cruiselines have gotten more casual over the years, although I don't agree that it has all gone to H*ll in a basket.

The reality is that the many suitcases I used to use for travel are collecting dust in the attic. It's no fun waiting for you luggage to meet you at your next port. I wondered why the gentleman at my table on my last X cruise was wearing a tux the first few nights. His bags had been misdirected from England and they lent him formal wear.. So all he had to wear to dinner was a tux !!

My BF travels to London once a month or so on business and packs his suit in this really nifty carry on which is like a garment bag. Last year we went to London, Costa Rica, California( Beverly Hills, La Jolla) and Vancouver, with JUST carry ons.

One has a lot more flexibility in terms of changing flights if there is no bag involved.

 

I am thinking of the challenge. Mostly, its my formal wear I don't want crushed. If there was a washing machine, I would definitely do it.

[CathyCruises]

I was on Summit the cruise before Lucky White Heather--I was amazed at how many people DID follow the dress code and was quite impressed. We sat in the Martini Bar before dinner every evening, and especially on formal nights it was quite fun to watch the parade of nicely-clad folks walking by.

 

To me, this proves that in general cruises, even those with the same ship & itinerary, can be much different from one another!! I certainly never saw anyone in anything remotely resembling sweats and 'trainers' on any night at dinner time in the lounges or the MDR--can't speak to the buffet area as we avoided that unless absolutely necessary.

 

Maybe some people underdress, then other people see those underdressed people getting away with it and they underdress too, then it's just catching like norovirus! :eek:

 

Cathy

[lucky white heather]

I was on Summit the cruise before Lucky White Heather--I was amazed at how many people DID follow the dress code and was quite impressed. We sat in the Martini Bar before dinner every evening, and especially on formal nights it was quite fun to watch the parade of nicely-clad folks walking by.

 

To me, this proves that in general cruises, even those with the same ship & itinerary, can be much different from one another!! I certainly never saw anyone in anything remotely resembling sweats and 'trainers' on any night at dinner time in the lounges or the MDR--can't speak to the buffet area as we avoided that unless absolutely necessary.

 

Maybe some people underdress, then other people see those underdressed people getting away with it and they underdress too, then it's just catching like norovirus! :eek:

 

Cathy

 

Sorry to be boring, but after all the cruises we have done on various cruiselines and especially on Celebrity over the last 12 years or so ,this was quite definitely the most underdressed cruise we have ever seen...jeans were commonplace in the dining room in the evenings and no one ever seemed to challenge the wearers... I don't believe the cruisers aboard did not have appropriate clothing to bring ...they took advantage of the "dress down" new dress code...and decided to not bother "preserving the ambiance" the ship requests of all pax aboard especially in the MDr/...we never eat anywhere else unless in the specialty restauarant and that is not a common experience for us.

I did not say sweats.... I said fleeces..."sweats" I take to mean trousers and tops you would wear to a gymn to exercise in.Trainers on the feet were very evident....I think the name description is universal and cannot be mistaken.

[eandj]

We're sailing on the Celebrity Summit 12/13 out of Puerto Rico, 7 Days. Trying to decide whether to drag the tuxes or just go with suits. Anyone with experience on Summit in Caribbean with formal night dress? Are most men in tuxes or are suits more standard?

 

You will see more dark suits than full tuxedos on formal night. Especially it being a Carib cruise. That's what I can generalize after 4 Carib cruises on X in the last 4 years. Altho my dh likes to wear a tux, it's just a bit easier to go with a light weight wool suit and skip the cufflinks, vest, shoes etc.

[Plumfy]

Don't you think that people will make more of an effort on a holiday/Christmas cruise??

[CathyCruises]

Sorry to be boring, but after all the cruises we have done on various cruiselines and especially on Celebrity over the last 12 years or so ,this was quite definitely the most underdressed cruise we have ever seen...jeans were commonplace in the dining room in the evenings and no one ever seemed to challenge the wearers... I don't believe the cruisers aboard did not have appropriate clothing to bring ...they took advantage of the "dress down" new dress code...and decided to not bother "preserving the ambiance" the ship requests of all pax aboard especially in the MDr/...we never eat anywhere else unless in the specialty restauarant and that is not a common experience for us.

I did not say sweats.... I said fleeces..."sweats" I take to mean trousers and tops you would wear to a gymn to exercise in.Trainers on the feet were very evident....I think the name description is universal and cannot be mistaken.

 

Oh, I totally believe you!! I was not meaning to challenge your assertion in any way and I apologize if it came off that way--just saying that I was surprised NOT to see that on our cruise. I kind of expected it but was pleased to see that the vast majority of cruisers respected the code. In fact peopple on our cruise were better dressed than last year on Century, before the dress code change.

 

I put 'trainers' in italics only because that is a British term--and I'm an old Idaho girl and we call 'em 'tennis shoes'!! And I think a big part of the problem is that the new dress code does NOT say you can't wear jeans! I was surprised at that too--it just says "pants without rips, tears or holes" and does not exclude jeans at all.

 

Cathy

[eandj]

Don't you think that people will make more of an effort on a holiday/Christmas cruise??

 

 

Depends if the passenger is there to celebrate Christmas early or if they are there for the good deals that week. You'd see more take the holidays seriously on the next week's cruise as well as New Years.

[Terre]

I can tell you that the last two times we sailed from SJU, EVERYTHING was much more relaxed...geared for the locals who do not at all abide by dress codes or time schedules. We saw them coming to dinner half way through the seating time and they wore everything and anything on formal nights.

 

X may be more strict in enforcing the codes, but Carnival didn't. I certainly X does, because we're sailing from there in April and I prefer to follow the rules concerning dress and being on time, more so for the waiters than for myself, but there's also the respect for rules thing...

[lucky white heather]

Oh, I totally believe you!! I was not meaning to challenge your assertion in any way and I apologize if it came off that way--just saying that I was surprised NOT to see that on our cruise. I kind of expected it but was pleased to see that the vast majority of cruisers respected the code. In fact peopple on our cruise were better dressed than last year on Century, before the dress code change.

 

I put 'trainers' in italics only because that is a British term--and I'm an old Idaho girl and we call 'em 'tennis shoes'!! And I think a big part of the problem is that the new dress code does NOT say you can't wear jeans! I was surprised at that too--it just says "pants without rips, tears or holes" and does not exclude jeans at all.

 

Cathy

 

 

No harm done Cathy...no offense taken!

We agree with you...the definition of "pants without rips etc etc " does not exclude jeans specifically so those who wear them feel totally justified in doing so and it would be hard to argue they shouldn't, given the ship's dress code instructions...unclear about what they actually want.

It is just disappointing to see the standards we used to have on Celebrity degrading ... their great ships/ terrific staff deserve better.

 

We could pay a lot less to cruise on the many budget cruiselines over here and take a suitcase filled only with T shirts and shorts, jeans and other less formal items for any of the "occasions" aboard and worry a lot less about whether we are dressing "appropriately" .

 

If Celebrity wants to get down to that level then it is definitely time for us to start booking on other cruiselines where the expectation that cruisers will try to match the "ambiance" of the ship is still expected and upheld.

I have spent a lot of money over the years with Celebrity (but not to the exclusion of other cruiselines) and since we look forward to the "occasion" dress opportunities onboard because we don't often get a chance to do that at home, it is part of our holiday experience and something to look forward to doing whether others feel that way or not.

Take that away and what do we have??? We can pay a lot less to do all the ports, have the meals, sleep in a bed, and wear our "gardening standard" clothes thoughout...sounds snobby, but sadly that is how we view it .....I would not be paying the going price for a meal like we have every night in the MDR on Celebrity in a restaurant here in Edinburgh and wear my everyday "around the house" clothes... I would make more of an effort to match the expectation of the surroundings in an expensive restaurant and the high cost to my pocket.

Probably our age group is something to do with our views.

[izmackar]

My only problem is being mistaken for Brad Pitt.

 

Great response!

[chillie_queen]

Eander

 

We're on the same cruise and I usually force the hubby to wear a rental tux. This cruise I thought he could wear a nice cream linen suit I bought this summer. I even managed to find some smart shoes that looked good with it. It's hard to get an engineer out of anything but jeans and t-shirts. Now, getting him in to a kilt (he's a Scotsman) would be a real challenge but I'm working on it!

 

We're leaving on Tuesday - can't wait! Off to Macys to see if I can find any nice chinos!

 

Denise