Dress Code Question

[taxmantoo]

3 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Or catcher.

 

 

Roy

WHEN IN DOUBT ... 

[catl331]

On 12/9/2018 at 4:33 AM, ithaca gal said:

Just got off a 7 day Caribbean cruise on the Rotterdam. Vast majority of men wore jackets on Gala Night. All men wore at least slacks, collared shirt and tie but most also wore a jacket. Have yet to be on a HAL cruise where the majority of men wore only slacks and collared shirts on Gala Night. 

All men wore ties and most wore jackets? I will venture a guess that you had Main (Late) Fixed seating. On our last few cruises, with Early Open seating, we saw less than 1/2  of men with jackets, and a good number had neither jacket nor tie. My DH likes to wear a jacket but no tie.

Edited December 10, 2018 by catl331

[opa&oma]

To put this in perspective, there is NO cruise line other than Cunard  that dresses formal any more.

[ithaca gal]

3 hours ago, opa&oma said:

To put this in perspective, there is NO cruise line other than Cunard  that dresses formal any more.

 

3 hours ago, opa&oma said:

To put this in perspective, there is NO cruise line other than Cunard  that dresses formal any more.

Not true. SOME people still dress in formal attire on HAL. Perhaps you meant only Cunard REQUIRES formal attire.  

[ithaca gal]

6 hours ago, catl331 said:

All men wore ties and most wore jackets? I will venture a guess that you had Main (Late) Fixed seating. On our last few cruises, with Early Open seating, we saw less than 1/2  of men with jackets, and a good number had neither jacket nor tie. My DH likes to wear a jacket but no tie.

Yes. we had Late Fixed Dining.  

[terrydtx]

Perhaps the  answer to this question and to end the endless debates of dressing up for Gala Nights is to just do away with them or limiting them to one seating time in the MDR.  If I choose not to wear a suite and tie, why should I be limited to only dinning in the Lido on those Gala dinner nights? Most of the Luxury cruise lines like Viking Ocean have no formal nights and  VO even lists that fact on their website as one of the positives for cruising with them.

[kazu]

24 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Perhaps the  answer to this question and to end the endless debates of dressing up for Gala Nights is to just do away with them or limiting them to one seating time in the MDR.  If I choose not to wear a suite and tie, why should I be limited to only dinning in the Lido on those Gala dinner nights? Most of the Luxury cruise lines like Viking Ocean have no formal nights and  VO even lists that fact on their website as one of the positives for cruising with them.

 

No need to eat in the Lido or to limit Gala Nights.

 

You do not have to wear a suit or a tie on Gala Night.

 

Collared shirt and pants are the minimum requirement and as long as you are wearing that - you meet the standard.

 

 

[ithaca gal]

Methinks it takes less effort to wear a tie than to get worked up about it and protest it here. Just sayin’. 

[terrydtx]

19 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

No need to eat in the Lido or to limit Gala Nights.

 

You do not have to wear a suit or a tie on Gala Night.

 

Collared shirt and pants are the minimum requirement and as long as you are wearing that - you meet the standard.

 

 

I think you just made my point. Isn't this the same dress standard as any other night in the MDR? Why even have a so called Gala Night, call it Surf and Turf night in MDR perhaps.

Edited December 11, 2018 by terrydtx

[kazu]

42 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I think you just made my point. Isn't this the same dress standard as any other night in the MDR? Why even have a so called Gala Night, call it Surf and Turf night in MDR perhaps.

 

Sorry, I disagree 😉 

 

The way the current Gala nights are it permits those that want to dress up (and HAL does encourage it) to do so.

 

Those that do not want to, don't have to.  So, it's the best of both worlds whether you like to dress up or prefer not to. 

 

[POA1]

50 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I think you just made my point. Isn't this the same dress standard as any other night in the MDR? Why even have a so called Gala Night, call it Surf and Turf night in MDR perhaps.

 

Given that there are a heck of a lot of cruise lines with casual dress all the time, might that not be a better fit for you? If dressy people bother you, why not choose one of the many lines that are more to your liking?  You can dress the way you want, and as an added bonus, there are often water slides and more robust late night options. If you want something more upscale, yet casual, some of the luxury lines have pretty relaxed dress standards. 

[doublebzz]

There has been some mention of relaxed or casual dress standards on most of the luxury lines.  This is true, but having sailed multiple times on Oceania and Seabourn, I never saw anyone wearing baseball hats, t-shirts or flip flops outside of the pool area and certainly not in the MDR for evening dinner.  

[kazu]

2 minutes ago, doublebzz said:

There has been some mention of relaxed or casual dress standards on most of the luxury lines.  This is true, but having sailed multiple times on Oceania and Seabourn, I never saw anyone wearing baseball hats, t-shirts or flip flops outside of the pool area and certainly not in the MDR for evening dinner.  

 

agree and I would add that the country club casual I saw was quite dressy on many.  Certainly dressier than some people I have seen on Gala nights on HAL 😉 

[terrydtx]

37 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Sorry, I disagree 😉 

 

The way the current Gala nights are it permits those that want to dress up (and HAL does encourage it) to do so.

 

Those that do not want to, don't have to.  So, it's the best of both worlds whether you like to dress up or prefer not to. 

 

I can agree that the current Gala night situation is most likely a good compromise between those who want to dress up and those who do not. The problem I see on all of these dress up for Gala nights threads is those who want to dress up seem to look down and even criticize  those who do not, even though the current HAL dress code doesn't require dressing up. This issue will never be settled to everyone's satisfaction.

Edited December 11, 2018 by terrydtx

[POA1]

39 minutes ago, doublebzz said:

There has been some mention of relaxed or casual dress standards on most of the luxury lines.  This is true, but having sailed multiple times on Oceania and Seabourn, I never saw anyone wearing baseball hats, t-shirts or flip flops outside of the pool area and certainly not in the MDR for evening dinner.  

We've sailed on Silversea, and while there was no strict dress code, everyone sort of dressed country club casual or better automatically. I was referring to a line like Seadream Yacht Club when I was talking about casual luxury lines. 

[iancal]

We believe that HAL's Gala attire guidelines are much more reflective of their customers' changing wishes.  

 

We switched to casual mid cruise one evening a number of years ago and never went back.  HAL's current guidelines provide  choice.   

[SargassoPirate]

I've found an easy way to dress up on formal/gala/whatever nights and not have to pack a lot of extras.  My "cruise clothes" menu that I pack for dress up nights now consists of one pair of black slacks, one pair of nice black jeans, two or three ribbed black T-shirts, and one black sport coat.  I guarantee I'll look more dressed up than half of the men in the MDR and I don't have to tie a rag around my neck to fit in.

 

 

[ScottC4746]

I remember an RCCL cruise from LA to Ensenada three nighter.  T-shirts and shorts in the main dining room all three nights even the formal night.

[Copper10-8]

14 minutes ago, ScottC4746 said:

I remember an RCCL cruise from LA to Ensenada three nighter.  T-shirts and shorts in the main dining room all three nights even the formal night.

 

On the good old Viking Serenade

 

[SWFLAOK]

On 12/11/2018 at 9:28 AM, POA1 said:

We've sailed on Silversea, and while there was no strict dress code, everyone sort of dressed country club casual or better automatically. I was referring to a line like Seadream Yacht Club when I was talking about casual luxury lines. 

We sailed on both Silver Sea and Seadream Yacht Club this year and there were dress codes enforced on both of them. Silver Sea has formal nights, and we had 3 of them on our November cruise. You are not allowed to go to any bar or restaurant without a jacket on a formal night. At the Dining Room,  you need a tux, dinner jacket or dark suit with a tie for men, and a gown or cocktail dress for women. We did not see anyone seated that wasn't dressed appropriately for formal night. We did see people dressed more casually than they should have been on other nights. On Seadream, there were rules for dinner, and showing up with shorts would send you back to your cabin to change. To me, the big problem is  cruise lines expecting people to have gowns and a tux/dinner jacket for dinner. I don't think most cruise passengers want to take up room in their suitcase, and/or don't want to buy something they won't use at home. I think dress code is a throwback to my parents generation, and I'm over 60.

[SetAnOpenCourse]

On 12/11/2018 at 11:02 AM, iancal said:

We believe that HAL's Gala attire guidelines are much more reflective of their customers' changing wishes.  

 

We switched to casual mid cruise one evening a number of years ago and never went back.  HAL's current guidelines provide  choice.   

I can’t help but to be curious - why did your switch happen “mid cruise”?  It sounds like there must be a little story there.

 

 

IMO, Holland America has honed in on a reasonably flexible, sensible approach to this issue.  I’m glad the various cruise lines aren’t indistinguishable; that they have their own sort-of personalities.

[iancal]

No story really.  I wore a suit and tie every day.  Packed it for a 10 or day cruise on Princess.  Three formal nights.  

 

In the late afternoon of the second formal my spouse looked at me and said let's not bother.  It is a busman's dinner for you...and the whole thing is more than a bit artificial.  Besides, neither of us really liked baked alaska let alone the baked alaska parade.

 

So we ate in the buffet.   It was a Caribbean cruise.  Sun Princess had an outdoor seating area and that is where we ate.  Food was good, warm breeze was wonderful, and there was no clanging and banking.  We enjoyed it so much that the only other time in the past 10 years is when we have been with a MIL and FIL who wanted to try it out.

 

We have done one or two formal/gala nights since then.  They only served to re-enforce our decision to not bother with it any more.  Seems to us the food quality decreased to the point where is not much different than the rubber chicken circuit.  The only exception would be the place settings.  But you don't eat those! On some ships we do buffet, on others alternate dining venues.   We subsequently switched to carry on only because cruises became an add on to independent land tours.

 

No great mystery.  We both got to the point where the effort was greater than the enjoyment and for us there were more enjoyable alternatives.  I think it is great that if someone wants to dress up, go whole hog as were, then more power to them.  

Edited December 13, 2018 by iancal

[ithaca gal]

4 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

We sailed on both Silver Sea and Seadream Yacht Club this year and there were dress codes enforced on both of them. Silver Sea has formal nights, and we had 3 of them on our November cruise. You are not allowed to go to any bar or restaurant without a jacket on a formal night. At the Dining Room,  you need a tux, dinner jacket or dark suit with a tie for men, and a gown or cocktail dress for women. We did not see anyone seated that wasn't dressed appropriately for formal night. We did see people dressed more casually than they should have been on other nights. On Seadream, there were rules for dinner, and showing up with shorts would send you back to your cabin to change. To me, the big problem is  cruise lines expecting people to have gowns and a tux/dinner jacket for dinner. I don't think most cruise passengers want to take up room in their suitcase, and/or don't want to buy something they won't use at home. I think dress code is a throwback to my parents generation, and I'm over 60.

I am also over 60 and definitely don't feel like the dress code is a throwback to my parents generation.

[SWFLAOK]

Well I guess that depends on how far over 60 you are. If it's 25 or 30 years then... Sorry,  I'm just kidding with that. I do believe in dress codes, but not the tux and gowns.  I'm only a few years over 60,  and I've only worn a gown  2  times in my life (when it wasn't required for a wedding). I still have those gowns which were worn for upscale New Year's Eve parties in the early 2000's. That's the only time I've seen my husband in a tux ,and he looked very good. I'm saving those gowns for my wake. Someone else will need to choose between the 2. But I remember my mom loving to dress up in a long dress, and my father wearing a suit and tie (the same thing he wore to work everyday)  for a regular Saturday night dinner at a local restaurant with a few other couples. I've never done that.

But, I do like cruise ships having a dress code that requires at least upscale casual at dinner, and at bars after 6PM. Anyone who wants to wear sweats, shorts, caps, yoga pants, or pajamas should stay in their cabins after 6PM and order room service.

[slidergirl]

39 minutes ago, SWFLAOK said:

Well I guess that depends on how far over 60 you are. If it's 25 or 30 years then... Sorry,  I'm just kidding with that. I do believe in dress codes, but not the tux and gowns.  I'm only a few years over 60,  and I've only worn a gown  2  times in my life (when it wasn't required for a wedding). I still have those gowns which were worn for upscale New Year's Eve parties in the early 2000's. That's the only time I've seen my husband in a tux ,and he looked very good. I'm saving those gowns for my wake. Someone else will need to choose between the 2. But I remember my mom loving to dress up in a long dress, and my father wearing a suit and tie (the same thing he wore to work everyday)  for a regular Saturday night dinner at a local restaurant with a few other couples. I've never done that.

But, I do like cruise ships having a dress code that requires at least upscale casual at dinner, and at bars after 6PM. Anyone who wants to wear sweats, shorts, caps, yoga pants, or pajamas should stay in their cabins after 6PM and order room service.

 

I did not see anything on the HAL website where it stated that the "dress code" was for anything but the MDR in the evening, and "country club casual" for the specialty dining areas.  So, as far as I could see, going back and changing into yoga pants, sweats, etc,  for non-dining area activities in the evening are acceptable by HAL.  Would someone point out where it is in hard copy that it states otherwise?

 

Speaking of wakes and clothes:  when my Mom passed away, we were trying to figure out what to dress her in when we laid her out for the viewing.  The funeral director was a good and lifetime friend of the family (I grew up with him - we lived a block from his family and the funeral home).  He pulled out this God-awful red formal gown and said "I think she'd want this one."  We all started laughing heartily - all of knew she had nothing to do with "fancy" clothes.  We chose one of her suits instead.   Now, I can imagine someone going to David and asking to borrow that gown and wearing that gown on a HAL ship because she heard she had to have a gown for Formal Night 😉

 

Edited December 14, 2018 by slidergirl