Informal night was misunderstood by most.

[jhannah]

That's being done on another thread. How about smokers?

'Vegas Jim

[Vic The Parrot]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jhannah:
That's being done on another thread. How about smokers?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


OH NO! NOT AGAIN!!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]


Bringing up that subject is akin to turning off the lights, and watching the roaches come out. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

16 - HAL
10 - Cunard
4 - Home Lines
2 - NCL
2 - Royal Viking Line


"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines"

[RevNeal]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> ringing up that subject is akin to turning off the lights, and watching the roaches come out. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

But are those roaches properly dressed???? [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img][img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Greg+
[url="http://www.revneal.org/wcaribbcruise.html"]Maasdam: Western Caribbean Cruise Pictures[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/volcruise1.html"]Volendam: Wayfarer Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/hawaiicruise/hawaii.html"]Statendam: Hawaii Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/alaska03embark.html"]Volendam: Alaska Inside Passage Cruise Pictures[/url]


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[sammiedawg]

We're smart and savvy travelers but we didnt understand the "informal night" either. We always are well dressed but it didnt dawn on my husband to wear a jacket and I didnt wear a dress. This is an antiquated event that should be deep sixed. As far as I'm concerned, 1 formal night would be plenty, the rest should be casual. HAL is a nice line but don't confuse it with the QM2.

[FlorenceItaly]

Sammiedawg - One formal night for me would be plenty too.....

Marie

HAL - MAASDAM - June 2004/Canada/New England
RCI - Mariner of the Seas,
Sept 2004(CC Group Cruise)
RCI - Rhapsody of the Seas
October 2004


RCI Majesty of the Seas - Spring Break, March 2005
Celebrity Mercury, April 2005
Caribbean Princess, Sept 2005
(CC Group Cruise)

[RevNeal]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> As far as I'm concerned, 1 formal night would be plenty, the rest should be casual. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

But, then, we would have some of the [I]same[/I] people who are complaining, now, about having to drag clothing for 1 informal night, whining and complaining about having to drag all that formal gear for just 1 night on the cruise. They would assert that it's just "old" to have a formal night -- young people can't be expected to dress up while on holiday! -- and so all nights on a cruise should be casual!!!!! And ... there ... the clothing down-graders have won. No more formal nights.

Sorry ... no ... I TOTALLY disagree with you. In my opinion HAL doesn't have enough formal nights in any given cruise. Just 1 formal night on a 7 day cruise is ASKING for people to complain about having ANY formal nights at all.

PLEASE, stop trying to ruin my cruise experience by taking out what little elegance it has left.


Greg+
[url="http://www.revneal.org/wcaribbcruise.html"]Maasdam: Western Caribbean Cruise Pictures[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/volcruise1.html"]Volendam: Wayfarer Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/hawaiicruise/hawaii.html"]Statendam: Hawaii Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/alaska03embark.html"]Volendam: Alaska Inside Passage Cruise Pictures[/url]


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[superstein61]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by sammiedawg:
We're smart and savvy travelers but we didnt understand the "informal night" either. We always are well dressed but it didnt dawn on my husband to wear a jacket and I didnt wear a dress. This is an antiquated event that should be deep sixed. As far as I'm concerned, 1 formal night would be plenty, the rest should be casual. HAL is a nice line but don't confuse it with the QM2.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

AGREED and well said

[c-cruise]

revneal,

I have really enjoyed reading your comments on this topic and even though we obviously disagree I understand your desire to preserve the elegance of cruising.

My question is why are the two formal nights not enough to passify those that desire a more formal or elegant cruising experience?

By the way, I do enjoy the formal nights and think that there should be two on a 7 day cruise. If you are going to pack that suit or tux you might as well use it right? It's just that two nights of "cruise elegance" is enough for me and I would prefer to be more casual on the remaining evenings.

Future Cruises:
- 6/27/04 Sapphire Princess
- 12/12/04 Oosterdam

[Vic The Parrot]

All of this petty BS because some guys are lazy to put on a tie and wear a jacket.


3 words .......

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

16 - HAL
10 - Cunard
4 - Home Lines
2 - NCL
2 - Royal Viking Line


"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines"

[RevNeal]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> My question is why are the two formal nights not enough to passify those that desire a more formal or elegant cruising experience?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's an interesting question. Frankly, two formal nights a week IS sufficient for my tastes. Indeed, there ARE times when I DO enjoy just relaxing and not having to "suit up" and look all spiffy -- especially on nights after a LONG day of shore excursions.

This being said, I also enjoy something in-between. There are times when I DON'T feel like dressing up in my tux but I DO feel like putting a jacket on over my dockers and blue button-down shirt. Out of habit I'll also put on a tie; that's no big deal, and makes for a nice finish to the outfit for dinner. Other nights, however, I want to wear a suit and tie or clerical collar but NOT a tux; if all we had were formal nights and casual nights, I would have to waste a formal night (when I'd otherwise wear my tux) to get to wear a nice business suit.

Thankfully, I normally take cruises of 10+ days, meaning that I usually get 3 or more formal nights and at least a couple of informal nights on each cruise. That's a good balance.

Greg+
[url="http://www.revneal.org/wcaribbcruise.html"]Maasdam: Western Caribbean Cruise Pictures[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/volcruise1.html"]Volendam: Wayfarer Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/hawaiicruise/hawaii.html"]Statendam: Hawaii Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/alaska03embark.html"]Volendam: Alaska Inside Passage Cruise Pictures[/url]


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[Mariposa]

I wish it weren't so complicated to have one 'informal' with coat (with or without tie) dining room and one 'informal' without coat or tie dining room ~ not just dining room vs Lido. Then everyone could eat with those who feel the same way about this 'informal' attire debate.

I'm just glad I'm not a guy cuz informal dresses vs dressy pant suits are enough of a delimna for me to worry about. LOL (my choice are those long flowing 'palazzo pants' that look like a long skirt. Best of both for my money. Dress em up or down depending on which top, accessories or shoes I choose. Plus THEY HAVE ELASTIC WAIST BANDS [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] ) I could actually wear these pants for casual, informal or formal nights and meet all the 'rules'.

Mariposa [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[Orcrone]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> All of this petty BS because some guys are lazy to put on a tie and wear a jacket.


3 words .......

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Do people really think that there is nothing more to a cruise than dress code? Windjammer is a totally different cruise experience. It's much smaller than a typical cruise ship, with limited activities that can sail into smaller ports. If that's what a person perfers, then great. But should a person choose windjammer because your cruise gets ruined by a person in khakis and a button shirt on informal night?

1/1990 - RCCL Song of America
4/13/2003 - Carnival Inspiration
10/30/2004 - Maasdam

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Till sailing on the Maasdam

[Giorgi-one]

Ocrone:

I was not responding to your post. I am not even sure I ever read your post. I was responding to anyone who does not follow dress codes because no one is enforcing them. Adults should not have to have someone watching over them. I saw one post which read "the last thing I want to do is wear a tie on vacation". I can understand that. Find a different vacation or a different cruise line which does not have formal nights and informal nights.

[Guest]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Frankly, two formal nights a week IS sufficient for my tastes. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>In a earlier post you said 'In my opinion HAL doesn't have enough formal nights in any given cruise".. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

[RevNeal]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> In a earlier post you said 'In my opinion HAL doesn't have enough formal nights in any given cruise" <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, I wrote that "two formal nights a week IS sufficient for my tastes." And, yes, I also wrote: "HAL doesn't have enough formal nights in any given cruise." These two assertions are not contradictory; to put this simply, while two formal nights a week ARE sufficient for me, I WOULD still like HAL to have have more formal nights on any given cruise. The difference is between what I would like, as opposed to what I am willing to live with. I'm willing to live with two, but I'd like more.

Let me put this another way. Just because I say that two per week is sufficient doesn't mean that that's THE MOST I would like. No ... it's the other way around: two is as few per week as formal nights can be and I consider it sufficient; more would better, but two is sufficient.

Look at how I treat informal night to see what I mean. On many informal nights I will dress much as some male passengers dress on formal nights (i.e., dark business suit and tie). On longer cruises, where we have a few more informal nights than just the one informal per 7-day cruise, I can treat one or two as if they're more formal, while treating one or two as truly informal (I dress at or just a tiny bit above the informal night "standard").

I hope my distinction is clear. 2 formals a week ARE sufficient, but more would be preferred.

Greg+
[url="http://www.revneal.org/wcaribbcruise.html"]Maasdam: Western Caribbean Cruise Pictures[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/volcruise1.html"]Volendam: Wayfarer Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/hawaiicruise/hawaii.html"]Statendam: Hawaii Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/alaska03embark.html"]Volendam: Alaska Inside Passage Cruise Pictures[/url]


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[hotspur]

I really don't understand why people who like to dress don't simply wear their formalwear every night so they can feel self-important, and leave the rest of us who think it's a silly, dated affectation alone. If you think it's cool to play dress-up, then by all means do so.

Having spent a week on the Maasdam, I can assure everyone here there is absolutely no good reason for wearing formal attire. Not the food, not the service, not the setting, not the entertainment, not the demeanor of the staff or management. It's a low-priced cruise like all others. Filled with shameless hawking of art, bingo, chintzy shops, the casino, bad drinks, affiliated (kickbacks?) shops at ports, and grossly over-priced photographs and shore excursions.

I remain convinced the first formal night is there solely to sell pictures. Three times on the way to the Captain's welcome reception people were shanghaied for pictures in front of a bogus, trite backdrop of the Titanic staircase, something else I'm happy to have forgotten, and finally, with the beleaguered Captain. (On the Norwegian Dream, the Captain was frank enough to admit he was embarrassed by that nonsense in a public Q-and A session.) If someone thinks this is elegance or class worthy of formalwear, they have no sense of what elegance and class are. It's crass commercialism, and has no place on what tries to bill itself as a classy cruise line.

On the second formal night, where the dining room chairs were covered and fancy table linens were used, there appeared to be some hope. But the outrageous antics of the cruise director during the laughable baked-Alaska parade simply destroyed any semblance of grace or elegance at the dinner. The formal business is a joke, bluntly put. People here who think otherwise live in some kind of fantasy-land, trying to imagine themselves crossing the Atlantic on the Bremen or Europa some seventy years ago.

[Orcrone]

Hotspur,

I'm neutral on the subject. I'll dress appropriately, and don't mind doing so, but I really don't care what everyone else wears.

Just wanted to clear that up before I say,

"Duck, incoming!!!" [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

1/1990 - RCCL Song of America
4/13/2003 - Carnival Inspiration
10/30/2004 - Maasdam

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Till sailing on the Maasdam

[Guest]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I hope my distinction is clear. 2 formals a week ARE sufficient, but more would be preferred.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Thank you for the clarification...I respect your desire for more formal nights and I would hope you respect the desires of those of us who do not want more.

[RevNeal]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Thank you for the clarification...I respect your desire for more formal nights and I would hope you respect the desires of those of us who do not want more. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, Opinions. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] That's the beauty of informal nights. One guy (like me) can feel comfortable wearing a suit and tie, while another can wear dockers, print shirt and blazer, and yet they not horribly clash with each other. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Greg+
[url="http://www.revneal.org/wcaribbcruise.html"]Maasdam: Western Caribbean Cruise Pictures[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/volcruise1.html"]Volendam: Wayfarer Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/hawaiicruise/hawaii.html"]Statendam: Hawaii Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/alaska03embark.html"]Volendam: Alaska Inside Passage Cruise Pictures[/url]


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[RevNeal]

Hotspur, did you forget to take your meds again?? I mean ... yeeeEEeeessssh ... why don't you just tell us what you REALLY think??? [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

Greg+
[url="http://www.revneal.org/wcaribbcruise.html"]Maasdam: Western Caribbean Cruise Pictures[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/volcruise1.html"]Volendam: Wayfarer Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/hawaiicruise/hawaii.html"]Statendam: Hawaii Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/alaska03embark.html"]Volendam: Alaska Inside Passage Cruise Pictures[/url]


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[ekerr19]

Much of what hotspur says is the truth.

The commercialism is overwhelming. I never thought too much about it until I read his post. It is the same from ship to ship... the "art" auction (joke, imo) , the bingo, the drinks, the menu, the overpriced photos, the lousy shops... all of it. So why do we keep coming back? It's really quite simple.

On every cruise there are those moments when it feels indescribably wonderful. The sunsets, the ocean, the incredibly beautiful beach at HMC, the people we meet, the friends we make...

There is no real reason to dress up except that HAL asks its passengers to observe specific attire guidelines... why is this so hard to understand? It's not rocket science. It is a simple request to observe a dress code.

I remember going to a nice restaurant with my parents and brother. My brother was not wearing a jacket. He was asked to put one on while dining (the restaurant provided one), I remember him not wanting to do so - and my Dad said, "get over it already - either you put the thing on and we eat or you don't and you go sit in the car"!

My brother wore the jacket - and it didn't kill him.

Noordam 1984
Veendam 1999
Amsterdam 2000
Noordam 2001
Statendam 2001
Noordam 2002
Zuiderdam 2003
Maasdam 2004.
Noordam 2004

[ryansmemom]

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]Dear Hotspur,

I fell so very sad for you today. I do hope you feel better. Things are really not that bleak.

Linda

Thanks for listening

[jhannah]

Hotspur, just remember that your knife cuts both ways. We could just as easily say "why don't people who refuse to conform to standard, traditional norms so they can feel self-important take another type of vacation and leave the rest of us alone who think it's both dignified and cool to play dress-up?"

'Vegas Jim

[RevNeal]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> The commercialism is overwhelming. I never thought too much about it until I read his post. It is the same from ship to ship... the "art" auction (joke, imo) , the bingo, the drinks, the menu, the overpriced photos, the lousy shops... all of it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh, I certainly agree that commercialism is rife on HAL. I don't mind the photographing ... if I want one, I'll buy it, if I don't I won't. I agree that the "art" auction is a joke, and so I ignore it. Likewise regarding most of the on-board shops ... I ignore them, except for when I'm on a ship I haven't cruised on before, where I try to buy a couple of coffee mugs with the ship's name on them (I've been building a collection). I've attended Bingo some -- my mother enjoys it, and when I'm on a cruise with her I usually attend and play with her. I've actually won some money at it. Similar regarding the Casino. In short, yes commercialism is a annoying ... but there are few places in our culture where it isn't annoying. I just ignore it and have a good time anyway.

Greg+
[url="http://www.revneal.org/wcaribbcruise.html"]Maasdam: Western Caribbean Cruise Pictures[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/volcruise1.html"]Volendam: Wayfarer Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/hawaiicruise/hawaii.html"]Statendam: Hawaii Cruise Pictures and Video[/url]
[url="http://www.revneal.org/alaska03embark.html"]Volendam: Alaska Inside Passage Cruise Pictures[/url]


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[localady]

I have to second what ekerr said, we know how commercialized some portions of our cruises have become. Yet for a person who loves cruising, it is possible to cruise and avoid all that. I have never played bingo, and rarely pose for those photos. I love the veranda we always splurge on and spend hours on it just quietly listening and watching the sea and it's ever changing spectacle! For my husband and I, it's a way to see places we'd never see otherwise!

I have the best picture of my DH and I standing on the deck with Cape Horn, a very nice lady took it of us with my digital camera, IMHO that is what makes cruising "priceless" regardless of the commercialism.

Happy Cruising!

7/04 Ryndam Alaska B2B
12/04 Rotterdam Panama Canal
7/05 Prinsendam Baltic
11/05 "Veendammers" Carribean

RCCL x2(1999), Volendam (2000), Millinneum (2000), Maasdam (2001), Disney (2001), Statendam (2003), Amsterdam (2003)