REVISED DRESS CODE
Effective New Year’s cruises 2009/2010
Regent Seven Seas Cruises has established a revised dress code policy.

Effective with the New Year’s cruises 2009/2010, all guests are respectfully requested to adhere to the following guidelines:

Daytime Dress Code (until 6 p.m.)
During the day, resort style clothing (including shorts, warm-up suits and jeans) is acceptable in all public areas.
Note: Bathing suits, while acceptable at the Pool Bar and Grill, are not considered appropriate in any indoor venue.

Evening Dress Code (after 6 p.m.)
Two types of dress code have been established for evenings in public areas: Elegant Casual, and Formal Optional.

The number of Formal Optional nights per cruise is dependent upon the length of the cruise, as follows:
• Cruises of fourteen nights or less will be Elegant Casual for the duration
• Cruises of fifteen nights or more will have two Formal Optional nights

Note: Guests on World Cruises or Grand Voyages should refer to our website for specific daily dress code guidelines.

Elegant Casual: Skirt, or slacks (no jeans) with a blouse or sweater, pant suit or dress for ladies; slacks (no jeans) and collared shirt for gentlemen. Sport jackets are optional.

Note: Jeans, T-shirts, baseball caps, shorts, sneakers and bathrobes are not considered appropriate in any public area after 6 p.m.

Formal Optional: While guests are welcome to dress each evening as per the Elegant Casual dress code, during Formal Optional evenings, guests may opt for a more formal choice of clothing including gowns and cocktail dresses for ladies; tuxedos, dinner jackets or dark suit with tie for gentlemen.

October 2009

Ngaire, thanks. I think this is one of the silliest thing that Regent has ever done. As it is now, I could wear a tuxedo every night if I wanted. Formal Optional is sort of meaningless as the ambiance of a formal night will probably be gone.

What is the dress code in Signatures? Still, coat required?

Of course, it will be great not having three formal nights on TUT. ;)

Maybe we can all dress up in our formal western wear one night. :D

I think this is really what the poll results showed to be the choice of most of the people who responded. So it's good that Regent is listening.

Hooray! Just wish they were doing it sooner!

Marc, it means there are "festive" nights when people who like to dress for dinner can feel like there will be others doing the same.

Have to agree with Betty and Wendy on this one. I think this is the best possible policy to please the most majority of Regent guests.

I like formal "optional" Looking at the polls I bet about 40% of the ship will dress up and 60% will not and everyone will be happy.

This is good, for a lot of cruises. I don't quite understand "formal optional", though. On our very first Alaska cruise on Mariner, the dress code was casual every night, but I saw gentlemen in tuxes and ladies in long gowns. I'd think that dressing up would be optional every night.

But that's just me.

It sounds like Regent is trying to make everybody happy, but as we know, that just can't always be done. The new dress code looks doable. Those who don't want to dress up won't be required to do so. With the airline luggage issue, Regent has attempted to make it so we aren't required to pack so many different types of clothing for evening. Yes, thanks for listening to us, Regent!

The line just has to give minimum "guidelines" but anyone can always over dress if they chose to do so. No one complains about people OVER DRESSING that is their choice. I imagine on special events many may dress above the dress code to make the night special. Just like in the restaurants at homecoming all the little girls in their prom dresses turn up to eat out.

On MOOSE, we were invited to dine with the cruise consultant on a CCC night. Randy wore a jacket and tie that evening and I dressed in what I would call Informal attire. The other couple at the table were dress likewise. We weren't required to dress up, but having an invitation, we thought by doing so we would show respect to our hostess.

I think this is wonderful. It makes packing so much easier and personally I feel that the caliber of Regent cruises will not effect the ambience i.e. everyone will come dressed ELEGANTLY. They specifically say no jeans. I feel a gentleman can be elegant with a smashing shirt and nice slacks. I don't feel that this will compromise the cruise experience at all.

UPDATE TO THE INFORMATION FROM REGENT

What is the dress Code for Prime 7 and Signatures?
There is no difference between the restaurants – the same code applies throughout the ship

Polo shirts allowed?
There is no distinction between types collared shirt. We trust our guests to dress elegantly.

Most nice polo shirts have a collar so I think we can put that issue to rest now.

Oh that's great too! We can bury that discussion once and for all. Good to know about Signatures, etc. as well.

Thanks for the clarifications. Glad to know that a golf shirt, courdoroys, and flip flops are now allowed in Signatures. ;)

Of course, no more Penfolds now to be replaced with Two Buck Chuck.

Bravo for Regent. The only way Fred and I could be more pleased is if Regent adopted the new policy to be effective 12/4/09, the first day of our next cruise.

No doubt Regent will lose some bookings because of this. But the vote for all casual was 60% in favor. This suggests Regent will also gain bookings, more than enough to counter those that cancel.

A happpy day it is!!!!!

Pat

I too wish I could look forward to this dress code in December. But I won't stay in my stateroom for 3 nights, so suit and tie it is, for David. It makes no difference to me, I dress festively most of the time anyways, even if it has become a kind of uniform.

Last month, we had one formal night in our 17 day cruise on the Navigator. Our bags were pushing the 50 pound limit so I chose to leave my tux at home. I asked three ship officers about the formal night and offered to eat in my cabin. They all said that I should eat in the Compass Rose and I would be fine in my blazer and tan pants with tie. It worked out fine; there were tuxes, suits and some people dressed as I was.

This is wonderful news!

Marc - I would suggest that "Formal Optional" is not an entirely meaningless alternative.

Although it is true that one has always had the option of dressing up more than the particular evening's stated dress code, there are likely many people who would feel a bit uncomfortable "bucking the system" in that fashion, as far as fashion goes.

Formal Optional provides a nice excuse to put on the fancy duds without having to explain to everyone that: (1) It's your anniversary; (2) It's your birthday; (3) It's your poodle's birthday; (4) You just like to dress up once in a while; or (5) You learned to tie that damned bow tie and, by all that is holy, you're going to show the world!! (That last one was the only reason I ever wanted to wear my tux...)

Formal Optional offers a smooth social solution for dressing up without having to justify doing so to the riff-raff (like me, who will be always Elegant Casual) who might ask why someone is dressed like a penguin.

Frankly, I think that it's a clever and elegant (pun intended) approach to the dress code issue. I must admit that I am not convinced that Regent marketing was really aware of that subtle "permission to dress up" issue when they made the decision, as our previous experience with Regent marketing has not been overwhelmingly overwhelming. However, in this case, since I am delighted with the new policy, I will happily assume that Regent marketing considered those subtle issues of social dynamics and made the decision with those social dynamics in mind.

Lordie, in any event, social dynamics or not, we will be merrily Tuxless on T-Devil (aka Dingo).

Freddie, I like to think it was me that was clever--they read my post over on CC and ran with it! (Sorry, I couldn't resist, I'm usually pretty humble.)

This is great news!!!! as I have never really minded packing a sportcoat and tie for when I needed it, this is a vacation and as I am totally against people going to dinner looking like a slob, I think people should be able to wear what they want as long as they look presentable, like you would go out to a very nice restaraunt and not wear sneakers and jeans,and with the airlines stil uncabable of not losing luggage in this day and age it easier for travelers and makes more sense because thats what most people seem to want..

FV

Kudos to Regent for handling this issue with great finesse. Regent came up with a good solution that speaks to their guests' wishes and is about as close as possible to something for everyone.

I like this new policy quite a bit.

Good job Regent!

I love the news. Thanks for listening to your cruisers Regent. You have hit the perfect solution for everyone.

Carolyn

Freddie, you are right; it does provide "cover."

As Formal Optional only applies to cruises of 15 or longer nights that ARE NOT part of World Cruise or Grand Voyages (which have their own dress code), I wonder how many cruises this affects? All I could find were five Panama Canal cruises (assuming that Grand Crossings are really two shorter cruises so no Formal Optional nights).

Just what I was wondering (how many cruises it affects?). It might just be people like Marc who can parse out the subtle difference of this change. I think the former WC people who do this every year will not be unhappy, since they (and Grand Voyagers pax) have their own dress code. Oh goodness, just let us hope they are making the "majority" happy on any cruise! Lord knows they are trying.

I am happy never again to wear many of those restrictive beaded tops. Weight was never my concern, it was the comfort.

Like Wendy said, I hope now we can bury this topic on the opinion side of it, and just figure out how it will work for cruises that we are on in the future.

Well, we are finally being recognized as grown up, well mannered adults who are on vacation and not a group of teens going to a senior prom. We can now retire the tux for deployment at charity galas only!

Jerry hopes he won't be the only one in a tux on "formal optional" nights--but if so, he'll wear it anyway. Don't understand the weight problem everyone talks about. We bring all the formal, informal, etc. paraphenalia and have never been overweight at the ticket counter. And Freddie, as you know, I love penguins!

<a href="http://media.photobucket.com/image/penguin dancing/nosasselin/Display Pictures/chubbypenguindancing.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q254/nosasselin/Display%20Pictures/chubbypenguindancing.gif" border="0"></a>

And I love Jerry in his tux!

Everyone always looks great all dressed up in their formal attire--and even informal attire. Casual, no matter how "elegant" just isn't the same. I'll really miss seeing everyone all dressed up because as with all things, in time, dress on the ships will go to the lowest common denominator and most, if not all, will be casual.
Not my idea of "luxury".

Peggy, I totally agree with you about the lowest common denominator. And,formal attire has never added weight to our luggage.

So, if I understand this correctly, there will be a night or two on longer cruises designated "Formal optional" where people will be dining and socializing together, some dressed casually while others are in formal wear? That seems bizarre to me.

As far as dress code goes, from what I've observed from Vancouver to "almost" Shanghai, Regent doesn't enforce the dress code anyway. I've seen jeans in the dining areas any number of times. Sorry, for saying this (and I admit it's after a glass or two of wine) many people on this cruise interpret "elegant casual" to mean that they can dress any way they choose, dress code be damned. Many look like slobs. With the change in dress code, I'm sure this will continue or even degenerate even further.

It seems to me that if World Cruisers and other long cruises have their own dress code that this will lead to more of a "class system" on Regent. I'll be sorry to see this happen. Not exactly my idea of luxury.

Donna, I agree with you completely. After what you said regarding the dress code on your cruise, I hate to see what is going to happen when "formal optional" starts, especially on the world cruise.
That will be the end of the magical welcome aboard parties and the other festive occasions. Just one woman's opinion.

Freddie, you make a good argument but I have to agree with Marc on this one. “Formal optional” is silly. It will create a situation where some of the men will be in tuxes while others will be in polo shirts.

Sometimes trying to please everyone just won’t work. Since it only applies to cruises of 15 nights or more it probably won’t affect too many passengers. Tom.

Peggy,
Jerry won't be the only one in a tux. Fred says he will be wearing his as well. We like to dress up as we don't get a chance any other time. I wish they would have at least required a jacket for men on "formal optional". Shouldn't be that hard to pack one sports coat. Overall, I think the changes are ok.
Jan

Frank too loves wearing his tux, and I am sad to see formal nights go the way of optional, as Jan said, we don't get much chance anymore to dress up and always enjoy it. We've never found it a problem to pack formal clothes.

Donna - very difficult to hear that people are showing up in jeans to dinner, that really changes the atmosphere onboard RSSC ships for sure.

Guess we'll have to have a "Tux" club on formal "optional" nights and all have dinner together. I wonder if they'll try to separate us in the dining room on formal optional night--one side formal, the other side optional????? It should be interesting.

The pressure is off! No longer will I be mistaken for Cary Grant like when I wore my tux (not)!

As I am happy about the change, I would have to agree that I would not want to see Jeans in Compass Rose, It is Regents job to enforce the dress code within reason so it makes sense.. I mean One time I saw a guy with a speedo and bare feet come in from the pool and go to the buffet, they very nicely said "Sir please you are not dressed to be in here... and escorted him out of the area. Why is this so hard to do in the dining area as well?

JMO

FV

On our NCL cruise in June, they turned people away from the dinning room dressed in jean and shorts for dinner. I would think Regent would do the same.

We did an NCL cruise in July with grandkids and there were lots of people in the dining rooms at night with tank tops and shorts on -- even in the nicer specialty restaurants. At the beginning of the cruise I made the two teenage grandkids dress up for dinner, but after a few days I gave up and let them wear whatever they wanted to. But even then they looked better than a lot of people. Needless to say, we won't be doing NCL again. I've never seen anyone wear jeans, shorts, etc on Princess, Celebrity or even Royal Caribbean.

Peggy, it was when we were on the NCL Gem in June with my niece. Twice in the line for the main dinning room people were asked to change and were turned away. The first was a man who had on jeans the next time it was a lady with shorts on. I guess it depends on the ship and who is on duty to seat people.

Carolyn