Forget About Dress Code - This isn't About That

[searoses]

we don't eat in the mdr on ncl because the service is rushed,impersonal,and nothing like the'OLD'days. when we asked to sit with others we were rudely told "we don't do that here" from a rushed,overworked crew person. the food was pretty bad. we are good cooks who enjoy plenty of ethnic seasonings.....not to be found. the buffett is actually more interesting most of the time and we took the plunge to the pay rest. the 2 we tried were our best meals. oddly,the mdr has some terrific lunch options. we can fake formal night so that wouln't stop us on any line....

[Kwaj girl]

I don't have a problem with having no formal nights, but I do have a problem with ships staff that will allow anyone wearing anything into the dining room. It's one of the reasons we will never cruise mass market again.

 

We enjoy leisurely meals, hate "TGIF style" dining where they try to feed you and push you out in 45 minutes or less. I have no problem with a three + hour meal if the food and company are both fabulous--and that can even be at a table of people we've never met before.

 

You are my kind of people! Care to join us on the Crystal Symphony 4/29? :-)

[CruisinEars]

We have been on 5 cruises of various lines and have only NOT eaten in the MDR 1 time. My hubs won't even consider anytime dining. We love the fixed time, table and servers concept. We also eat at the 6pm time since we are early dinner eaters at home. We usually only take about an hour to hour and a half for dinner and it is the highlight of our cruise. We do look forward to going each evening and being treated like a special guest. Clothing is not a consideration as we don't mind dressing for dinner and my hubs even bought a tux. Mind you we are in our mid-40's and travel with our 2 kids who are 11 and 14.

[Hlitner]

Interesting post. As frequent cruisers (more then 2 1/2 years cruising on 12 cruise lines) we feel somewhat qualified to respond. We would agree that the times have changed and that formal dress is not as popular as in days past. We would DISAGREE that a "large percentage" of cruiser do not go to the dining room for any reason. On every crusie we have been (we will exclude current NCL cruises since they use a different cruise model) the overwhelming majority of cruisers dine in the main dining room. Many will also avail themselves of various alternative resturants (often at additional cost). Just about all the cruise lines do provide a free alternative dining venue in their lido buffets, but this normally attracts a SMALL percentage of those on a ship. One exception would be on some European or Asian cruises where a ship might be in port until very late and many folks do not get back to the ship on time for the MDR.

 

Hank

[PennyAgain]

As we've gotten older the pacing and the quantity of food served in most MDR's is just not what we want. Often, depending on the ship, we order room service or dine in an alternative restaurant.

 

Recently I attended a training seminar held at a large hotel. The 2-3 hour long dinners were not at all enjoyable as there were too many speakers and the pacing of the food service was too slow. So it's more than only when traveling that I don't like the long dinners.

 

On the higher end cruise ships, room service is a delight and one thing that we don't plan to pass up.

 

As far as being seated for the duration of the voyage at a table of folks we do not know.....forget about it.

[Dayenu]

In all our cruises we've skipped MDR dinner twice. Once we didn't like the menu, another time it was my fault. I told somebody at our table it will be my birthday, and they got excited :p I didn't want the waiters gather around singing something silly while everybody around, all tables are looking at me.

 

As for dressing up... we had a formal dinner with a man in a polo shirt (like t-shirt with collar and 2 buttons I think it's called "polo") painted as US flag. I promise this is true!! And his wife in a formal gown, so dressed up, such a contrast :D

[Poppet1964]

I have limited cruising experience, but as far as I'm concerned, the buffet is great for picking up dessert or cheese and crackers for later in the room and 'maybe' lunch.

 

Definitely room service for breakfast! I like to eat on my balcony!

 

Specialty restaurants are fun, and who I'm cruising with influences how often we eat at the specialties. My husband is more particular so when I'm cruising with him, we'll try them more often. Friends and kids are fine with MDR although I still like to try an occasional specialty restaurant for the improved service and food.

 

I'm trying a new cruise line next and I"m anxious to see if the MDR food is improved on this line.

[sail7seas]

Great responses.

I think some interesting reading. :)

[Cruise Junky]

We eat all over the place on the ship. I'd say 50% in the MDR. We eat in the specialty restaurants, on our deck, buffet. Sometimes we just feel like a more casual vacation and opt for shorts and Ts on our deck with a pizza and a great bottle of wine. I don't mean this as bragging, but I'm a pretty good cook and could do better than most of what comes out of the MDR so sometimes we just don't bother, we don't find it an integral part of our vacation.

[greatam]

We just aren't going on many cruises anymore. Been most places in the world-all 7 continents and a lot of countries that most would never even consider. Have had experiences that few have-the Trans Siberian RR from Vladivostok to Moscow with a detour to Ulaanbaator in a NORMAL train car was absolutely priceless. Never been to the Caribbean, have absolutely NO desire to go. I was born and raised in CA and lived in Hawaii. One beach is as good as another beach other than the size of the waves.

 

The ONLY things we ever went on a cruise for were three things: 1. to get REALLY dressed up because I don't have that opportunity very often and DH looks absolutely smashing in a tux with his dark hair and eyes 2. Get away from phones, faxes, emails and all the clutter in our daily lives 3. See someplace that we would not be predisposed to fly to (Arica, Chile comes to mind).

 

We also enjoyed sitting at a large table making new friends who we usually enjoyed throughout the cruise on shore excursions and transits. No buffets for us at dinner-tried that one night on an Alaskan cruise-what a zoo. No place to sit, rude people, crappy food.

 

I LIKE those 3 hour dinners. Spend a lot of time on business travel where a 3 hour dinner, even a 3 hour lunch is the norm. You should sit down with Afghan tribal leaders-you would be VERY rude leaving in 3 hours. It takes that long to get tea, sweets, some food and the BS out of the way. 5-6 hours is about the norm if you want a meaningful conversation.

 

It is a shame that cruising on the mainstream lines has now become almost a WalMart experience. Is nothing special anymore???

[Cruise Junky]

 

 

It is a shame that cruising on the mainstream lines has now become almost a WalMart experience. Is nothing special anymore???

 

Lots of things are special on a cruise to different people. Yours is dinner, others have different priorities, doesn't turn it into a Walmart experience IMO

[jamessemaj]

Lots of things are special on a cruise to different people. Yours is dinner, others have different priorities, doesn't turn it into a Walmart experience IMO

 

I think that post may have been a presumptuous put-on. Joke or not, I did laugh through it.

[SPacificbound]

We have two cruises booked and have chosen MTD for both. We have never been on a cruise, so we will choose where we want to have dinner after we look around and get familiar with the choices. We plan to have room service part of the time, hopefully we will get lots of use out of our balcony. :)

 

For me a two hour dinner sounds like torture. I love meeting new people, but I'm sure we will have that opportunity in other places besides the MDR.

[Erik101]

On the next 2 cruises with Celebrity, we decided to abandon the MDR and instead, dine in Blu. The fact that we are not required to bring a suit and tie is a factor but our reasons:

 

1) MDRs are big rooms with large volumes of people and with that, comes a lot of noise. I think the MDR is rather loud, especially when you first walk in. Blu is definitely not always peaceful but I think our chances of having a quiet, intimate dinner are higher there than the MDR. 2) The cooked to order feature is becoming more important to us. There's nothing else for me to explain about this...it's pretty much self-explanatory.

[greatam]

I think that post may have been a presumptuous put-on. Joke or not, I did laugh through it.

 

How do you figure it was a presumptuous put on??? I am writing this from Baghdad. I sit here in my Levis and t shirt. It is 6:30 in the morning. I just got off work. I own an international logistics company with a few US government logistics contracts in the War Zones. I travel the world in pursuit of my business. I rack up well over 100,000 air miles per year.

 

Nothing presumptuous about my post. What I said is what I believe. Cruising has taken a RAPID down hill turn since my first cruise on the QE2 in 1994 (not counting the "booze cruise" I did when I was in college in 1968-a 3 day to Mexico-before Carnival was really a company-just ran a ship from LA to Mexico and return).

 

The December 1994 crossing was a disaster by normal cruise standards-ship got confiscated in NY for unsanitary conditions. They were retrofitting the ship from Southampton to NYC. They didn't quite finish before they left Southampton and there were a LOT of things WRONG. But we had a great time-cheapo cabin, airfare on Concorde courtesy of the Porsche dealer in Des Moines Iowa (had to take a test drive and be qualified to buy a Porsche and you got a cert for a cheapo Concorde flight). What more could you want? A cruise in the Caribbean???

 

Still a Walmart experience on the mainstream cruise lines today. NOTHING SPECIAL!!!

[binkysmom]

We (as a couple) have never cruised before, but I'm just starting to investigate cruise options. Saw this thread and decided to answer.

 

Formal clothing is a huge concern for us. Well, me less so than my husband. He's a very large man and he doesn't own a suit, or a jacket, or anything formal. Buying such things for him just doesn't make any economical sense, and he hates wearing them with a passion. Basically he hates anything that's even close around his neck. So shirts with collars are a pain, as well. He can put up with them on occasion, like if he has to make a presentation at work, but he wears slacks (like chinos) and a button down shirt. Not even usually a tie, and he is profoundly uncomfortable in them the entire time.

 

So yeah, if the MDR is formal only, it is highly unlikely we could eat there (even though I think I'd really love to, and *I* have a really nice cocktail dress that would be totally appropriate).

 

Now this has me wondering if I can find suitable clothing for him to wear for a reasonable price so we could eat there if I really really wanted... :)

 

my parents had a similar problem when they started cruising. My dad didn't work in an industry where he needed suits (or even a jacket/sports coat). Since he doesn't wear them that often he didn't want to spend a lot of money. He went to a couple of thrift stores and found a great navy blue light wool suit for a great price. After that first cruise he's picked up 2 more sports coats from thrift stores. He just gets them dry cleaned and they are good to go.

[calliopecruiser]

It is a shame that cruising on the mainstream lines has now become almost a WalMart experience. Is nothing special anymore???

 

I always laugh when I read comments like that - such hyperbole! Yes, of course there are still special things available, but they may not be the same things you had in the past, and/or they may not be at a price you wish to pay.

 

 

I find it really interesting that a thread that started out wanting to discuss something other than dress codes still became mostly about dress codes ;)

[Donder1]

We enjoy the MDR and always try to get a table for two. Mostly, we have been successful in that endeavor. And, we usually try to check out the posted evening menu. If it is something we might not enjoy, we make other plans.

 

I have never sat for 2 hours on Princess or HAL. Usually, at the most, 1 hour. And, the wait staff seems very accommodating on Princess and HAL when we have asked to order or move things along in order to make a show, etc.

For me, I'd rather eat in the MDR than the Lido. We seldom order Room Service except for light breakfast on the balcony.

[5326jan]

Didn't read every single post here, but I would like to suggest that if you are eating in the MDR for Traditional Dining and plan to eat elsewhere one night, let your waiter know! We have waited to be served several times because we were waiting for the "missing" people to show up. We let our waiter and table mates know from the beginning that we will not be there for formal nights. We use those nights as opportunity to eat in the specialty restaurants.

[Cruise Junky]

Didn't read every single post here, but I would like to suggest that if you are eating in the MDR for Traditional Dining and plan to eat elsewhere one night, let your waiter know! We have waited to be served several times because we were waiting for the "missing" people to show up. We let our waiter and table mates know from the beginning that we will not be there for formal nights. We use those nights as opportunity to eat in the specialty restaurants.

 

This is why we always book Anytime Dining now.

[5326jan]

This is why we always book Anytime Dining now.

 

We've considered that too, but we've gotten to know so many wonderful people and dining with them for a week or two goes deeper than the "what do you do?", "how many cruises have you done?", "kids?", "where are you from?", etc. Besides, we love having the same waiter every night!

 

This is why it's so great to have options! Different strokes!

[MorgannaLeFey]

Morgana, perhaps your husband wouldn't mind wearing a guayabera shirt (also known as Cuban or Mexican wedding shirt). There are some beautiful ones available and they do not button to the neck or tuck in. They can look quite dashing.

 

I'm always on the look out for things like this. I'll do some research on them. Thanks!

 

I was also playfully wondering how they'd feel at the dining room if he showed up in a kilt with a nice shirt, shoes, and stockings. ;)

[MorgannaLeFey]

However we have discovered the roll call ...

 

Not to hijack the thread, but what's "the roll call"?

[MorgannaLeFey]

He went to a couple of thrift stores and found a great navy blue light wool suit for a great price. After that first cruise he's picked up 2 more sports coats from thrift stores. He just gets them dry cleaned and they are good to go.

 

This is a thoughtful suggestion but impractical for us. My husband really is oddly shaped and very large, it's not worth the time to even bother looking. Anything of any rack just looks absurd on him. I've been looking at tailoring options, though. I can get him a suit tailored to his specific measurements from tailor4less.com for around $219!

 

Still, we're waffling on the cruise thing. Still making up our minds about it.

 

Meeting new people is always a challenge with him, and the idea of being sorta tied to a cluster of people that I wouldn't be comfortable talking to is a little scary. Even if you can change tables at some point, doesn't that create an awkward situation if you run into those people later? "Gee, why'd you change tables on us?" or something like that?

 

It's a bit scary. :)

[5326jan]

I'm always on the look out for things like this. I'll do some research on them. Thanks!

 

I was also playfully wondering how they'd feel at the dining room if he showed up in a kilt with a nice shirt, shoes, and stockings. ;)

 

I've seen that several times on ship's formal nights! Especially on Med Cruises when there are a larger number of cruisers from UK.

 

If you want to eat in MDR, but your DH is painfully shy, just request a table for 2! You are paying for the service, you ought to be able to enjoy it in a situation where he will be comfortable. Most nights men are just dressed in nice shirt and slacks in the MDR. You could avoid formal night by doing an alternative.... specialty restaurants don't require formal wear, buffet, grill, room service, pizza, International Cafe, etc.

 

I'm sure your DH won't be the only "big guy" on the ship! :) Try it, You'll like it!