Hello from Volendam!

[jhannah]

How sad that these "undressed" people were not informed ... either accidentally or purposefully. It does spoil the ambiance of the occasion.

 

Greg, check your e-mail. I've sent you a couple of links to webcam captures of your transit back through the locks.

[innlady1]

Well, that's it for photographs for right now. We had a long, wet day in Costa Rica ... with a very early shore excursion to view wild plant and animal life. I have a few photos from that excursion, but the air was so wet (and the rain was so heavy) that it was hard to do much photography. I'll process them tomorrow, along with any photos from our Pinnacle Grill dinner tonight, and upload them during our sea day tomorrow.

 

Just one final piece of EXCELLENT news that came our way during lunch today! It turns out that our own longtimecruiser (Adele) wins the prize, with 560 days, for having the most number of Mariner Days aboard this cruise!!! YEAH! We're having the Mariner Brunch tomorrow and I suppose this means she gets the keys to the ship? Naaaa ... kinda doubt it. But, I DO think it's cool, but not all that surprising, that she's top of the heap! From conversations around the ship I gather that most people aboard are on their first or second cruise with HAL.

 

I bid you adieu from the lovely (though in-need of her drydocking) ms Volendam!

 

Have really enjoyed your posts and Brian's posts...made me feel as though we were on the Volendam with you...maybe next year we will do the February cruise on the Noordam...just to have the pleasure of meeting all of you!

 

I always love when I see the expression, top of the heap, since that is my last name. When I became engaged to DH, my mom said to me, are you really sure you want to marry someone with a name like that! LOL!

 

39 (almost 40) years later...I guess I did! :)

[DrTee]

Maybe these poor people can't read. Maybe we should feel sorry for them. :rolleyes:

[lillulu]

Revneal,

Thanks for the post and pictures. Sorry that you all are experiencing this on formal nights. When we were on the Volendam just recently. We watched them turn quite a few people away on formal night. One raised the "I paid blah blah blah" the gentleman at the door agreed with him but said "I'm sorry sir this is formal attire only". The man left..we saw him later...he had went and changed.

I could not believe how these people are dressed. WOW!!!

 

Love the pictures and the other guy Brian's writings. Simply fabulous!!!

[terrydtx]

Terrydtx – Just have to ask about your pic’s – You must have a long arm and big mirror to get pic’s of your ship going through lock while you sit on deck???

The Apa

 

I have a really long arm, I took those pic's from my office in Alabama!:p I will not be on the Volendam until the 23rd for our cruise. The pictures came from the Panama Canal web cam which is at :http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

[terrydtx]

Revneal,

Thanks for the post and pictures. Sorry that you all are experiencing this on formal nights. When we were on the Volendam just recently. We watched them turn quite a few people away on formal night. One raised the "I paid blah blah blah" the gentleman at the door agreed with him but said "I'm sorry sir this is formal attire only". The man left..we saw him later...he had went and changed.

I could not believe how these people are dressed. WOW!!!

 

The Volendam must have a different Maitre D than on your cruise, because the one now doesn’t look like he is turning away anyone. At least we will have AYWD on our cruise, we will not have to sit with anybody not dressed properly for the formal dinners. The one sad thing about looking at those pictures, for the most part, they are no the 20 or 30 something kids you might expect to not conform to the dress code. They appear to be of retirement age and should have been raised better.:eek:

[Mrs007]

OMG!!! Brian, your tale of the Volendam Idol had me laughing so hard. For a minute, I thought it was little Peter Billingsley from A Christmas Story all grown up and cruising the Panama Canal :D

 

Greg, your photos of "Formal" night made me think we should all carry our cameras and snap pics of the truly atrocious and start a thread here at CC. Maybe we could shame a few people into dressing properly. Of course, I'm not sure if you can post people's faces without their consent, so these would all have to be pics from the neck down or taken from the back (ewe, that could be really frightening:eek:)

 

Anyway, love all your posts. We should all be so lucky to have a "primer" for our upcoming cruise (we sail on the Volendam Nov. 23). Enjoy the rest of your relaxing part of the cruise.

[Jade13]

 

Just as an aside ... I noted that the leading TA who arranged these two groups was wandering around the ship tonight -- on Smart Casual Night -- in shorts and a polo shirt. This would appear to substantiate the observation.

 

Though ... and I agree with this counter observation ... the information that arrived from HAL should have told the Shakespeare and Macintosh people all they needed to know about how to pack for this cruise. Sadly, it would appear that very few of them bothered to actually read the Know Before You Go booklet.

 

It sounds to me like they are "operating" as if they have the ship chartered vs just a big group. They feel the dress code does not apply to them.

[Mrs007]

At least we will have AYWD on our cruise, we will not have to sit with anybody not dressed properly for the formal dinners.

 

Not to get off track, but how is it you think AYWD will make a difference? Are you thinking only the poorly dressed will have AYW and the Formally attired get Traditional Dining?? We certainly dress properly and yet, sadly, we have been designated to AYW.

[thomasale]

This has been a GREAT thread and although I do not share the Rev concerns about dress code violaters ( I follow the code ) I feel bad that it is such a hot buttonfor so many posters on this board. I do not let it affect my enjoyment of the festivities one bit!

[jhannah]

I fully believe as-you-wish dining will add to the degradation of attire onboard ships. It helps bolster the "it's MY vacation" mindset that excuses any restrictions or "rules."

[terrydtx]

Not to get off track, but how is it you think AYWD will make a difference? Are you thinking only the poorly dressed will have AYW and the Formally attired get Traditional Dining?? We certainly dress properly and yet, sadly, we have been designated to AYW.

 

What I meant with AYWD and the ability to choose with whom we want to share a table with, I will not have to worry about those underdressed slobs sitting at our dinner table. Imagin if you had the slobs in Greg' pictures assigned to your table for 10 nights! I am sure I will offend some with the term "slobs" but how else can you describe them?

[RevNeal]

This has been a GREAT thread and although I do not share the Rev concerns about dress code violaters ( I follow the code ) I feel bad that it is such a hot buttonfor so many posters on this board. I do not let it affect my enjoyment of the festivities one bit!

 

Thomasale, I usually take the same approach as you ... I don't let the non-conformists rule or ruin my good time. However ... that is usually stated and can be carried forward when it's a tiny handful -- 10 or 20 -- people who flaunt the code to this extent. But this situation is another kettle of fish from what I've experienced in the past. Slacks and polo or knit shirt on formal nights, particularly later in the evening and not in the main dining room ... sure. That doesn't impact me any, and their numbers are usually quite small. But not on this ship for this cruise. We're talking SHORTS and T-shirts on Formal Night ... in the lounges before dinner, taking over the dance floor for "toot-toot" or whatever that awful song was that Brian mentioned, and eating in the main dining room. I'm sorry, but thats just wrong.

 

Now ... in point of fact ... with the exception of a few minutes on formal night when we became uncomfortable when we realized that we were among the only people in a certain lounge dressed according to code, for the most part it hasn't been a problem nor has it in any way "ruined" our cruise. Quite the contrary, rather than be overly bothered by it we've, instead, decided to have fun with it and enjoy ourselves even despite those who don't "play along."

[Mrs007]

Thanks for the explaination, terrydtx. I thought you ment they wouldn't be in the same dining room as you. I understand not wanting them at your same table.

 

Now, all please except my apologies. I had no intention of usurping this thread and turning into, once again, a heated debate over proper dress.

 

Please, back to our wonderfully insightful hosts and the remainder of their cruise :D

[longtimecruiser]

Greg, I love you even more than I did before for posting those pictures of the formal night. Those were absolutely awful!! I'm just sorry I wasn't there to comment. My grandmother might pass out when I show her considering I just kept scrolling down with my mouth hanging wide open:eek:

[RevNeal]

This is just a very short report regarding today and last night.

We had a nice time last night. We didn't depart Costa Rica until 5:35 or thereabouts due to a late shore excursion returning to the ship -- the San Jose Tour was delayed in it's return due to land-slides on the main highway. It was a mess ashore due to the rains. It's been raining off and on for the past 2 weeks, according to our guide, and continuously since Tuesday (which is the reason why such shore excursions like the zipline were cancelled).

 

Last night was the horrible "Chef's Dinner" thingy ... we chose to go as a group to the Pinnacle instead, which was nicely filled. It was, as usual, a very nice dinner. And, as usual, I ate too much -- the Porterhouse is difficult to turn down, and it is very tasty. :D

 

Today were off the coast of Nicaragua right now, heading north-northeast at 21.8 knots. The seas are rough, but not too bad ... we had fun last night with some very strong "rocking and rolling" -- the ship, not the dance floor. It was supposed to have been "Motown night" in the Crows Nest, but the frequency of Motown music was about 1 song out of 10. It was sad, so I turned in around 11:30 pm. Besides, we had a time change and I needed to get up early for worship.

 

Worship this morning was packed ... there wasn't an empty seat in the Hudson Room for the 9 am Protestant Service. That's nice ... sometimes the services are thinly attended; sometimes they're packed. It's hard to say why it's one way or the other.

 

Today, at 10:45, Mariner medal holders meet in the Explorer's Lounge to wait our Mainer's Brunch. So, I should have that event to report on later ... as well as a few selected photos from Costa Rica.

 

Tonight is, of course, our last Formal Night (well, formal for us , at least). I'll have more to report later.

[jtl513]

Greg, your photos of "Formal" night made me think we should all carry our cameras and snap pics of the truly atrocious and start a thread here at CC. Maybe we could shame a few people into dressing properly. Of course, I'm not sure if you can post people's faces without their consent, so these would all have to be pics from the neck down or taken from the back (ewe, that could be really frightening:eek:)

That sounds to me like a prescription for some pretty ugly - perhaps physical - confrontations. BUT - if you can get pictures that include faces, send them to me first and I'll blur the faces for you! :D

[terrydtx]

Greg and Brain with over 12,000 hits on this thread in the last 7 days you have kept many of us CC's amused and entertained and we all thank you very much. Down side to your discourse is that the next 12 days before our cruise departs will just go by that much slower as I anticipate the great journey ahead.

[hammybee]

What I meant with AYWD and the ability to choose with whom we want to share a table with, I will not have to worry about those underdressed slobs sitting at our dinner table. Imagin if you had the slobs in Greg' pictures assigned to your table for 10 nights! I am sure I will offend some with the term "slobs" but how else can you describe them?

 

Hey now, there's a business case for AYWD, I had not considered.:D

[ekerr19]

Brian - thanks so much for my morning entertainment! I just love your observations. :) Love the hair too. I saw a paisley velvet jacket (plums, greys & deep greens on black) at Macy's on Friday and thought of you. :) It was such a divine jacket - alas, Sonny really wouldn't be able to carry it off - so I passed. Katie thought it'd make him look like a younger version of Hugh Hefner. :eek:

 

Great reports guys - and great photos of Panama, Greg. Enjoyed them. :)

 

Congrats to Adele on the 500+ days! What a remarkable milestone. :)

[advocado]

I realize that the dress code issue has become a huge sub-thread within this wonderful thread (and perhaps too much said already) but, having seen Greg's photos of the slobs at sea, I believe more than ever that HAL really should designate a separate section within the main dining room that is set aside for the tee shirts and shorts crowd on formal nights. Maybe even a separate menu (corn dogs and chili come to mind). Perhaps as Lillulu stated earlier, they should simply be escorted to the elevators and sent to the Lido.;)

[Copper10-8]

Just a heads up before all the prospective dress code violator picture takers jump out of the woodwork! I can guarantee you that some folks are not going to appreciate some total stranger, and I'm not talking about the ship's photographers, directing their cameras at them to start snapping pics. Yeah at some tourist spot with them (those folks) in the foreground, ok but just of them i.e. sitting down in a ship's lounge?

Don't be surprised that you might get confronted as to why you are taking such shots and be warned that if you decide to give them the real reason why, a confrontation might ensue that could very well result in some very nice digital cameras sustaining damage and/or taking a deep dive into some ocean without resurfacing. And, really now,..............can you blame them?

[Copper10-8]

Just a heads up before all the prospective dress code violator picture takers jump out of the woodwork! I can guarantee you that some folks are not going to appreciate some total stranger, and I'm not talking about the ship's photographers, directing their cameras at them to start snapping pics. Yeah at some tourist spot with them (those folks) in the foreground, ok but just of them i.e. sitting down in a ship's lounge?

Don't be surprised that you might get confronted as to why you are taking such shots and be warned that if you decide to give them the real reason why, a confrontation might ensue that could very well result in some very nice digital cameras sustaining damage and/or taking a deep dive into some ocean without resurfacing. And, really now,..............can you blame them?

[advocado]

I realize that the dress code issue has become a huge sub-thread within this wonderful thread (and perhaps too much said already) but, having seen Greg's photos of the slobs at sea, I believe more than ever that HAL really should designate a separate section within the main dining room that is set aside for the tee shirts and shorts crowd on formal nights. Maybe even a separate menu (corn dogs and chili come to mind). Perhaps as Lillulu stated earlier, they should simply be escorted to the elevators and sent to the Lido.;)

[hammybee]

.can you blame them?

 

For all any of us know, these pictures, the originator and the associated comments could already be copied on a multitude of internet media.

 

Imagine if one of those pictured happened to be an attorney who wanted to pursue this as a hate crime and define a new class of victim, bystander.