Zuiderdam Baltic Gala night question

We are sailing on the Zuiderdam in a couple weeks. We have not cruised on HAL since they switched to Gala nights, not have we done the Baltic itinerary.

 

Can anyone give me feedback on how many guests still get dressed up on Gala nights? And if the Baltic itinerary would be more likely to have many in formal attire?

 

While we enjoy dressing up, we also don’t mind traveling lighter (flying from the US) and not bringing the tux, suits formal dresses if the majority of folks will not be in formal ware. So I am trying to get a better feel of what to expect on Gala nights and for this itinerary.

 

Thank you for the help!

We are sailing on the Zuiderdam in a couple weeks. We have not cruised on HAL since they switched to Gala nights, not have we done the Baltic itinerary.

 

Can anyone give me feedback on how many guests still get dressed up on Gala nights? And if the Baltic itinerary would be more likely to have many in formal attire?

 

While we enjoy dressing up, we also don’t mind traveling lighter (flying from the US) and not bringing the tux, suits formal dresses if the majority of folks will not be in formal ware. So I am trying to get a better feel of what to expect on Gala nights and for this itinerary.

 

Thank you for the help!

Since no one else is answering yet: our Baltic cruise was before Formal nights became Gala, but I don't recall the Formal wear being much different from our prior cruise to AK. On recent cruises Gala nights seem to be trending more and more casual, and I would be very surprised if the majority were in Formal wear, even by HAL's former loose definition of that word. I suggest just a sport coat, slacks, dress shirt, and tie for men, and the equivalent level for ladies. I would expect to find many men without a jacket, some with neither jacket nor tie. The ladies do tend to get a little dressier than the guys IMO!

My husband has always taken a sport coat and tie on a cruise - in fact only a few years ago he packed a suit. But we are also going on that cruise and we are packing light! I'm packing khaki pants for my boys but they can wear their tennis shoes and not their sperrys.. I may have my husband bring the sport coat, assuming he wears it on plane but we may leave it at home. This is a big first for us but I declared we are doing carry on only and keeping it simple.

Did the Baltic in 2009 and since buying the tux in 2005 I was still bringing it and certainly didn't feel that it was a mistake. Two weeks ago we flew from the west coast of the USA to Amsterdam for our last cruise to Norway on the K'dam which holds 2700 passengers. On our first Gala night I probably saw less than a dozen guys in tuxedos. While I wore mine, I didn't wear it the 2nd Gala night (or the 2nd tux shirt that I brought along) opting for just a jacket and tie. These days I think it is more a matter of what one wants to wear and lug around (and pay for extra bag fees).

Here was our experience from a scan across the dining room on a recent 14 day Alaska - Zaandam Gala night after being warned Alaska cruises would be very casual - late seating fixed dining - approximately 90% of men in dark suits of which approximately 10% were tuxedos - 99% of women in something dressy - long and short. We were surprised. DH likes to wear his tux so we always try to keep count and I also enjoy making this a dress up festive evening.

 

Last year we got the same warning that the Caribbean on the Nieuw Amsterdam would be very casual on Gala Night too - just the opposite -never saw so many women in long, very formal gowns that night. So wear what you enjoy wearing, whatever works best for you and still honors the guidelines for that evening to share in the festive feeling.

... late seating fixed dining - approximately 90% of men in dark suits of which approximately 10% were tuxedos - 99% of women in something dressy - long and short.

I should have said in my post that we always do early Open seating, which I believe is much more casual than late/Fixed.

I should have said in my post that we always do early Open seating, which I believe is much more casual than late/Fixed.

 

I believe you are right. So location and time are good distinctions to make when filing these MDR reports. We too think late-fixed remains the more traditional dining setting. We love it - very nice personal care and prompt dinner service delivery. No "two hour" meals for us - though there was a time about five years ago when they were introducing new service protocols that made this time a very protracted affair too. No longer. Easily under an hour now for three courses. But we also show up right on time and get in the early service queue. I have observed that late arrivals are still waiting to be served much later.

I also remember being on a Med cruise 20 years ago and we were absolutely exhausted every evening. We had early seating and it took every bit of strength to make it to dinner. Of course, days we were off the ship late made for a late dinner. Thinking that may be the case for the Baltics, I don't know if I can get my crew motivated to eat in the MDR.

Thank you for the honest replies! Many good points brought up.

 

I wasn’t thinking about which dining room, dinner time, etc. We actually decided to do open seating, instead of a set late seating, this time thinking that would give us more flexibility based on what our touring plans are each day. Not to mention I hadb't thought about possibly being too tired to go to the MDR some nights.

 

And unlike a Caribbean cruise where we may not handle our baggage that much, we are spending a few days in Copenhagen priory the cruise and are planning to use the metro from the airport.

 

I expected there would be a mix, but wasn't sure if in Europe the vast majority would be dressing up. I think we are are going to do less formal this time. It doesn't sound like we will be the only ones.

 

Thanks again!!

Just off the Zuiderdam 6/27 and gala night was 3 nights on a 14 night cruise and the 2nd night it was hard to tell it was gala. Very few tuxes. My husband has gone to dress shirt, tie, black pants and shoes and fits in fine. I wear dressy tops and some bling. We used public transportation in Copenhagen and it was very easy including a middle of the night train ride to the airport for a 6am flight. We just wish we hadn't brought the extra small suitcase since it was filled with dressier clothes we didn't wear. We almost could have gotten by with our carry-on each. Our 2nd European and 3rd HAL in 8 months and definitely think the trend is less formal wear, especially in Europe.

 

Have fun. Nice renovations on the Zuiderdam.

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk