Gala nights? and MDR ?

[aledomom]

Hello all....we are on the Nieuw Statendam September 8 out of Amsterdam for the 7 Day Norse Legends.  We have only been on one other HAL cruise so we are still trying to figure things out please forgive me if this is a stupid question.  How can you know (or guess) how many formal nights there will be and which nights they will on your cruise itinerary?  

Also is it best to eat in the MDR those nights or would we be missing out on too much if we did one of the paid restaurant options?

Thank you in advance!

Edited July 7, 2019 by aledomom

[rkacruiser]

On a 7 day cruise, you can expect 2 Gala Nights.  When they will occur?  Depends on the ship's itinerary.  Usually, it is on an evening during a sea day, but not always.  Where to dine?  That's a personal choice.  The MDR Gala Night menus usually have Lobster/Turf entrees on one of the nights, if that is important to you.

[aledomom]

Ok thanks.  So if we want to book one of the paid restaurants we are basically taking our chances that it will be a Gala night?  I guess we can just take that chance.  I assume the paid restaurants don't change up their menus if it is a Gala night?

[kazu]

Just now, aledomom said:

Ok thanks.  So if we want to book one of the paid restaurants we are basically taking our chances that it will be a Gala night?  I guess we can just take that chance.  I assume the paid restaurants don't change up their menus if it is a Gala night?

 

You are correct.  The specialty/paid restaurants don’t change up their menus on gala night.

 

Look at your itinerary.  If the first full day is a sea day, that’s your first Gala night.

 

The second is never the last night (and that’s one I like for a specialty dinner 😉 ). You need to have your suitcases packed so they don’t expect you in Gala clothes.

 

If the second last day is a sea day, it will be the other Gala night.

 

If it’s not a sea day - look for the day with a short port day and odds are that is it.

 

If in doubt, post your itinerary and we’ll do our best guess.  

[catl331]

You can be pretty sure that the first will be on the 9th, a sea day.  My guess for the second would be the 13th, Bergen.

 

Cruise Itinerary: Amsterdam, Holland (08 Sep d1700); Eidfjord, Norway (10 Sep 0700-1500); Alesund, Norway (11 Sep 0800-2300); Geiranger, Norway (12 Sep 0700-1700); Bergen, Norway(13 Sep 0800-1700); Amsterdam, Holland (15 Sep a0700)

Edited July 7, 2019 by catl331

[aledomom]

Thank you all so much!  If I remember correctly from our Alaska cruise we did enjoy that Gala night menus.  So we would like to eat in the MDR on those evenings.  I'll look at booking something on the evening we are in Alesund.  The other 2 evenings have us cruising the fjords so I think we would like to hang out on our balcony or in our room so we can watch that all glide by until we have dinner.  

 

I really appreciate everyones help.

[lpmpsail]

16 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

On a 7 day cruise, you can expect 2 Gala Nights.  When they will occur?  Depends on the ship's itinerary.  Usually, it is on an evening during a sea day, but not always.  Where to dine?  That's a personal choice.  The MDR Gala Night menus usually have Lobster/Turf entrees on one of the nights, if that is important to you.

Lobster/Turf is not a guarantee on Gala Nights in the MDR any longer.  Our last cruise (May 2019) to the Baltic Sea - we were expecting Lobster but instead got another Shrimp choice in the MDR on the 2nd Gala night.  Nothing really special in the MDR on the 1st Gala night.  Expressed our disappointment to the MDR Manager - he tried to tell us that on the European cruises, they didn't serve lobster but we called him out on that since we've already done 3 different European cruises (once being Norway).   I even sent a letter to the President & CEO regarding this and several other concerns, but their staff didn't address it in their response.

And yes, I know I can pay extra for it in the Pinnacle, but it was a disappointment.