Is it goodbye to the Formal evening?

Celebrity Cruises, a luxury and modern 5 star cruise line just may have started the end of the Formal Evening on board cruise ships.

They are saying goodbye to Formal and hello to Evening Chic.

Starting from this December the more relaxed style of dress code will come into place across all sailings. It will replace the old ‘Formal’ requirements which included dinner jackets for gentlemen and cocktail/evening dresses for ladies. The new dress code is still dressier than smart casual but less dressy than the formal attire. Here are the main changes:

As you can see, ladies can still wear a cocktail dress but are also free to wear designer jeans or a skirt and the main one for Gentlemen is not having to wear the Dinner Jackets! Also opting for a pair of designer jeans and a nice shirt or sweater.

The change, driven by the line’s evolving passenger mix, is designed to enable passengers to express their own sense of sophistication. Where one couple might feel most glamorous in a tuxedo and gown, another might feel more elegant in a sport jacket and designer black jeans and a nice sundress or Trouser suit. It is really aiming to help cater for all requirements rather than subjecting people to clothing they may not like to wear. I think this is a nice idea as very often I have customers say they don’t like to dress up too much on the formal evening and sometimes it even puts them off booking! That said, a lot of people do like the dressing up side of cruising so i’m sure it wont put people off still putting their best frocks and suits on if they feel like it. 

Personally I like the odd evening of dressing in my Tux, there are so very few opportunities to do it normally.

What do you think about the change? Do you prefer it or will you miss the Formal attire and seeing everybody really dressed up?