Options for avoiding formal nights

My wife and I aren't big on formal nights and I'm wondering what options would be reasonable given culture on typical holland america cruise these days. I've seen a few post that lead me to believe a fairly large % of people in the main dining room don't respect the dress code and we wouldn't do that but at same time don't think it reasonable to eat in cabin.

My only experience cruising is with Princess about 10 years ago and we avoided the formal nights by eating at the specialty restaurants those nights - felt very comfortable in a jacket and nice pants (no tie) and am wondering how "reasonable" this is on holland america? what other options would people suggest? Not sure makes a difference but am booked on Caribbean cruise leaving Feb 16th.

Thanks in advance.

I think your options are to eat in the Lido or order room service in your cabin. The specialty restaurants will use the same dress code as the MDR. I'm sure others will post with their experience too.

good luck

ML

You will find many in the Lido and Canaletto not following the formal dress code. Only a very small % don't follow the dress code in the MDR, and almost none in the PG.

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You will find many in the Lido and Canaletto not following the formal dress code.

As far as I can tell, even in the MDR, the great majority of diners don't dress in formalwear.

As far as I can tell, even in the MDR, the great majority of diners don't dress in formalwear.

In the MDR most men are wearing coat and tie (not necessarily tux). If that does not interest you, the Lido is a good option.

You have a choice of the Lido, Canaletto, or cabin service if you do not wish to dress up.

On our last several cruises we decided to not eat in the main dining room.

On formal nights in the Pinnacle (and the Tamarind on the Signature ships) we noticed a handful of men who wore only slacks, dress shirt and a jacket. Most men had ties on.

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam for three out of four weeks in November & December. The dress code was enforced in the Main Dining Room. People in the Pinnacle Grill and the Tamarind were pretty dressy as well.

We saw people turned away without proper attire, so be very wary of people who tell you that there's no dress code.(Hopefully Cruz Chic, Sapper1, Shrimpboat123, and others will back me up on this.)

Last week on the Westerdam we saw one gentleman in resort wear, but he was given a coat to wear to the table.

One option - order off the main dining room menu to be brought to your cabin at whatever time you wish (you must order during the first hour the main dining room is open however).

When in Rome ...

Not sure when I last wore a tux - think it was at my wedding (54 years).

But I always wear a dark suit and tie for formal nights. I usually wore the same suit jacket at the $$ restaurants or in the MDR -sans tie on other nights.

... or cabin service if you do not wish to dress up.

One option - order off the main dining room menu to be brought to your cabin ...

OP said:

... but at same time don't think it reasonable to eat in cabin.

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam for three out of four weeks in November & December. The dress code was enforced in the Main Dining Room. People in the Pinnacle Grill and the Tamarind were pretty dressy as well.

 

We saw people turned away without proper attire, so be very wary of people who tell you that there's no dress code.(Hopefully Cruz Chic, Sapper1, Shrimpboat123, and others will back me up on this.)

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam for two week in November (one of them at the same time as POA1) and I definitely will back up his comments. We sailed on the NA again at the end of January and nothing had changed -- men were turned away from the MDR if they did not have a jacket. I said to the Dining Room Manager "You are enforcing the dress code!" and he said, with a bit of surprise at my comment "Of course, Madam!". (I told him I was happy to see the enforcement. If one knows what is expected, what's the point of trying to fight it?)

While there are some loaner jackets, don't count on it -- be prepared! :)

My husband wore a suit every day of his career so trying to get him in one now is next to impossible. Won't a sport jacket, collar shirt and slacks work? He can carry a tie in his pocket. Will a camel color jacket work or must it be dark? We don't want to be out of line and hack people off but these old customs are why we haven't cruised HAL before. Please no flaming.....it's just our feeling. It's not like we'll be showing up in shorts and flip-flops. There is so much conflicting information that I guess I need reassurance that we will be able to dine where we choose.

Karen

On a formal night on Prinsendam in Iceland, we shared a table with a gentleman from Downunder who did not wear a coat, but a vest. No problems. Actually, we sat with someone who also only wore a vest on another Prinsendam cruise. They may be more lenient on overseas cruises.

My husband wore a suit every day of his career so trying to get him in one now is next to impossible. Won't a sport jacket, collar shirt and slacks work? He can carry a tie in his pocket. Will a camel color jacket work or must it be dark? We don't want to be out of line and hack people off but these old customs are why we haven't cruised HAL before. Please no flaming.....it's just our feeling. It's not like we'll be showing up in shorts and flip-flops. There is so much conflicting information that I guess I need reassurance that we will be able to dine where we choose.

Karen

Yes, it will work. Any color jacket. Good idea about the tie, just in case. I am tired on formal nights, just because!!

OP said:[/size]

I just thought that they might change their mind if they knew that they could get the items from the MDR menu brought to their cabin (usually a very good menu on formal nights).

DaveOKC

My husband wore a suit every day of his career so trying to get him in one now is next to impossible. Won't a sport jacket, collar shirt and slacks work? He can carry a tie in his pocket. Will a camel color jacket work or must it be dark? We don't want to be out of line and hack people off but these old customs are why we haven't cruised HAL before. Please no flaming.....it's just our feeling. It's not like we'll be showing up in shorts and flip-flops. There is so much conflicting information that I guess I need reassurance that we will be able to dine where we choose.

Karen

No flaming here -- just saying that "these old customs" are why we continue to cruise HAL. We took a Carnival cruise with our son and his fiancée because balcony cabins for both of us were more affordable than two on HAL. On formal night, my son and my husband both wore tuxes -- happily. Don't flame me for saying this but I was very dismayed that the guest at the next table not only did not put any effort into dressing nicer but he was wearing old jeans and an Ultimate Fight Club T-shirt. He was allowed entry with no problem at all. I know that there are lots and lots of people who say they don't care what others wear, but there is a time and place for everything. I do not apologize for expecting people to follow suggestions for proper attire that are made known ahead of time.

Having said that, it sounds as if what you are suggesting your husband will wear will be just fine in the MDR!

I would simply recommend you eat in the Lido on Formal Night. Many times they will offer the same food as the MDR, just in a different presentation. We quit doing "formal night" about 10 years ago and since then used the Caribe Café on Princess or the Lido on HAL. Never been disappointed in that decision.

We were on the NA last month and DD's fiance wore a suit - but no tie - on formal night. No problem.

DH cannot comfortably get into a suit jacket due to his handicap and weakness on left side. He wears a sweater and shirt & tie, no problem.

As far as I can tell, even in the MDR, the great majority of diners don't dress in formalwear.

Sorry but I disagree with you as most people follow the dress code on formal nights. There are always the exceptions who do not follow the guidelines and try to eat in the MDR. Have seen allowances made (a gentleman was in a wheelchair and had additional medical issues that were apparent) and people turned away on a Caribbean cruise in early Dec last year. (YEAH). We were seated close to the door so watched people come in as part of our pre-dinner enjoyment.

As someone said - they will get flamed for their comment - so here goes. Many people love HAL BECAUSE of the formal nights and if you object to formal nights, there are many other cruise lines to chose from who do not have formal nights. If there were only 1 or 2 lines I would not have said this but the majority of mid-range and many upper range lines have dropped the formal night concept. Also as many have already mentioned, you can get anything from the MDR menu from room service and most are served in the Lido. So for those of us who enjoy formal nights - please use one of your many options and leave the formal nights alone!

It's weird.

First, that Holland America's description of formal wear seems to be dumbed-down to include semi-formal. It's not a formal dress code at all. (I'm speaking of formal wear for gentlemen; ladies' formal wear can be a much more complicated issue.)

Second, that eyewitness accounts of the line's "enforcement" of the "dress code" seems limited to requiring a jacket, and simply ignoring the rest of the dress code. Enforcing the code seems to consist of ignoring the code.

Formal wear for gentlemen is pretty simple. It's either "black tie" or "white tie", and "white tie" is almost never expected. So it's down to "black tie", and that's pretty simple. I know exactly what to wear; I don't worry about whether slacks and a sport jacket will be enough, I don't wonder what tie to wear, or whether my suit is dark enough. Little choice makes it so much simpler.

Faced with wondering whether the almost-a-dress-code might be enforced, and what deviations might be acceptable to the "enforcers" if I placated them by donning an ill-fitting jacket over casual clothes, I would always prefer to take the easy way out. I simply meet the widespread standards of black tie. Done. No worries, no questions about whether I'll be dressed well enough to get past the maitre-d'.

All that effort spent trying to just barely meet some maitre-d's arbitrary definition of what's close enough, while doing my best to avoid actually dressing formally, seems like it would be a colossal waste of my time. If an event is formal, that's how I dress, and it's so easy. Black-tie is a boon to men. While the ladies may agonize about a dress, shoes, bag, hair, etc., I know pretty much exactly what I'm going to wear. A few small choices about tie fabric, or cummerbund-vs-waistcoat, if I really want to amuse myself while she's laying out a dozen outfits on every available piece of furniture, and complaining about all of them.

I think part of the problem here is that Holland America explicitly considers semiformal wear to be "formal", which it's not; and casual wear is often accepted as well. They compound the problem with arbitrary enforcement of a single garment (jacket), while pretending that they're actually enforcing the dress code. Putting an odd jacket over casual clothing does no make the outfit formal, nor does it in any way meet the line's published dress code standards.

My husband wore a suit every day of his career so trying to get him in one now is next to impossible. Won't a sport jacket, collar shirt and slacks work? He can carry a tie in his pocket. Will a camel color jacket work or must it be dark? We don't want to be out of line and hack people off but these old customs are why we haven't cruised HAL before. Please no flaming.....it's just our feeling. It's not like we'll be showing up in shorts and flip-flops. There is so much conflicting information that I guess I need reassurance that we will be able to dine where we choose.

Karen

Camel colour jacket will be OK with tie. Enjoy your cruise.

Sorry but I disagree with you as most people follow the dress code on formal nights. There are always the exceptions who do not follow the guidelines and try to eat in the MDR. Have seen allowances made (a gentleman was in w wheelchair and had additional medical issues that were apparent) and people turned away - even on a Caribbean cruise in early Dec last year. We were seated close to the door so watched people come in as part of our pre-dinner enjoyment.

I stand by my claim, the majority of people don't wear formal wear. Suit and tie is not formalwear, it's semiformal. If Holland America doesn't care whether diners dress formally, which is apparent, they should drop the phony "formal" tag.

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam for three out of four weeks in November & December. The dress code was enforced in the Main Dining Room. People in the Pinnacle Grill and the Tamarind were pretty dressy as well.

 

We saw people turned away without proper attire, so be very wary of people who tell you that there's no dress code.(Hopefully Cruz Chic, Sapper1, Shrimpboat123, and others will back me up on this.)

Yup. We usually sat in the Ocean Bar with our pre dinner drinks. On formal nights it was fun to watch people in shorts or other inappropriate dress headed back to the dining room. We made a game out of predicting who would be coming back along the hall in short order. We were usually right. Great entertainment. :D

Of course most people looked very nice and made the effort. It was also fun to see the lovely outfits. Some were absolutely stunning.

It was the first cruise where I noticed the line up of loaner jackets at the podium in the MDR.

I stand by my claim, the majority of people don't wear formal wear. Suit and tie is not formalwear, it's semiformal. If Holland America doesn't care whether diners dress formally, which is apparent, they should drop the phony "formal" tag.

Sorry mudshark - I was using HAL's definition of what to wear on what they choose to call a formal night, not the true definition of formal which you have cited. The semi-formal night on HAL ships disappeared quite a while back.