HAL no longer requires formal dress

[tinkr2]

Do you remember the thread a few months back where someone said that the invitation to the Mariner brunch said "no sandals"??? HAL does pick odd battles.

 

 

Isn't the no sandals because they take you in the galley? It's a health code violation.

 

 

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[Cruizer Bill]

Sometime ago, perhaps a bit more than a year, several (two or three) posters said they had refused to allow other passengers to be seated at 'their table' because they did not feel they adhered to the dress code. Whether this was just bragging or actually happened is subject to debate.

 

I don't think you can refuse to have other passengers seated with you. You do have the right to get up and go ask to be seated at another table, and you have the right to go upstairs to the Lido. Now that we've made this thread a free-for-all, suppose you are seated at a table and one or more people show up with really strong perfume on that makes you sick, I would think the same would apply, you could ask to be seated at another table or go upstairs, right? We just don't seem to have enough to talk about here!

[3rdGenCunarder]

Q: Are a jacket and tie required for men?

A: Jacket and tie is the preferred attire in all fine dining restaurants on Gala Nights, though it is not required. Guests without a jacket and tie were allowed in the fine dining restaurants before the new wording so this is not a policy change.

 

Quote function is not working, so I did cut and paste.

 

Just because HAL put this on the website doesn't mean it's true. HAL used to require jacket and tie. I went back through old posts that quoted the website, but that post is back in somewhere around page 32 and I'm not going to do that work again.

 

I don't know why HAL is saying this, but men were not allowed in the MDR without jacket and tie in the past. I've seen them turned away. I've seen men given loaner jackets as recently as last winter. There was a dress code for formal nights. Not "true formal" as in a tux, but they said jacket and tie. Some Maitre d's chose to turn a blind eye, but the policy existed. It annoys me that HAL is trying to pretend they aren't making a change when they are. They can make whatever dress code they want. That isn't my complaint. It's the pretense that they aren't making a change when they are. Just tell the truth, already!!!!!!!!!!!!

[3rdGenCunarder]

Isn't the no sandals because they take you in the galley? It's a health code violation.

 

 

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I've never seen a tour as part of the Mariner brunch. It would take too long.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Agreed:

 

- the cruise line can establish rules of behavior on their ships.

 

- the passengers have an obligation to follow those rules.

 

 

 

That does not resolve any of the difference in opinions on this thread. While some insist upon their right to dress as they see fit, no one has denied that the cruise line can deny entrance as they see fit.

 

 

 

Your argument really isn't all that helpful in resolving the main point of contention which has been about what the rules should be. And, no, it's nor particularly helpful to say the rules should be whatever the cruise lines says they should be. Such arguments are useful only to those who want to shut down debate over the content of the rules in order to maintain the status quo.

 

 

I started a new thread where people can play CEO for a day a propose their ideal dress code. Have fun!

[JPH814]

It seems to me that there is a world of difference between a 'guideline' and a rule.

 

 

 

I cannot imagine how someone would not be allowed into the MDR for not adhering to a 'guideline'. It is only a suggestion.

 

 

 

I can however understand that if there was a rule that required shirt, tie, jacket then I could see the Maitre d' refusing entry to anyone not dressed according to the rules of the room.

 

 

 

This is strictly a HAL issue, not a customer issue.

 

 

You must not have read what i read. it sure seems like they are rules and not suggestions. (See theQ and A above)

[Fouremco]

Quote function is not working, so I did cut and paste.

 

Just because HAL put this on the website doesn't mean it's true. HAL used to require jacket and tie. I went back through old posts that quoted the website, but that post is back in somewhere around page 32 and I'm not going to do that work again.

 

I don't know why HAL is saying this, but men were not allowed in the MDR without jacket and tie in the past. I've seen them turned away. I've seen men given loaner jackets as recently as last winter. There was a dress code for formal nights. Not "true formal" as in a tux, but they said jacket and tie. Some Maitre d's chose to turn a blind eye, but the policy existed. It annoys me that HAL is trying to pretend they aren't making a change when they are. They can make whatever dress code they want. That isn't my complaint. It's the pretense that they aren't making a change when they are. Just tell the truth, already!!!!!!!!!!!!

A few months ago, this was the dress code as published in the Know Before You Go document:

 

Gala Nights evoke the grand traditions of cruising as guests

dress to impress for special events on board, including a fivecourse

gourmet dinner in the Dining Room. For gentlemen,

jacket and tie are appropriate, collared shirt and slacks are

required in all restaurants except those on Lido Deck which

permit jeans, shorts and T-shirts.

 

With this early iteration of the code following the change to Gala Nights, there was considerable debate here on CC over the choice of the word "appropriate" and whether gentlemen would be inappropriately dressed if they were to forego a jacket and tie, but it was clear that there was no longer a requirement.

 

The most current revision of the dress code for Gala Nights has new wording and now states:

 

Gala Nights evoke the grand traditions of cruising as guests dress to impress for special events on board, including our five-course gourmet dinner in the Dining Room. For gentlemen, collared shirts and slacks are required in all fine dining restaurants.

 

Now to the crux of the issue. This is the wording from HAL's current Q&A that you believe is wrong:

 

Q: Are a jacket and tie required for men?

A: Jacket and tie is the preferred attire in all fine dining restaurants on Gala Nights, though it is not required. Guests without a jacket and tie were allowed in the fine dining restaurants before the new wording so this is not a policy change.

 

So HAL is actually correct: before the new wording (NOT BEFORE THE CHANGE FROM FORMAL TO GALA), jackets and ties were only appropriate, not required. I realize that you are thinking back to Formal Nights and the wording that existed then, but there have been other versions of the code prior to the most recent. As such, HAL is correct.

[RocketMan275]

I started a new thread where people can play CEO for a day a propose their ideal dress code. Have fun!

 

Thank you for doing that. I've thrown my hat in the ring. Looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

[Aquahound]

I was just recently on the Oosterdam and I saw no difference in formal wear whatsoever. On both gala nights, almost everyone was very well dressed...men mostly wearing dark suits or tuxes. Has anyone really even seen a difference since they changed the verbiage? :confused:

[ellieanne]

I honestly don't understand the problem with other people not wearing formal wear if you choose to do so.

 

I have been to both casual dining and fast food restaurants in formal wear, and had fantastic meals, despite the fact that the people seated around me were not as festively dressed. I have been to fancier restaurants in less dressy clothes and had a great meal, despite the fact that those around me were in more formal wear.

 

Meals are not about the clothes you are wearing or frankly the food you are eating. meals are about spending time with friends and family -- maybe making new friends in the process.

 

To me, the argument is much like other celebrations. I tend to go out to dinner for my birthday. For me and my friends/family that is a festive, happy, excited occasion. I do not expect any one else in the restaurant to be in the same festive mood, and nor should I. That would be ridiculous and others would, quite rightly, object to being forced into a happy festive mood simply because a rank stranger in the room is having a celebration. Everyone is at a different point in their lived at any particular moment, and forcing our moods and whims upon them is generally considered rude.

 

So it is with dress codes. As long as people are decently, and legally, covered I really have no objection to how they are dressed, no matter how formal or informal that may be in my opinion.

[Blue Mudshark]

I guess we all concede that there is a dress code somewhere that WOULD affect your meal.

 

After going back and re-reading through this lengthy thread, it was striking how many people made variations on the argument "the way someone else is dressed shouldn't affect your enjoyment of the meal" and then went on to indicate how someone else's attire would negatively affect their own enjoyment of a meal.

 

Swimwear was repeatedly mentioned as something that would upset people who insisted that nobody should be upset at someone else's attire.

 

Dumb down the dress code until what I feel like wearing is allowed, and nobody has valid reason to be uspet; but definitely no dumber than that, or I will be upset!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

After going back and re-reading through this lengthy thread, it was striking how many people made variations on the argument "the way someone else is dressed shouldn't affect your enjoyment of the meal" and then went on to indicate how someone else's attire would negatively affect their own enjoyment of a meal.

 

 

 

Swimwear was repeatedly mentioned as something that would upset people who insisted that nobody should be upset at someone else's attire.

 

 

 

Dumb down the dress code until what I feel like wearing is allowed, and nobody has valid reason to be uspet; but definitely no dumber than that, or I will be upset!

 

 

LOL.....I think you nailed it. I was looking at the dress code for a beach bar here....they said, among other things, Hats are OK, but bills must face forward - I can hear it now - how does the direction of my hat bill affect your bar experience.

Edited December 4, 2015 by The-Inside-Cabin

[iancal]

I agree with ellieanne. This is nonsense. People will wear what they want to wear. End of. Does not matter if their attire does not appeal to anyone's particular taste.

 

After that, only thing that matters is if the Maitre'D admits them to the room. It is nobody else's business even though the busybodies will seek to make it their business.

[Aquahound]

I agree with ellieanne. This is nonsense. People will wear what they want to wear. End of. Does not matter if their attire does not appeal to anyone's particular taste.

 

After that, only thing that matters is if the Maitre'D admits them to the room. It is nobody else's business even though the busybodies will seek to make it their business.

 

I learned quickly back in 2006 when I joined Cruise Critic that cruise ship dining room dress codes were a Cruise Critic problem, not actually an onboard problem. Nothing has changed in 9 years. ;)

[Host Walt]

The level of vitriol in the many (most) of the more recent posts makes it necessary to close this thread to further activity.