Regent is changing their dress code for 2010 cruises. They are changing from a three-tier system (Formal, Informal and Country Club Casual) to a two-tier system (Formal and Elegant Casual). The cruise question, "What should I pack?" now states:

"For 2010 evening attire falls into one of two categories, Elegant Casual and Formal. Elegant Casual wear includes skirts or slacks with a blouse or sweater for ladies; slacks and collared shirts for gentlemen and jackets are optional. Formal wear includes gowns, dresses and cocktail dresses for ladies; tuxedos, dinner jacket or dark suit with a tie for gentlemen." ( http://www.rssc.com/cruisequestions...989#9fb5b123-4feb-4884-97be-bfdf43a32c48)

Regent has also filled in the Dress Code column on their web site for all 2010 cruises.

Thanks for the info, Dave. The dress code never bothered me before as informal and country club casual was the same for me. I still think I would bring a sports coat for a few of the new elegant casual nights for Mark.
Maybe this new code will not confuse people as much.

That is very good news, indeed. Great timing given the ever-increasing luggage limits on the airlines. Pat

I don't know what elegant casual is? Is this informal ? What was wrong with country club casual (my fav)?

Marcie, the new elegant casual sounds just like country club casual but with a new name.

Karen,

I agree. The only differences I see are that golf shirts are no longer prohibited and jackets for men are listed as optional.

This doesn't sound like much of a change to me. Like Karen's Mark, I'm sure Alan will bring a sports coat to wear on some of those "elegant casual" nights.

I am always the opposite from everyone else on this topic. I hate to see Regent, a Luxury Cruise Line, getting away from dressing up for dinner. I enjoy it, and will still do it.
Lynn

Lynn, all they did was take away the middle category which really has nothing to do with how women dress, in my opinion. I wore the same type of clothing for country club casual as I did for informal. The only real difference between those two was men wore jackets for informal.

Karen makes an excellent point. The switch to Elegant Casual does indeed seem, in essence, to be simply a name change. I welcome it wholeheartedly. Not only is the new name more appropriately descriptive, it removes the snob factor of "Country Club" Casual.

I think Karen is right. Glad it's just a name change...to me, it sounded like an oxymoron. Is it elegant or is it casual?

I went to the web site and while the 2009 definition of CCC still says (no golf shirts)the term was dropped from the 2010 definition of Elegant Casual. So I think that would settle the controversy once and for all. Golf shirts will be permitted in 2010. Mona is still not going to let me wear one to dinner. Tom.

Karen, I guess I miswrote in the sense I would like to see more formal nights. It is so nice to see everyone dressed up, and I enjoy it.
Marcie, you are right, the new term is an oxomoron.
Lynn

Lynn, someday I hope you can go on a world cruise. You'll have about 15 formal nights (a guess) so you'll have your fill. Maybe that's why if I never have another one...that's ok with me (I know I'm in the minority here).

Elegant casual (oxymoron or not) sounds just fine to me.

I'm with you Marcie - I don't particularly care for formal nights. I am not and never will be elegant! I do not own a dress or skirt (must hide my legs and ankles so as to not put people off their food) so where will that put me on formal nights? Do you think they just left out the word 'slacks'? Black slacks seem to be the most important item for me to pack. Lee

This is really better and easier for the men.

Most nights are "elegantly casual which is exactly the same as country club casual"
No jacket for men and women wear what they always wore on country club casual nights.

Formal nights: Tuxedo or dark suit (just as it is now)for men. Lets face it women can dress up all they want or not as they please. I often wear the same things on formal night as casual night, just throw on a string of pearls and I am good to go. Lee I dont own a dress either. We can get away with pants no problem.

I always thought the "informal" night was silly the only difference was men had to wear a jacket.

Now the question is "Signatures" that always required a jacket so personally I hope that will change to "Elegant Casual"

Correction, Ngaire. After 11 cruises with you, in all those nights, you did wear a dress ONE night. A black one, and it was pretty! It was on PARTY, or FJORDS, or PANDA, just can't remember which, but that was a real occasion to see you in a dress!

I do have ONE dress it is black velvet. Had it for years. I cannot remember wearing that on a trip as it takes too much room to pack. Amazing you can remember that. I will have to dig it out and wear it again at some point just for fun!

If it is velvet, must have been FJORDS then, when it was cold! Maybe a formal night leaving Spitzbergen, as we were at sea.

From the Regent web site:
Formal wear includes gowns, dresses and cocktail dresses for ladies
On Formal nights, I wear very few dresses, usually black Chico slacks with fancy tops/jackets. Not gotten my hand slapped yet!!

I think I remember seeing a photo of Ngaire in "her dress" on PARTY. Maybe New Year's Eve??

That's it. But I looked at my PARTY pictures, and on the other Kodak website, and can't find it. I know there must be one out there!

I swear someone (in PV) put me up to this!

Well, yes, but I remembered that dress and how incredible Ngaire looked that night - Tony kept hanging around her table - I had to get the leash, another Heidi moment :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :app:

Funny. I wish that was my shape! Too many lamb chops, dover soles and berries have been consumed in the past.

Ken just looked over my shoulder and said WOW you look great in that picture!!!

I think my daughter has that dress now I will have to see if I can find it and wear it when you are least expecting it.

Well, next time cameras will be ready!

This is TERRIBLE!!!!

Regent Med cruises last few years have had predominantly country club casual dress codes with one or two days a week being informal. I have not had to take a tux to the Med in a while. NOW, for TUT, we have three FORMAL nights! :mad:

This is a step backwards! :(

By doing away with informal nights, Regent has chosen to bring back formal nights. :( :(

And if Signatures still requires a jacket, we have to bring a tux AND a sports coat (I know a dark suit will suffice).

I see that with all the staff changes Mark Conroy is surrounded by ????

I sure hope they reconsider before 2010 arrives!

I agree with you Marc, I also think this is a step backwards. They should have kept the informal nights, and dumped the formal!

Amen!
Hate - hate - hate formal nights. :mad: :mad:
I also wish they would do away with them.
What a terrible waste of luggage space.

I will look and see but may have a picture of Ngaire
in that dress.

Regent has no formal nights on their 7 night 2009 or 2010 Med cruises that I can see, (Marc, B2B last year was two 7 nighters) but on longer cruises of 14 nights, they have always had at least 2, and usually three formal nights. What is now missing is more INFORMAL nights on those port intensive longer cruises. Not that Silversea is a trendsetter, but it does have a similar client base. On their longer 2010 cruises, they mostly have 3 formal nights 6-7 Informal, and the rest casual.

I don't care for formal nights after a long port day, but at least I can opt for a casual dining venue.

Marc,

With all due respect, I think you're comparing apples and oranges. The Med cruises you're referring to were seven-night cruises, possibly taken or being taken back-to-back such as Sea-2-Sea. On those cruises there were one or two informal nights with the remaining nights being country club casual. In 2010, those cruises are now all elegant casual.

However, TUT is a 14-night cruise and, for the last couple of years, 14-night cruises on Voyager and Mariner have had three formal nights as well as a couple of informal nights. In 2010, 14-night cruises on Voyager and Mariner will have three formal nights and 11 elegant casual nights. So Regent hasn't made formal nights out of informal nights. Overall, 14-night cruises on Voyager and Mariner are a little more casual in 2010 IMHO.

Now, my personal preference would be to do away with both formal and informal nights for longer voyages. I believe that is the direction Regent's heading as they have done with seven-night cruises. Only time will tell. :D

I will admit age and luggage restrictions, combined, make us feel "less is best" - Tony has always worn dark suit and felt more than comfortable vs no tux on formal nights- he is a sports coat (junkie) and tie guy and enjoys it BUT being able to leave suit at home would be nice!!!

I am probably wrong about this, but on international flights, aren't economy passengers for the most part (coming from US) allowed 2 free checked bags @ 50lbs per person? I know that for domestic travel, you are paying for ANY checked bag. I don't get what international restrictions everyone talks about, other than those who are flying on intra-Europe flights on airlines other than the one that brought them to Europe. I can do a lot of dressing up with 100 pounds of luggage. SO, for me, a lot of the talk about luggage has to do more with personal preference about dress codes than weight restrictions the airlines are putting on us.

My comments have nothing to do with my dress code preferences, just about weight restrictions.

Editing to say that joanna's Tony always looks like a GQ kind of guy at dinner, always spiffy! Makes no difference to me if the guys want to wear a suit rather than a tux.

We hope they reconsider by the time TUT arrives.

We hate lugging formal wear around. We usually do USA East coast stopovers in route to Med cruises as well as post cruise stays, often using intra-European airlines and have been affected by the weight restriction fees (as well as the added agrivation getting to and from the airports and hotels)

It is a pain for us so we're definitely in the "no more formal nights" camp.

Only problem I have ever encountered about changing airlines that would restrict my luggage weight on a cruise was on short flight intra Africa from JNB to CPT on South Africa airways I was biz class from Delta, plus had status with Star Alliance too with the airline I was using intra africa so no weight restriction of one bag. I think they just pushed Joanna through with no charge, as she was over required weight FOR HER LUGGAGE, a this was such a short flight and they knew she had come in with Delta from US. It just wasn't a problem

Anytime I fly to Europe, I m usually on same alliance that takes me from begining from my airport to end airport, same requirement.

Marcie, what airlines caused you weight problems when you were coming in to Europe for a cruise?

We are in the casual only camp. But it probably ain't going to happen. So formal/casual is ok for us because one suit will do the trick for all dress requirements other than casual. Now informal/casual would be, for us, even better than one suit because we could leave our ties at home. But that probably ain't going to happen either. So to us this change is a step in the right direction. The less we have to pack the better! Pat

jhp

cruiser


posted July 20, 2009 09:52 PM
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Only problem I have ever encountered about changing airlines that would restrict my luggage weight on a cruise was on short flight intra Africa from JNB to CPT on South Africa airways I was biz class from Delta, plus had status with Star Alliance too with the airline I was using intra africa so no weight restriction of one bag. I think they just pushed Joanna through with no charge, as she was over required weight,

well I can't "copy" obviously - love Olivia'a last sentence - yes they pushed over weight me thru NO charge nice guys

Thank god we can edit our posts at anytime here! See how Joanna misinterpreted what I was saying 3 posts up? Plan B required a little more work, but we knew we could get though and beat the system if I took one of her bags! No need, those guys were great.

Chiming in here for the "yes, we like formal night" side and give Lynn some moral support. Alan and I like formal nights too. Please don't throw your stilletos or men's formal shoes at us :D .

Especially on longer cruises with lots of sea days, having a formal night breaks up the monotony for me. Plus it's fun to have special nights on cruises. However, I agree that 7-night, port intensive sailings should do away with formal nights and be all "elegant" casual.