Dutch

I've pretty much decided to cruise on the Infinity for my summer cruise to Alaska. (I wanted to go to Germany, but I got outmuscled by by wife and mom - who says it's a man's world?)<BR><BR>I noticed that there will be two formal nights on the cruise. What exactly does that mean? Will I get by with a sport jacket? Or will I get hissed at. What about for women? I have only been on one cruise before, and it was casual. Please advise. Thanks.

Lenore

Your cruising on Celebrity, right? On a 7 day cruises they usually have 2 formal nights, 2 semi-formal nights and 3 casual nights. On formal nights men are expected to wear a dark suit or a tuxedo. Women will wear long gowns or dressy cocktail dresses. On semi-formal nights men will wear a sport jacket and women will wear more casual dresses or pant suits. Casual nights you can get by with khakis or even jeans if they are not too faded and in good condition. When you get all your documents it will be spelled out exactly how they expect you to dress each evening. Even though I like Celebrity a lot, I think their dress code is a bit strict. You are on vacation after all, right?! Enjoy!

PumpkinEater

Dutch - you may want to rethink your choice of the Infinity. Its currently steaming its way to San Diego for some major repairs to its propulsion system. Celebrity has already cancelled its next two cruises to Hawaii and back. This is the second time for the Infinity with exactly the same problem. Her sister ships have also been to dry dock once each to fix the same pod problem. With all of your other choices for Alaska (expecially Princess - they know how to do it right), you might want to change your mind.

Gardyloo

Because Celebrity seems to &quot;insist&quot; on a somewhat more dressy style than other lines, I think there's some gravitation toward Celebrity by pax who like to dress up, figuring they'll be in the majority. On a cruise in the Caribbean last year on the Infinity it seemed 90%+ of the men in the main dining room on formal nights were indeed in tuxes or suits, most of them dark. Those of us whose tuxes were tailored for somewhat smaller versions of ourselves (mine's gorgeous, and will fit me easily provided I don't eat for a few months) at first felt &quot;banished&quot; to the alternative dining venues. By the second formal (lobster) night I figured I would be a rebel and wear basic business navy blazer, tie, and slacks, and, guess what? Nobody gave a whup. Frankly, I looked a lot better than a bunch of guys chafing in their polyesters, and I can assure you the waitstaff were non-discriminatory in taking the tip envelopes some of us wanted to pass out in person.<BR><BR>As for ladies, the range was from designer gowns to tailored pantsuits to Ma Kettle. <BR><BR>We're booked on the Infinity for a Hawaii sailing in April, and I plan to bring the same blazer, tell everyone at our table that I intend to wear it on formal nights, and they can take up the matter with the skipper if that gives them a problem. That or I'll wear a rented tux and accessorize with bowling shoes.<BR><BR>Between malfunctioning azipods, crew problems, Gulf War II and the declining dollar, I have to think Celebrity has plenty worry about beside being the Kumberbund Kops.<BR><BR>And FYI, as a long-time Alaskan, I'll let you in on a little-known cultural fact: The &quot;Alaska Tuxedo&quot; is a new Pendleton shirt and clean Levis. Enjoy your lobster.

Lenore

Gardyloo......you crack me up! Of the three lines we've sailed, Carnival (never again!) Princess and Celebrity, we slightly prefer Celebrity. However, our main gripe with them is their insistence on dress code and worse, remaining in that attire troughout the entire evening. Apparently not everyone agrees with us though. Check out the thread I started a couple of weeks ago about who seriously enjoys formal nights. A bunch of posts in the middle were deleted by the Fodors police, but you can see that the majority of those who responded seem to actually like dressing up. Who knew?

Gardyloo

Lenore, I understand and agree. It's one thing to want to dress up, it's another to attempt to compel others to conform. I don't think Celebrity would ever go so far as to throw someone out of the dining room if they're not equipped exactly as the recommended attire list says, but peer pressure can be very uncomfortable for some people. <BR><BR>In our experience (not a lot, but we talked with other folks too,) the main problem on formal nights was that the quality of the food in the informal venue (basically the buffet converted to open dining - not the USS US) was so far below the quality of the food in the dining room that people felt they were being punished for not dressing up. I'm certain the cruiseline has no such intent, but if that perception takes hold it's doomsday for mass-market outfits like RCCL/Celebrity.

Cruiser

Maybe Celebrity has loosened up a bit on the code. In Oct.(to the Caribbean) they had eliminated the semi-formal nights----They had 4 casual nights; 2 formal nights; and one informal. Cruisers do seem to dress-up more even for the informal nights, though. Just my opinion--people worry too much about their dress. I doubt that anyone would even know if you wore the same outfit 2 or 3 times unless it was radical either way.<BR> Just get out there and enjoy the Celebrity ships and your cruise.