New Dress Code

"...a long sleeve white polo..."

 

/QUOTE]

 

No such thing.

 

Ralph Lauren disagrees http://www.ralphlauren.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2738480&cp=1760781.1760809&ab=ln_men_cs_long-sleeve

"...a long sleeve white polo..."

 

/QUOTE]

 

No such thing.

 

Some people might call them a "sweater shirt". Essentially a very light weight sweater with a collar.

From a fellow "toddler" who abides by the dress code on cruises without using it as a measuring stick to assess my self-worth.. bravo!! :) We are cruising HAL for the first time next year, and I am not letting the attitude of a few people concern me. Angry people aren't exclusive to one cruise line, unfortunately.. on our last Celebrity cruise, we were shocked by how many people on a beautiful ship on a week-long vacation in the Caribbean seemed to be having the most miserable time of their lives. We all just laughed about it.

I don't usually frequent the HAL boards, but my MIL (a devoted HAL cruiser) has a birthday that puts a new number at the beginning of her age next year. So we are considering a "family" cruise (DH, MIL and me) to celebrate -- the Prisendam Arctic Circle trip. While DH and I prefer a more casual atmosphere, this trip is about his mom and what she'd like to do. We understand dress codes and certainly wouldn't travel if we plan to flout them. But -- even though I'm practically a toddler in terms of the average age on HAL ships -- the attitude here is frankly a real turn-off.

 

Even in my (relatively) short life, two important things I've learned are:

 

1. Those who would assess how much "class" people have by how they are dressed are often poor judges of character, who place too much emphasis on appearances.

 

2. People who truly have "class" are those who are concerned with making the people around them feel welcome and comfortable.

 

Maybe Billy Joel put it best when he sang "You know the good old days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems." Yes, the hats and gloves and hairstyles of the 50s are fun to look at. But if I'd lived during the 50s, I wouldn't have been able to have the profession I'm in, because "women don't belong in finance." My husband wouldn't have been able to pursue his career in the arts because "men need to have jobs to support their families." I'm glad to live in a time when people feel they can be more open about themselves and what they want than being restricted to conform to society's demands about how things should "look," irrespective of how they really were.

 

And I can't help but wonder what OP would say if -- in response to his very impertinent and impolite grilling about the status of others' luggage -- the answer was "No, the airline lost our luggage en route to the departure point and it hadn't caught up to us before boarding. It was easier to send it home than have it chase after the ship in the hope of reaching us. So we're trying to make do with what was in our carry-ons and whatever we can find in the shops on board and in port to get us through. We feel terrible about not having the proper clothes, but we're trying hard not to let it spoil our good time. So sorry that our appearance is disturbing you. Perhaps the maître d' can seat us with a party that is more interested in our conversation than our attire?"

From a fellow "toddler" who abides by the dress code on cruises without using it as a measuring stick to assess my self-worth.. bravo!! :) We are cruising HAL for the first time next year, and I am not letting the attitude of a few people concern me. Angry people aren't exclusive to one cruise line, unfortunately.. on our last Celebrity cruise, we were shocked by how many people on a beautiful ship on a week-long vacation in the Caribbean seemed to be having the most miserable time of their lives. We all just laughed about it.

I was uncertain about cruising Holland as well because of the attitude of a "few people" about dress codes posting here on Cruise Critic. We went ahead and now Holland is our favorite cruise line. You should remember that a very small minority of people on your cruise post here on cruise critic. It's doubtful that what you read here reflects in any way what you will encounter on your cruise. Most people couldn't care less what you wear to dinner.

Yet! Coming to a movie theatre in your neighborhood sooner than you hoped for. So far Cunard and a few of the smaller European lines have held to the proper way to dress for dinner and an evening out on the town. Pray they remain so.

Cunard cannot be compared to HAL.

HAL = a budget cruise line and the quality of crew, entertainment and food is decreasing.

Cunard is class.

On our recent Koningsdam cruise it seemed that it was not just the passengers who gave up on formal (or gala) night. The ship did not even have a captain's toast and I did wonder if this was the reason so many dressed down. We are open sitting always, but tend to now go earlier and certainly around earlier sittings there were hardly any tuxes at all.

Has the captain's toast been discontinued on any other HAL ships?

On our recent Koningsdam cruise it seemed that it was not just the passengers who gave up on formal (or gala) night. The ship did not even have a captain's toast and I did wonder if this was the reason so many dressed down. We are open sitting always, but tend to now go earlier and certainly around earlier sittings there were hardly any tuxes at all.

 

Has the captain's toast been discontinued on any other HAL ships?

Interesting question - of course the captain's toast is just one more relic of the old formality which few see any value in retaining, as we slide toward the fast food ambience of mass market land based restaurants.

On our recent Koningsdam cruise it seemed that it was not just the passengers who gave up on formal (or gala) night. The ship did not even have a captain's toast and I did wonder if this was the reason so many dressed down. We are open sitting always, but tend to now go earlier and certainly around earlier sittings there were hardly any tuxes at all.

 

Has the captain's toast been discontinued on any other HAL ships?

When there is something you don't understand? Then it's about money.

So either way, both parties would get what they wanted.

 

Sounds like a win-win to me.

I was thinking this very same thing!

On our recent Koningsdam cruise it seemed that it was not just the passengers who gave up on formal (or gala) night. The ship did not even have a captain's toast and I did wonder if this was the reason so many dressed down. We are open sitting always, but tend to now go earlier and certainly around earlier sittings there were hardly any tuxes at all.

 

Has the captain's toast been discontinued on any other HAL ships?

You're correct, passengers have given up on formal (gala) nights. Changes to ships activities only reflect that fact.

I just flip the tie over my shoulder. :p

Right or left?

Even on Cunard standards are not the same, last cruise in the 2016 in the fall, on QM2, a tie was optional which we thought was disappointing and we saw men allowed in the MDR without a jacket. Regardless, we never lower our standards. Happy cruising.

I have to agree. We took our first "cruise" on the QM2 last month. Had a wonderful time; beautiful ship. However, the dress standards, particularly by the women, were not as formal as we had been led to believe. Almost all of the men were in tuxes (and looked wonderful). The women, on the other hand, were, by and large, not formal - not even to the extent of black slacks and a glittery top. How opposite of what we are used to on HAL!

:) Just left 55 day Grand Med cruise on Prinsendam and I would say almost everyone was dressed about 40% tuxes and 50% Dark suits rest still nicely dressed (sport coats etc)

Which reinforces the observations that have frequently been made; that the longer cruises raises the level of formality or "gala", as you wish.

Interesting question - of course the captain's toast is just one more relic of the old formality which few see any value in retaining, as we slide toward the fast food ambience of mass market land based restaurants.

I'm thinking it is Captain's preference. As with a lot of things on HAL cruises, sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't. It probably depends on many different factors rather than "A new HAL policy"

Right or left?

Right. I'm left handed. :D

It's ironic when "casual" dress was more studied by the wearer than 99% of the people who brought some formal clothes. Had my first sighting of saggy pants a couple of cruises ago on HAL. Pretty sure the dude checks his rear to make sure there's enough underwear showing.

The nice thing about formal clothing is that, setting aside fashion snobbery, it could really be a great equalizer. My great grandfather had one set of clothes to wear in public, which I'm sure was common for his time. I guess they didn't have the luxury of "casual" fashion.

We were on the Christening cruise and we had fixed late dining. I had removed one dressy outfit from my luggage after reading threads on CC. Really regretted it as I thought it was very dressy overall. There were many Dutch, actually 1700 on these on Norwegian leg. Many were very formal.

I'm thinking it is Captain's preference. As with a lot of things on HAL cruises, sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't. It probably depends on many different factors rather than "A new HAL policy"

It could be or something they will start to eliminate on all the Ships and rolling it out first on Kdam! We had the Captain's Toast on Zaandam in April with Captain Turner.

We were on the Noordam last week. On the second gala night a man was turned away because he had on a long sleeve, colored polo shirt. He was told that polo shirts were not allowed. The woman sitting at the table next to us had on a fleece jacket, jeans and tennis shoes. It seems like their concern is what men are wearing and don't care what women wear.

We were on the Noordam last week. On the second gala night a man was turned away because he had on a long sleeve, colored polo shirt. He was told that polo shirts were not allowed. The woman sitting at the table next to us had on a fleece jacket, jeans and tennis shoes. It seems like their concern is what men are wearing and don't care what women wear.

I meant to say collared instead of colored.

I just flip the tie over my shoulder. :p

This is THE BEST ANSWER on this whole thread! Made me laugh.

We don't do Gala nights as we choose not to get dressed up. But some of the people on this thread need to be a little more accepting of others. If you don't like what they are wearing try looking away.

This is THE BEST ANSWER on this whole thread! Made me laugh.

 

We don't do Gala nights as we choose not to get dressed up. But some of the people on this thread need to be a little more accepting of others. If you don't like what they are wearing try looking away.

And some people need to be more accepting that honoring the Gala dress guidelines is not going to kill them for that one night.

On the eurodam last week my hubby and BIL wore jackets and ties first night just collated shirts second night. I wish they had worn jackets as I thought most of the men had them on. Open seating we ate around 6