Dress: Gala nights versus Formal Nights

[RJ2002]

cruisetheworld67, you will be just fine wearing a nice collared shirt and slacks on Gala Nights. I would not bother with the tie.

 

Enjoy your cruise! :)

[ithaca gal]

While a tie is not necessary for the MDR Gala Nights, men in collared shirts and slacks with no ties were definitely in the minority on our recent Eurodam b2b cruise. The vast majority of men wore jackets and, if not, they wore collared shirts, slacks and ties.

 

As for whether women should dress to "match" their partner, dressing up or down wise, it seems that it is nicer to move up a notch to match your partner rather than stepping down a notch to match. I know many women who would LOVE to dress up a bit more on a cruise but their spouses don't want to be bothered. Seems a shame when it is such a small thing to do to make your wife happy. But that's just my opinion!

[bUU]

In our case, the roles are reversed, but I appreciate my wife's perspective and I think it would be inappropriate for me to pressure her into dressing more formally when there is no expectation for us to do so.

[iancal]

My spouse would be much more willing to dress up if the function was near our home and if she truly viewed it as a special event.

 

But that desire dissipates when she realizes that she has to pack and take the attire for such a limited time on our vacation and when she sees an ever increasing decline in what the cruise lines do on those evenings to make it special. The answer now is nadda. They really do not do anything. From our perspective it is just a marketing 'nod' to the dwindling number of customers who still want the experience.

Edited December 29, 2016 by iancal

[navybankerteacher]

navybankerteacher,

 

I suppose someone will say I am being snarky - but I am not intending to be - just an honest question. Why should a husband be the one to have to dress to match the wife? Why should she not be the one to dress to more closely match the dress preferences of the husband?

 

Neither husband nor wife should be more obligated to dress to match the other; but there does seem to be a difference between pressing one's partner to dress down and encouraging that partner to dress up.

 

If there is no difference, I would expect the schlub to prevail every time (which may explain what we increasingly see everywhere - not just in cruise ship dining rooms).

[POA1]

My spouse would be much more willing to dress up if the function was near our home and if she truly viewed it as a special event.

 

But that desire dissipates when she realizes that she has to pack and take the attire for such a limited time on our vacation and when she sees an ever increasing decline in what the cruise lines do on those evenings to make it special. The answer now is nadda. They really do not do anything. From our perspective it is just a marketing 'nod' to the dwindling number of customers who still want the experience.

 

We tend to roll in the opposite direction. If the trip calls for a formal suitcase, the trip gets one. Our cruise two weeks ago on the Eurodam was guy-casual, with ladies dressed to the nines and gents to the threes.

 

For what it's worth, the only - and I mean only - change on formal night was the lack of chair covers. (I never understood the hate that the chair covers got. They make you photograph well. They provide a deep white against which your formal black might pop.)

 

So.... In closing, you see a marketing "nod." I don't really.

[shipgeeks]

On our recent Oosterdam cruise, there was a large (350 or so) political group who totally ignored the 'collared shirt" requirement. They wore their very plain tee-shirts with their logo emblazoned, all day and night, and even in the MDR on gala nights. They were not hassled by the matre'd, but didn't seem to care about the very minimal requirement of a collared shirt. These t-shirts were not even the polo style with a collar, just a plain $10 t-shirt with logo, front & back. This is the same group that complained that they were "offended" by the holiday themed music that was being played, only 2 weeks from Christmas, and HAL caved to the pressure and went back to rock-n-roll. I guess money talks and traditions walk.

Yikes! Totally unacceptable. In contrast, we were on NA in November with a large political group, and the men wore suit or blazer, most with ties, every evening (not just Gala), with the women appropriately and nicely dressed as well. They were recognizable around the ship by their lanyards, but did not interfere with any other passenger activities or spaces. Ideal shipmates.

[Harry1954]

Formal nights are a tradition of cruising ... my parents over the 50+ years and 50+ cruises looked forward on formal nights while cruising to those nights to dress 'to the 9s' whatever that meant.

 

DW and I have followed that tradition and dress with tux and ladies' evening wear. We are not attempting to impress anyone .. we are merely feasting on the occasion of such a tradition.

 

As HAL diminishes this tradition, we find it disheartening. I suppose HAL is keeping step with some many others desirous of doling out stone soup rather than meat and potatoes for reinvented traditions.

 

We find it sad, especially for our children's children.

 

harry

[ksmaxey]

Formal nights are a tradition of cruising ...

 

As HAL diminishes this tradition, we find it disheartening. I suppose HAL is keeping step with some many others desirous of doling out stone soup rather than meat and potatoes for reinvented traditions.

 

 

harry

 

All the way through college I had to wear a suit jacket or sport coat to fly. The entire travel industry has been lowering standards for years. The nail in the coffin I believe was the addition of fees for checked bags. We loved packing and dressing up but now we realize there is the extra cost both ways in addition to the dry cleaning. While I am sad, it is hard to spend so much for so little in return.

[iancal]

We don't like packing. Dressing up for the MDR no longer yields any special pleasure, and we certainly do not miss the Baked Alaska parade or the wait staff singing and the cruisers waving their serviettes.

 

And I certainly never want to wear a suit or jacket when flying. Had enough of that when I was working.

 

Times have changed. It does not imply that we want stone soup for dinner. But really, HAL's MDR dinners could hardly be called special. Yes, the dining room is very nice, the place settings are perfect, the service can be fine, the menu descriptions of the entree sound very mouth watering however the reality on the plate is frequently quite different. It is a crap shoot in terms of the food and the preparation. Banquet food. The only thing missing is the after dinner speech.

 

I am not complaining. I understand that changes have been made to keep fares low. We are OK with it. After all, if we want to spend the same, adjusted for inflation, we can always move up to a premium or luxury line or we can do alternate venue dining. It is simply one more choice. At the end of the day more choice is good.

Edited December 29, 2016 by iancal

[bUU]

That's key. The old option still exists. It just costs more, due to inflation, and is more limited, due to lack of popularity.

[WAPAVO]

On past cruise I would always wear a jacket and tie on formal nights.

 

With the introduction of Gala nights which seems "less formal" how out of place will I look if I still wear a shirt and tie but no jacket?

 

First this is acceptable right? I mean I won't be turned away from the MDR on Gala nights? I just can't stand wearing a jacket while eating. I always seem to get the sleeves in the soup or salad.:eek: I started removing the jacket anyway before sitting down and putting it on the back of the chair.

Plus it takes up too much room in the suitcase so I will be happy to leave it home. If anyone can help this clumsy old fool..........;)

 

Hi

We were on Dec 7, 2016 Noordam cruise and I wore a jacket once on the whole trip. On other Gala so called nights I wore a collared sport shirt and a sweater. Leave the jacket at home. This is what I did , go to the MDR and if they give you a hand device that they will buzz you, give them back the device and go to the Lido. The food up there is just as good and you have more of a selection.

From another clumsy old fool.

Walter

[RocketMan275]

Yikes! Totally unacceptable. In contrast, we were on NA in November with a large political group, and the men wore suit or blazer, most with ties, every evening (not just Gala), with the women appropriately and nicely dressed as well. They were recognizable around the ship by their lanyards, but did not interfere with any other passenger activities or spaces. Ideal shipmates.

 

The nicely dressed group on your cruise was from The Weekly Standard.

The group in t-shirts was from The Nation.

[RocketMan275]

Hi

We were on Dec 7, 2016 Noordam cruise and I wore a jacket once on the whole trip. On other Gala so called nights I wore a collared sport shirt and a sweater. Leave the jacket at home. This is what I did , go to the MDR and if they give you a hand device that they will buzz you, give them back the device and go to the Lido. The food up there is just as good and you have more of a selection.

From another clumsy old fool.

Walter

 

We prefer the Lido to the loud and crowded MDR. We can actually carry on a conversation.

[CaveDiving]

navybankerteacher,

 

I suppose someone will say I am being snarky - but I am not intending to be - just an honest question. Why should a husband be the one to have to dress to match the wife? Why should she not be the one to dress to more closely match the dress preferences of the husband?

 

I would think that perhaps around half of the time each of the couple could kind of call the shots and the other half would be glad to please.

 

Now perhaps we dress up a bit more than many others, We like to feel that our dinners are kind of special. I wear a jacket to dinner every night, usually with an open button down collar shirt. So I don’t travel with a jacket, I usually bring along at least six. And for longer cruises, which we often take, I’ll have eight or nine. It only takes one extra bag (36” rolling duffel) for all the packing.

 

We kind of miss the slow, gentile dining of past cruises. And are doing what we can to bring back the feelings. Just our way of cruising.

 

Scott & Karen

[sapper1]

 

We kind of miss the slow, gentile dining of past cruises. And are doing what we can to bring back the feelings. Just our way of cruising.

 

Scott & Karen

 

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and take it that you meant "genteel" dining and were not making an anti Semitic statement here. LOL.:D

Edited December 30, 2016 by sapper1

[sapper1]

In past years I used to love-----really love---the formal nights and would not have believed I would someday come to not really care if we have a gala night or not.

 

We do both more than comply with the dress code but we get no joy out of it anymore. My husband takes along a suit, blazer and sports jacket----along with a few good sweaters to wear over a collared shirt on the non gala evenings.

I wear cocktail dresses on gala evenings and always change for dinner on regular evenings.

 

It seems that gala evenings are little more than an opportunity for photographers to make their money.

 

We take longer cruises and so we have to take four suitcases that are getting increasingly hard for me to handle as I age. It breaks my back to weigh them and not all airports have porters to assist. My husband cannot help at all as he is considerably older than I am.

If the gala nights were eliminated we could get rid of at least one suitcase---two if I were brutal.

[shipgeeks]

The nicely dressed group on your cruise was from The Weekly Standard.

The group in t-shirts was from The Nation.

 

Actually, the nicely dressed (and behaved) group was National Review.

Edited December 30, 2016 by shipgeeks

[RocketMan275]

Actually, the nicely dressed (and behaved) group was National Review.

 

OK, the NR cruise was a couple of weeks prior to the Weekly Standard. Both were on NA. I image these groups were quite similar.

[iancal]

sapper1...those are exactly the reasons why we no longer bother with formal nights and why we have switched to carry on bags only when we travel. The latter in particular has made travel so much easier and more enjoyable for us.

[sapper1]

sapper1...those are exactly the reasons why we no longer bother with formal nights and why we have switched to carry on bags only when we travel. The latter in particular has made travel so much easier and more enjoyable for us.

 

I do envy you your resourcefulness. However, we have to use small carryons that fit under the seat because neither of us can lift a larger one into the overhead bin. And then there's the shoes-----------. :eek: Sigh.

[iancal]

It started when we met a couple from Seattle while I was in a Florence laundromat with my son. They were in their late fifties, he was a retired banking VP. Since we lived in Vancouver at the time we were almost neighbors.

 

They decided to tour Europe by train. No agenda really, just traveled on a whim. They were on their second 60 day train pass and were loving it and we thinking of doing yet another extension or a TA back to the US.

 

They were travelling with carry on. I asked them about it and they told me that they did a dry run trip from Seattle to LA on Amtrak with a suitcase and small bag each. They quickly realized that this was not for them and switched to carry one. Like we had discovered on previous extended trips on our youth, we found that we met some very interesting fellow travelers in laundromats and got some invaluable travel tips. Especially from Australians. I figured if they could do it we could do it. DW was skeptical at first and it was a challenge but now this is the only way we do the sort of travel that we enjoy. Once we got over the shoe challenge the rest was a snap.

Edited December 30, 2016 by iancal

[cabinluvn]

It started when we met a couple from Seattle while I was in a Florence laundromat with my son. They were in their late fifties, he was a retired banking VP. Since we lived in Vancouver at the time we were almost neighbors.

 

They decided to tour Europe by train. No agenda really, just traveled on a whim. They were on their second 60 day train pass and were loving it and we thinking of doing yet another extension or a TA back to the US.

 

They were travelling with carry on. I asked them about it and they told me that they did a dry run trip from Seattle to LA on Amtrak with a suitcase and small bag each. They quickly realized that this was not for them and switched to carry one. Like we had discovered on previous extended trips on our youth, we found that we met some very interesting fellow travelers in laundromats and got some invaluable travel tips. Especially from Australians. I figured if they could do it we could do it. DW was skeptical at first and it was a challenge but now this is the only way we do the sort of travel that we enjoy. Once we got over the shoe challenge the rest was a snap.

 

 

 

How does one deal with the shoe challenge? My feet hurt if I wear the same shoes two days in a row. Then there are the shoes for the MDR....

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[iancal]

We take 2 pairs of comfortable footwear each. The ones on our feet (heavier of the two pairs) and a pair in our bag.

Edited December 30, 2016 by iancal

[slidergirl]

How does one deal with the shoe challenge? My feet hurt if I wear the same shoes two days in a row. Then there are the shoes for the MDR....

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I travel with 2 pair of shoes (toss in a pair of flip flops if I'm doing a beach vacation). Never a problem. One casual pair of shoes that can go from walking around to being with whatever I'm wearing in the evening. For the past 8 years or so, they have been a pair of Jambu shoes. The second pair of shoes may be my trail runners or a pair of boots. Maybe I'm not so concerned about what I'm wearing on my feet in the MDR. I figure if the Jambus were good for Le Bernadin in NYC and dinners out in Paris and Rome and Florence, they were good enough for the banquet hall, oops, MDR ;)

 

I'm also one who travels solo with one bag that I am able to lift into an overhead. I'm 62, so not a Spring Chicken. I have not felt like I was missing an item or that I was "making do" with a minimalist wardrobe. It is quite liberating to know that I am able to go anywhere, anytime, and not worry about having to ask for assistance with luggage :)