Switching to X from HAL

[ExArkie]

11 hours ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

To everyone griping about dress codes, I implore you to ditch Celebrity and move to Cunard. On formal nights, men without tuxes and women without gowns are restricted to a single bar and the buffet. On non-formal nights, men are at a minimum expected to wear a sport coat and collared shirt in the evening. 
 

All of you would love it.

Not quite correct. Tuxes and gowns are not absolutely required. A person may wear a dark suit (with tie) or cocktail dress/“dressy” pants and still meet the “Gala” (a.k.a., “formal”) dress code standard on Cunard. A majority of men do seem to opt for tuxedo or dinner jacket, though.
 

There are a few more allowed locations than implied above if one does not choose to abide by the dress code, but certainly one does not have access to all public areas on their ships on those evenings.

[AstoriaPreppy]

26 minutes ago, ExArkie said:

There are a few more allowed locations than implied above if one does not choose to abide by the dress code, but certainly one does not have access to all public areas on their ships on those evenings.

 

I stand corrected... it appears Cunard has loosened the restrictions.

We did a QM2 crossing in Dec 2016 and the only venues open to non-formally attired guests after 6 pm on specified nights were the King's Court buffet and the Carinthia Lounge. Even G32 (the disco) was formalwear only those evenings, which we found very odd. 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

 

I stand corrected... it appears Cunard has loosened the restrictions.

We did a QM2 crossing in Dec 2016 and the only venues open to non-formally attired guests after 6 pm on specified nights were the King's Court buffet and the Carinthia Lounge. Even G32 (the disco) was formalwear only those evenings, which we found very odd. 

I think that most lines have adjusted their dress codes since 2016, not just Cunard.

[MarkWiltonM]

We have sailed mostly on Celebrity Solstice class ships but also enjoy HAL's Pinnacle class ships and feel they are comparable, so we choose whichever has the better deal or itinerary. We are currently booked on Celebrity Equinox this November, HAL Nieuw Statendam in January 2022, and Celebrity Millennium in April 2022. (For new bookings, X's prices are currently higher than HAL's.) The buffet is roomier on X but the food itself is better on HAL. And the buffets on HAL's Pinnacle class ships were designed to have the crew serve you, so they won't have to jerry rig their buffet stations to eliminate self-service post-Covid. I've seen some strange things at the buffet on X. On our last cruise on the Silhouette (Feb-March 2020), when the crew wanted to indicate one of the buffet stations was closed, they wrapped an enormous amount of kitchen plastic wrap around the station. Not only is this hugely wasteful and horrible for the environment, it's also unsightly and certainly not "classy." On HAL, they thought this through beforehand and have roller shades they can pull down to close off a station.

 

Although X does feel more spacious overall, we didn't feel cramped on the Nieuw Statendam or the Koningsdam or that public spaces were particularly dark. And we prefer the Crow's Nest on HAL to X's Sky Observation Lounge (both are lounges at the bow of the ship). On the other hand, we prefer X's Cafe al Bacio to HAL's Grand Dutch Cafe (specialty coffees and sweets/snacks).

 

We don't partake of any cruise ship's theater shows or, for the most part,  enrichment activities, so I can't comment on those, except that we prefer the live music that X provides in the pool area and the atrium to most of the music on HAL. We do enjoy the "Lincoln Center" classical quintet on the HAL ships, but the  rock bands they've had on our HAL cruises were embarrassingly bad.

 

How much people do or do not dress for dinner appears to be about the same on X and HAL, and the overall trend is toward the casual. Even Crystal has a very relaxed dress code now and no formal nights on cruises of 7 nights or less.

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by MarkWiltonM
typo

[AstoriaPreppy]

8 hours ago, Fouremco said:

I think that most lines have adjusted their dress codes since 2016, not just Cunard.

Not NCL... you still have to have shorts on in the MDR and specialty restaurants. 😉

[AstoriaPreppy]

BTW, one thing we love about Holland America is their investment in live music. On our last Koningsdam sailing, the Rolling Stone-branded rock band was stellar, and the Billboard dueling piano bar was great (with the exception of drunk people repeatedly requesting the same five songs).

 

A standout was the BB King blues band. Easily the best “party” band on any line I’ve ever sailed on. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by AstoriaPreppy

[PTC DAWG]

3 hours ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

BTW, one thing we love about Holland America is their investment in live music. On our last Koningsdam sailing, the Rolling Stone-branded rock band was stellar, and the Billboard dueling piano bar was great (with the exception of drunk people repeatedly requesting the same five songs).

 

A standout was the BB King blues band. Easily the best “party” band on any line I’ve ever sailed on. 

Sounds intriguing for sure..love me some rock and blues..

Edited April 7, 2021 by PTC DAWG

[lyndarra]

+1 BB Kings on HAL. Always packed.

Lincoln Centre good too but I found it a bit cramped on Maarsdam and Noordam.

[Keys Kathy]

We are X brats. We have been on X about 30 times since we found them in 2011. We were on the Spring Break cruise with 1500 college kids. I have to say, X did a great job of handling that situation. Since we and the person we were cruising with was known to the bartenders, all we had to do is get near enough to the bar to be seen and we would have a drink in our hand. 

 

We were on Princess going around the horn on a formal night. The sat some young ladies near us whose shorts were so short you could almost see their woohoos. 

 

I am embarrassed to say that a friend of mine, male, came to the dinner table in shorts and a tee shirt on X. We were in tux and gown. I asked the hostess why he was seated. She said she was not allowed to argue with the guests. 

 

I understand why many lines have done away with formal wear. The stuff is heavy and in this day and age of airline charges for luggage, if we are overweight, the first thing out is formal wear, but we always have something that is appropriate for evening, such as a sports coat / dressy skirt and blouse. 

 

We tried Hal once. The ship was dark, the service slightly on the rude side and we were told we could only have a certain amount of drinks a day. So much for trying a new cocktail! AND their bars did not open until 10:00 AM. I would get a couple of shots of vodka and some olives at night and take them to the room to mix with our tomato juice in the morning. I had my own BM seasoning.

 

We are trying Apex in January, a lift and shift. 

 

[mtnesterz]

6 hours ago, Keys Kathy said:

...I asked the hostess why he was seated. She said she was not allowed to argue with the guests. 

I understand why many lines have done away with formal wear. The stuff is heavy and in this day and age of airline charges for luggage.

The airlines spoiled the party, true, but as you also point out, passengers too.

Celebrity responded by relaxing their code and renaming their dress nights, but there is still a documeted standard. On other lines, formal nights are a themed costume dinner party, when you think about it. Why do some diminish other's fun by wearing shorts, ball caps and t-shirts on dress nights? It's not about being comfortable. If an event on the ship is not to my tastes, I don't go. Thanks for mentioning the crew are instructed not to argue with passengers. I had wondered at the crew's tolerance.

Edited April 7, 2021 by mtnesterz

[Ken the cruiser]

On 4/6/2021 at 8:19 AM, ExArkie said:

There are a few more allowed locations than implied above if one does not choose to abide by the dress code, but certainly one does not have access to all public areas on their ships on those evenings.

Can we go to the evening show in the main theater on formal nights if I'm wearing a collared button-down shirt (no sport coat or tie) and docker pants?

[d9704011]

4 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Can we go to the evening show in the main theater on formal nights if I'm wearing a collared button-down shirt (no sport coat or tie) and docker pants?

Yes, but no flip-flops.

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

Yes, but no flip-flops.

Thanks! So, where can't you go on formal night other than the MDR? On second thought, don't answer that as this is a HAL to Celebrity thread.

Edited April 7, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[KWW88]

36 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

The airlines spoiled the party, true, but as you also point out, passengers too.

Celebrity responded by relaxing their code and renaming their dress nights, but there is still a documeted standard. On other lines, formal nights are a themed costume dinner party, when you think about it. Why do some diminish other's fun by wearing shorts, ball caps and t-shirts on dress nights? It's not about being comfortable. If an event on the ship is not to my tastes, I don't go. Thanks for mentioning the crew are instructed not to argue with passengers. I had wondered at the crew's tolerance.

We certainly dress casually just about all the time for dining on the ship, khakis, nice slacks, polo or collared shirt, casual slip on shoes, bring one blazer but never a tie.  I can honestly say though, if the person at the table next to me are wearing shorts, t-shirt and a ballcap, it just does not in anyway effect my enjoyment of dinner.  I do not personally like speedos, but if someone is wearing it at the pool, C'est la vie.  This is what I love about Celebrity.

[d9704011]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks! So, where can't you go on formal night other than the MDR?

You know, I’ve been on X quite a bit and I cannot think of ANY place a passenger cannot go if they’re not in ‘formal attire’ (wet bathing suits don’t count.... that’s a little too casual!).

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, d9704011 said:

You know, I’ve been on X quite a bit and I cannot think of ANY place a passenger cannot go if they’re not in ‘formal attire’ (wet bathing suits don’t count.... that’s a little too casual!).

LOL!! I actually was referring to the formal nights on Cunard based on the dialog in post #51. But that's cool. I can't even remember the last time I ever wore a coat and tie on an X cruise on Chic night.

[d9704011]

10 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

LOL!! I actually was referring to the formal nights on Cunard based on the dialog in post #51. But that's cool. I can't even remember the last time I ever wore a coat and tie on an X cruise on Chic night.

Ha!!  I was kind of wondering about the direction I thought you were taking; I was pretty sure you knew ALL of this.

[ExArkie]

16 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

LOL!! I actually was referring to the formal nights on Cunard based on the dialog in post #51. But that's cool. I can't even remember the last time I ever wore a coat and tie on an X cruise on Chic night.

I'd recommend wandering over to the Cunard board and find any of the multitude of dress code threads. There'll be a lot more discussion than you could possibly ever want to read, some of it is even actually correct.

 

Cunard's Web site contains the actual details, though. One warning: the US site refers to "formal" attire being jacket with no tie and "gala" attire as dark suit and tie (or tux). This is incorrect, in that the terminology used on board is "Gala" and "Informal." Sort of encouraging that Celebrity is not the only cruise line with screwy IT...or maybe "discouraging"?

 

[OBX-Cruisers]

On 3/28/2021 at 2:32 PM, George C said:

We sail normally twice a year have done Hal and Celebrity multiple times , celebrity some times enforced dress codes sometimes not, saw someone in cut off jean shorts and a baseball cap on backwards in celebrity mdr in evening. Entertainment is not a strong point for either but prefer Hal. We do suites and celebrity has way better perks than Hal.

Totally agree about "stingy" perks on HAL compared to both RCL and X from our experiences on all 3 lines.  HAL still honors "stockholder" onboard credit if you own at least 100 shares of Carnival stock while RCL and X get around this by giving a $25 cabin OBC that eliminates eligibility for the stockholder credit for owning RCI stock

[OBX-Cruisers]

On 4/6/2021 at 11:59 AM, MarkWiltonM said:

We have sailed mostly on Celebrity Solstice class ships but also enjoy HAL's Pinnacle class ships and feel they are comparable, so we choose whichever has the better deal or itinerary. We are currently booked on Celebrity Equinox this November, HAL Nieuw Statendam in January 2022, and Celebrity Millennium in April 2022. (For new bookings, X's prices are currently higher than HAL's.) The buffet is roomier on X but the food itself is better on HAL. And the buffets on HAL's Pinnacle class ships were designed to have the crew serve you, so they won't have to jerry rig their buffet stations to eliminate self-service post-Covid. I've seen some strange things at the buffet on X. On our last cruise on the Silhouette (Feb-March 2020), when the crew wanted to indicate one of the buffet stations was closed, they wrapped an enormous amount of kitchen plastic wrap around the station. Not only is this hugely wasteful and horrible for the environment, it's also unsightly and certainly not "classy." On HAL, they thought this through beforehand and have roller shades they can pull down to close off a station.

 

Although X does feel more spacious overall, we didn't feel cramped on the Nieuw Statendam or the Koningsdam or that public spaces were particularly dark. And we prefer the Crow's Nest on HAL to X's Sky Observation Lounge (both are lounges at the bow of the ship). On the other hand, we prefer X's Cafe al Bacio to HAL's Grand Dutch Cafe (specialty coffees and sweets/snacks).

 

We don't partake of any cruise ship's theater shows or, for the most part,  enrichment activities, so I can't comment on those, except that we prefer the live music that X provides in the pool area and the atrium to most of the music on HAL. We do enjoy the "Lincoln Center" classical quintet on the HAL ships, but the  rock bands they've had on our HAL cruises were embarrassingly bad.

 

How much people do or do not dress for dinner appears to be about the same on X and HAL, and the overall trend is toward the casual. Even Crystal has a very relaxed dress code now and no formal nights on cruises of 7 nights or less.

 

We sail both also and agree that your summary is very accurate.  However, looking at a recent comparison of PRICES on HAL and X, we find a significant difference with X approaching the ridiculous when calculated per night for two persons.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, OBX-Cruisers said:

Totally agree about "stingy" perks on HAL compared to both RCL and X from our experiences on all 3 lines.  HAL still honors "stockholder" onboard credit if you own at least 100 shares of Carnival stock while RCL and X get around this by giving a $25 cabin OBC that eliminates eligibility for the stockholder credit for owning RCI stock

I believe RCI eliminated that very limiting SHB restriction on cruises booked from June 2019 on which motivated us to buy 100 shares of RCI stock when the bottom dropped out in June 2020.

 

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