Dressing for dinner on a Baltic cruises

[we're sailing away....]

Do most people get dressed up on formal night on a Baltic cruises?

[catl331]

Do most people get dressed up on formal night on a Baltic cruises?
It was no different on our Westerdam Baltic cruise than on any other ... 25>30% tuxes/gowns, 60>65% dark suits/fancy dresses, and the rest "assorted".

[GeriatricNurse]

Do most people get dressed up on formal night on a Baltic cruises?


Well, that would depend on where one was dining! If one were dining in the MDR or PG on formal nights, then one would be expected to dress formally, either in a tuxedo or dark suit for men & a gown or some sort of dress for women! Now, if one were to dine in either the Lido or Canaletto on formal nights, then one may dress smart casual! :)

[Opinions]

Well, that would depend on where one was dining! If one were dining in the MDR or PG on formal nights, then one would be expected to dress formally, either in a tuxedo or dark suit for men & a gown or some sort of dress for women! Now, if one were to dine in either the Lido or Canaletto on formal nights, then one may dress smart casual! :)

The HAL dress code also says men may wear a jacket and tie and the ladies may wear a suit on formal nights in the main dining room.

[milamber]

Do most people get dressed up on formal night on a Baltic cruises?

We are on the same cruise as you and I will be wearing a tux;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

On our Baltic cruises -- people were more dressed up on formal nights than what we had in the Caribbean.

[kazu]

I find people 'dress up' more on the European, Baltic & Med cruises than in the Caribbean.:D

[schoolinmy3]

On our Med cruise cruisers were dressed up to eat in Canaletto as well. On the third formal night we wanted to have our pictures taken again as the first set didn't turn out too well. Since I was travelling with my son and he was wearing a tux, I wanted a nice photo to remember our cruise. :) We were too full to eat an entire meal in the dining room so we ate outside of the Lido on the aft deck in our formal wear. :D Oh, and our pictures did turn out nice.
Diane

[CtheW0rld]

europeans in general dress better than the average american. doesn't matter if they are going to the corner store or formal night.

[milamber]

europeans in general dress better than the average american. doesn't matter if they are going to the corner store or formal night.

We didn't find that on our Princess cruise. We are British and, on the whole, we found the Americans to be better dressed and better company than the other nationalities. Interesting to see if that is the same with HAL.

[we're sailing away....]

We are on the same cruise as you and I will be wearing a tux;)
See you soon

[Silverwing]

We're on the 27th June sailing too and my DH and DS (age 20) will both be wearing a tux.

However it's going to be much easier for us as it's the first time that we don't have to fly to a HAL cruise - hurray! I can take my favourite evening wear too, rather than things I don't mind putting in an aircraft hold. No weight considerations either, so I can wear a different outfit for all three formal nights, rather than my usual 'mix and match'.

Not long to go now - getting very excited!

[clueless2]

Do most people get dressed up on formal night on a Baltic cruises?
We'll be on there with you. I'll have a black suit, white shirt and tie. Wife will have some type of dark fancy pants outfit (obviously I'm not what you would call an expert on womens' fashion so "dark fancy pants outfit" will have to do for a description) :)

[KirkNC]

On our Rotterdam cruise in a few weeks, I will be dressed up in a tux as well.

Kirk

[we're sailing away....]

We'll be on there with you. I'll have a black suit, white shirt and tie. Wife will have some type of dark fancy pants outfit (obviously I'm not what you would call an expert on womens' fashion so "dark fancy pants outfit" will have to do for a description) :)
See you soon

[hattie the cattie]

We've just come back from the Baltic on the Eurodam, it was our first HAL cruise.
I was a bit shocked at some of the outfits at the Captain's Welcome toast but it seemed much better in the MDR.
The second formal night was on our second night in St Petersburg, by then most people had had 2 very full days, it seemed very strange timing.

[KirkNC]

We just returned from Rotterdam where we sailed on the Rotterdam and about half the passengers (over 700) were Dutch. It was easily the most dressed up cruise we had ever been aboard. The Dutch are very good dressers!

Kirk

[Mary Ellen]

We had WELL over 75% tuxes on our Baltic cruise. It was rare to see a gent not in one. Easily the best dressed bunch we've ever sailed with.

[Spinner2]

Agree that Baltic cruisers are better-dressed for dinner regardless of whether it's a formal night or not. It was that way on our May 22-June 15 cruise.

Odd though, about choosing the second St.Petersburg day for formal night; when sail-away is after 5 and the CD invites people to come out onto the bow so they can hear his scenic cruise commentary as we left St. Petersburg, somehow that doesn't jive with getting your formal duds on.

It was explained to me as the only night they could do it; the staff believed that the recent sea day had fallen too close after the first formal night. I still think that would have been better than a formal night after 2 days of serious touring by most passengers!

[3rdGenCunarder]

Agree that Baltic cruisers are better-dressed for dinner regardless of whether it's a formal night or not. It was that way on our May 22-June 15 cruise.

Odd though, about choosing the second St.Petersburg day for formal night; when sail-away is after 5 and the CD invites people to come out onto the bow so they can hear his scenic cruise commentary as we left St. Petersburg, somehow that doesn't jive with getting your formal duds on.

It was explained to me as the only night they could do it; the staff believed that the recent sea day had fallen too close after the first formal night. I still think that would have been better than a formal night after 2 days of serious touring by most passengers!

That does soud like a strange choice. A sea day is always better for a formal night (unless it's the last night). It gives pasengers more time for primping.

I have found that people tend to dress up more on European cruises than Caribbean cruises.

[Seren Ap Gwalia]

We are sailing on the Rotterdam in a few weeks and will be wearing Tux and evening dress, but we like to get dressed up and its part of the attraction of HAL for us so it wouldn't matter which HAL cruise it was!

[Bippie]

Agree that Baltic cruisers are better-dressed for dinner regardless of whether it's a formal night or not. It was that way on our May 22-June 15 cruise.

Odd though, about choosing the second St.Petersburg day for formal night; when sail-away is after 5 and the CD invites people to come out onto the bow so they can hear his scenic cruise commentary as we left St. Petersburg, somehow that doesn't jive with getting your formal duds on.

It was explained to me as the only night they could do it; the staff believed that the recent sea day had fallen too close after the first formal night. I still think that would have been better than a formal night after 2 days of serious touring by most passengers!

Having a formal night on the second St. Petersburg day led to some other odd situations. The Eurodam did not sell any Russian souveniers (except Faberge eggs) until sail away from St. Petersburg. In my opinion, that's because then it is too late to realize their prices are higher than they are in St. Petersburg for similar items. (Of course, they keep telling you they have the best prices.) They set up tables and bins with all of the items in a room off of the main shop on the ship. It was packed and looked like locust had descended on the room. The oddity is that a lot of the shoppers were in their formal night attire (from jacket/ties to tuxes for men and a variety of dressy clothes for the ladies including formal length gowns). Looking at the room was interesting and almost comical.

This was announced as the only time you could purchase these items on the cruise and I couldn't beleive the frenzy this caused. People were buying like crazy. They conducted a lucky draw for three gifts (a frame, a book, and a set of nesting dolls) and the room was absolutely packed for the drawing. Odd mix of formal attire and informal attire in the shopping area that evening.

By the way, they had second chance to buy these items a few days later despite what they said about the first sale.

I don't want you to get the wrong impression - it was almost fun when viewed from afar. The shops use a lot of interesting tactics to move their goods and I already knew to take their statements with a grain of salt. Their tactics worked - the checkout lines and the amount of stuff sold must have been the best day of sales during our cruise.

So, I agree that this is a strange day to have a formal night but with 5 port days in a row they had to select one. Personally I wish they had waited a day until after Helsinki.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Having a formal night on the second St. Petersburg day led to some other odd situations. The Eurodam did not sell any Russian souveniers (except Faberge eggs) until sail away from St. Petersburg. In my opinion, that's because then it is too late to realize their prices are higher than they are in St. Petersburg for similar items. (Of course, they keep telling you they have the best prices.) They set up tables and bins with all of the items in a room off of the main shop on the ship. It was packed and looked like locust had descended on the room. The oddity is that a lot of the shoppers were in their formal night attire (from jacket/ties to tuxes for men and a variety of dressy clothes for the ladies including formal length gowns). Looking at the room was interesting and almost comical.


I hadn't given it any thought, but on our cruise on Caronia, they also sold Russian souvenirs on the sea day after we left St Petersburg. Maybe it's part of the agreement with St P that they won't be in competition until after the port stop? We'd had enough time to buy souvenirs on three of our tours, so we looked at the ship sale only out of curiousity to see what they had. We didnt see anything that we wanted, it was pretty much the usual small stuff. I don't remember any price comparisons.

Did you think to take a picture of the frenzy at the sale?

[Palmetto Lady]

Do most people get dressed up on formal night on a Baltic cruises?
Why would you think they wouldn't???

[Opinions]

Why would you think they wouldn't???

Perhaps it's a port intensive cruise...In my opinion if it's a cruise with few sea days there are more who are inclined not to dress up.