Formal Nights Tux or Suit?

[pnhmrk]

[quote name='imacruizer']In your World Cruise, you will have lots of port days which will be much less formal. You will also have many formal nights. But not every night on your World Cruise is going to be formal. You will also have access to the self service laundry rooms which would make your trip much easier.[/quote]

You also don't need a new outfit for each evening - that means that you're not carrying 81 sets of evening apparel, just a few! (Unless you enjoy going shopping to buy them - in that case treat every evening as formal and every suitcase as essential!):D

[carlmm]

[quote name='pnhmrk']You also don't need a new outfit for each evening - that means that you're not carrying 81 sets of evening apparel, just a few! (Unless you enjoy going shopping to buy them - in that case treat every evening as formal and every suitcase as essential!):D[/QUOTE]

On the other hand there are the stories about the lady who brought 56 gowns for 56 formal nights on her cruise and about the couple who always books an extra cabin for the luggage ...

No, seriously, most people will want to take more luggage on a world cruise than on crossing or a short cruise but not something different for each day and night. You can use the the ships dry-cleaning and the self-service laundry. It is very common to wear the same dress more than once on a cruise that long.
At least on the QE2 Cunard world cruises are elegant (e.g. somebody reported 56 formal / 44 informal / 3 casual nights). Enjoy your chance of being part of the great tradition.

[Wendell]

We're contemplating an Alaska cruise with HAL either this or next fall - perhaps you could join us. Admittedly, HAL is slumming after Cunard, however it is always nice to grace the less fortunate with our presence and the benefit of our advice, don't you think?

HAL's Alaska cruises depart from Seattle, so we could take you on a tour of Seattle for a few days before (or after) we depart for Alaska.

Let me see if we can match the shore excursions that Cunard's staff provide ...

You will receive a personal greeting at SeaTac from the chauffer who wil take you and your luggage in a Ford F150 pickup truck - it seats 5 with plenty of space in back for luggage.

We'd start with the Underground Seattle tour (compares/contrasts with the Paris Sewer/Catacomb tours.) A trip up the Space Needle, followed by lunch at Beth's (Home of the 12 Egg Omlette, "where the Elite meet the Beat".) After lunch, we would bicycle around Lake Washington to beautiful Redmond (27 miles, mostly flat) and check in to your hotel. Your baggage will arrive hours before you do.

The next morning we would greet you at the hotel and take you across the street to Starbucks. From there, we would load into the chaffeur driven Pickup Truck and drive down 1 block to ... the other Starbucks. In case you're not fully caffeinated, there are 2 more Starbucks in the next 1/2 mile. We will pass by one of studios where Northern Exposure was filmed and from there, we will drive down Highway 202 to Fall City and visit the Snoqualmie Falls (made famous in the TV Series Twin Peaks.) From there, we will head into North Bend (home of the Mar T cherry pies, again made famous by the TV series Twin Peaks.)

We will head East out of North Bend onto I-90 and stop at Exit 38 (if you continue on I-90, you will reach Boston several days later.) From there, we hile 30 minutes up the Iron Horse Trail to the rock climbing area and we spend the morning climbing 5.6-5.8 level rocks (we own 2 climbing ropes, harnesses and plenty of rock climbing gear.)

The afternoons get a little warm, so we'll head back to the truck and grab lunch en-route to the Upper Middle fork of the Snoqualmie River. We'll inflate our 5 person Achilles white water raft and paddle down the Class II/III rapids to North Bend. If you are in the mood for some real excitement, we could take the Middle-Middle in addition, adding 2 hours to the trip and an opportunity for some Class III/IV whitewater. Please bear in mind that the boat is not a self-bailer, so someone is going to need to bail.

Once we arrive in North Bend, we'll telephone a local who will shuttle us back to the truck. Dinner can be had at a variety of restaurants in the area, rock climbing and whitewater rafting will have us both ravenous and fragrant so I'd eschew anything listed in the Michelin Guide and aim for Scott's Dairy Freeze and their "Triple Bypass Burger."
Alternatively, we can have barbecue at the shuttle driver's house - he's local to North Bend and has great stories to tell about his career at Microsoft. He cashed in his stock options and retired 7 years ago at the grand old age of 35.

After dinner, we will return you to your hotel for an evening of slumber.

The next morning, we'll arrive at your hotel and take you out for Dim Sum at Top Gun Chinese restaurant. From there, we will head (again in the pickup truck) off to the Underwater Sports in Edmonds to collect your rental SCUBA gear. From there, it's only 100 yards up the waterfront to the Edmonds Underwater Park (yes, it's really an underwater park) and we will spend the remainder of the day doing 2 SCUBA dives in the park. In between dives, we'll have lunch in beautiful Edmonds (your choice of Mexican, burgers, pizza or organic bakery) and stop by and visit Rick Steves' travel agency (he's headquartered in Edmonds.)

After returning the rental gear, we will return to Redmond and we'll host you at our house for an evening of swatting mosquitoes ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H barbecue and an opportunity to visit with the llama, 2 alpaca, 3 angora goats, ducks, Toulouse geese, chickens, Jacob sheep and Leonberger dog.

[travel-to-go]

Ah, Wendell!
I'm not sure who your invite was aimed at, but it sounds sublime!

If I was in better condition, I should love to do all of that. I can't get scuba certified as I have a history of asthma. Knowing I have skydived and own a plane, when I asked my Doc to sign permission, he said, "Do you do ANYthing on the ground?" I said, "Well, yeah, sometiems when it rains! <G>"

Bit I would have to insist on a bit of time to go over to a couple of buldings in Redmond that house many people I work with daily, but have never met1 These would be the fine folks at the former AT&T Wireless, now part of Cingular. They are in Redmond and Bothell.

Hmm, fall, huh? I will be in Key West then. Darn!

Karie,
who would love to come out anad play with you and Hobbitt!

[Hobbit]

Wendell loves to play tour guide.

[Wendell]

Send me email at [email]wendellj@gmail.com[/email] - let's work up a plan for your visit to Seattle.

[travel-to-go]

[quote name='Wendell']Send me email at [EMAIL="wendellj@gmail.com"]wendellj@gmail.com[/EMAIL] - let's work up a plan for your visit to Seattle.[/quote]

Gee, and I just got through sending responses to TWO invites for meetings in Redmond for 1st half of the year overview! (and haven't yet responded to a third) I told the guy running the show that Gee, I even had an invite out there this week! <G>

Wish I could. And my mountain climbing days are over. (not that they ever really started!) But I can still canoe pretty good. I just have to have a canoe with higher capacity than when I was in the girl scouts. (Which is why I take the Queen Mary 2- She can hold me!<LOL>)

Karie,
Who needs a bigger boat these days, but not TOO big!

Besides. i wouldn't fit in Seattle. I don't drink coffee any more!

[Hobbit]

[attachment=18137:name]Here's me in my black leather tuxedo.