How Long Until Formal Nights End

[barbon2]

Hi,

With HAL trying freestyle cruising, I assume the end of formal nights is just around the corner. I cannot see people in evening clothes waiting in line at the dining room to get shuffled off to a table. Interesting point, we booked one date for Alaska and found that the upper dining was booked. We moved our date, got upper dining and now that is waitlisted. (So we are glad we got in under the gun). I suspect that a lot of people are not too keen on this new dining concept and are grabbing the 8pm upper seating rather then the freesyle. Just my opinion.

Barbara

[RuthC]

How Long Until Formal Nights End

Two hopes of mine:

1.) Not in my lifetime. :)

2.) I have a long lifetime. :D

If I had my way HAL would have fewer casual nights (first and last is all right), and replace them with informal nights.

[herb]

Seeing people get all dressed up for Formal Night is always a treat for us

[thomasale]

Now that hurts!!!

[GayleArc]

I agree with Ruth, not in my lifetime, I hope. If so, I could cruise on any old line.

[Navy_Chief]

Hi,

With HAL trying freestyle cruising, I assume the end of formal nights is just around the corner. I cannot see people in evening clothes waiting in line at the dining room to get shuffled off to a table. Interesting point, we booked one date for Alaska and found that the upper dining was booked. We moved our date, got upper dining and now that is waitlisted. (So we are glad we got in under the gun). I suspect that a lot of people are not too keen on this new dining concept and are grabbing the 8pm upper seating rather then the freesyle. Just my opinion.

Barbara

 

Don't get NCL Freestyle confused with HALs "Dining Windows", they are totally two different things. On HAL, your still assigned to Early or Late seating and a specific table. It is not an open seat dining room during dinner as it is for breakfast and lunch. I also hope we continue with Formal Nights.

[RevNeal]

Seeing people get all dressed up for Formal Night is always a treat for us

 

How nauseating. :)

Looks like they spilled Peptobismol all over their clothing!

She doesn't look that awful ... but he is a walking fashion nightmare. :D

 

Love those photos ... great site you pulled it from! :D

[fsalzer]

I cannot see people in evening clothes waiting in line at the dining room to get shuffled off to a table.

 

It's similar to seeing people in evening clothes waiting in line for the doors to open at the traditional dining room so they can shuffle off to a table. :)

 

Fred

[RevNeal]

With HAL trying freestyle cruising, I assume the end of formal nights is just around the corner.

 

Gee ... I sure hope not. I'm with Ruth ... I want MORE formal and informal nights, not an end to them.

 

Indeed, I don't think there is going to be an end to formal nights. Even if HAL goes to a "freestyle" dining scheme (which I don't actually see happening wholesale or throughout the fleet), I don't see how that would nix Formal Nights. And certainly not if half of the ship has "traditional" seating. :)

[herb]

glad you enjoyed the photo revneal... it was meant "tongue in cheek". Didn't want to start the usual uproar of "for and against" formal wear.

 

 

Everyone have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year

[RevNeal]

glad you enjoyed the photo revneal... it was meant "tongue in cheek". Didn't want to start the usual uproar of "for and against" formal wear.

 

 

Everyone have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year

 

I appreciate that, Herb. I don't see any reason for this to be an "uproar." It's an interesting, question, though.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I strongly feel our beloved HAL will still always keep having Formals nights (at least I hope) and like Ruth hope not in my life time that it would change. I am a believer that HAL is just trying to make a few more pople a bit happier with their experimenting of Dining and would never loose their traditional cruise style.

[boards]

My wife and I hope that will never happen. We enjoy the formal nights. It is the opportunties we get dress up formally.

[hammybee]

Oh I think casual evenings are here to stay. The precedent for first and last evening has too many fans. I am however, more inclined to believe that the ambiguous informal nights will be more likely to disappear, than formal nights.

[cruzincurt]

Not to worry. We did a cruise on a line with "free style" cruising. The only difference was we ended up at the dining room at the same time each night, for a table for two, around 7:30. We made the reservation for the same time each night and went to the head of the line. Everyone still dressed up for the evening. If you just randomly showed up without a reservation, you had to wait maybe 15 minutes at most depending on the time.

[waiting2retire]

I have not yet sailed HAL, although it will be my pleasure to do so in eleven days (not that I'm counting:D ). I am very much looking forward to participating in the formal nights and it was fun to purchase formalwear since it isn't something I normally do.

 

The only cruise experience I have is two years ago with Princess on a 10 day cruise. We had two formal nights, and I would say the majority of the passengers participated (at least at a semi-formal level) and I loved seeing everyone all decked out in their finest. There were two year old twin girls who were delightful in their pink and white ball gowns!

 

We were in a group of five couples, and when we booked, we chose their "anytime" dining rather than traditional because some of us preferred earlier dining, some later, but we knew that occasionally we would want to all have dinner together. We all went to dinner together at the same time the first night, at 6:30, got a table for 10 immediately, no problem, and enjoyed our time and our wait staff so much that we asked if it was possible to have the same table at the same time the following night. We were told that, if we wanted, we could book the same table, same time, for the entire 10 days, and that's what we did. In my opinion, it was the best of both worlds; like traditional dining except that we could chose a convenient time for us (6:30 suited both the early and late diners), and we knew after the first night that we would be happy with the table and wait staff.

 

I don't know if this is normally offered to "anytime dining" passengers, but we thought it was great.

 

It will be interesting to see how I compare the traditional dining on HAL to what I experience on Princess. I'm already not happy because we are waitlisted :( for the early sitting, so I have no idea where or when we will be assigned. I know that I am looking forward, once again, to seeing everyone in their finest (even if it is bubblegum pink!:) )

 

Bonnie

[RuthC]

I am however, more inclined to believe that the ambiguous informal nights will be more likely to disappear, than formal nights.

If that were to happen I think it would be a shame. I still have a lot of pretty clothes that I wore when I worked; now that I'm retired they rarely get out of the closet. Many of them are perfect for informal nights.

If HAL is going to keep so many of the nights casual (and I'm willing to bet the rent they are:rolleyes:; as of now more than half the nights on any cruise are casual) I would like them to at least return to the concept of "elegantly casual" that they used to request. Sure, call it "resort casual" or "country club casual (after all, who ever knew what they meant by "elegantly casual anyway).

As of now many people don't understand that there is a distinct difference between the "casual" worn on shore excursions or to the beach and what is attractive in the evening.

[retiredldo]

Isnt the formal night dress down more of a reflection on society. Look how business casual has gone down the tubes, with folks showing up in sweat pants, sneakers and a light coat of oil I think you will see ties making a comeback (as we all know the styles come and go) and with that more formal stuff but who knows

 

We like the formal nights, have enjoyed them on our 13 cruises and continue to do so. We also stay in the formal wear for the evening, as there are quite a few of the drive by Formal nighters you know the ones that dress up and then get out it as quickly as possible

 

At any rate I hope they keep the formal nights

 

Semper Fi

 

Pete

[hammybee]

As of now many people don't understand that there is a distinct difference between the "casual" worn on shore excursions or to the beach and what is attractive in the evening. [/color][/size][/font]

 

We are in complete agreement.

 

I have not sailed HAL as recently as you have, Ruth. Are your feelings coming from personal observations or a sense of what's to come?

[amusea]

When did the terminology for the "in between" dress code change from semi-formal to informal? Except for those who cruise often, informal means casual. I have noticed that on those evenings designated as informal that more and more people are actually dressing casually. Maybe that is why HAL and other cruise lines are now specifying many more casual evenings. Unless one reads the specifics of the designated code for the evening which many new cruisers seem not to do, informal would naturally connotate casual. What was the matter with semi-formal which is what the cruise line really meant?

[barbon2]

Don't get NCL Freestyle confused with HALs "Dining Windows", they are totally two different things. On HAL, your still assigned to Early or Late seating and a specific table. It is not an open seat dining room during dinner as it is for breakfast and lunch. I also hope we continue with Formal Nights.

Navy Chief, I do not have the two confused. Recently returned from the 12/2-12/9 Oosterdam and they had the "windows" seating option where we could arrive at our designated table between 8 and 9 pm. HAL is trying out freestyle dining this summer. We booked the Noordam and were first told (for 8/26) that a large group had booked the upper 8pm dining and are ONLY other option for late seating was the new freestyle that they are trying out. You could arrive any time between 5:30 and 9:00 pm and will be seated at arrival. You do not have an assigned table nor do you have the same wait staff every night. That is when we opted to go with the Noordam 9/2 with a guarantee of the 8pm upper seating. When you now look at booking for 9/2 it states that the 8pm upper seating is waitlisted and the other option available is this new freestyle. I think by looking at how quickly the set seating is booking up that perhaps HAL may rethink this new option. As for the others who spoke of dress code, it seems HAL has a lot of groups booked on cruises. We had a large group (600) on our cruise who did not in any way, shape or form, conform to any type of dress code. We saw A LOT of jeans and flannel type shirts on many evenings. So I guess depending on what type of pax HAL is trying to recruit will depend on the upkeep of formal night, or in the case of our recent cruise any type of acceptable dress.

[RuthC]

I have not sailed HAL as recently as you have, Ruth. Are your feelings coming from personal observations or a sense of what's to come?

You mean when I speak of what constitutes "casual"? That would be experience. Too many times I see people wearing the same thing at night that they had on that day.

As you know I tend to sail in cooler climes, so there are many folks in long pants and sweatshirts during the day. They're still wearing the same clothes when I'm tooting around (much) later that night.

Even worse I have seen it, too, in hot/humid areas! :eek: Is it too much to ask that people shower and change into clean clothes when they come in from a day of fun in the sun? Could they at least scrape off the sunscreen. :rolleyes:

[hammybee]

When did the terminology for the "in between" dress code change from semi-formal to informal? Except for those who cruise often, informal means casual. I have noticed that on those evenings designated as informal that more and more people are actually dressing casually. Maybe that is why HAL and other cruise lines are now specifying many more casual evenings. Unless one reads the specifics of the designated code for the evening which many new cruisers seem not to do, informal would naturally connotate casual. What was the matter with semi-formal which is what the cruise line really meant?

 

Amusea: You might be onto something here, assuming I did not mistakenly use the term "informal".

 

If HAL did indeed change the terminology, then things have been evolving for awhile and has nothing to do with the dining experiment in progress on some ships.

[fsalzer]

HAL is trying out freestyle dining this summer. We booked the Noordam and were first told (for 8/26)...

Since we will have open-seating dining on Oosterdam in a couple of weeks and your cruise is 8 months later, it now appears to me that it's not a trial but fait accompli.

 

Fred

[Copper10-8]

Since we will have open-seating dining on Oosterdam in a couple of weeks and your cruise is 8 months later, it now appears to me that it's not a trial but fait accompli.

 

Fred

 

Hi Fred; it's not a fait accompli yet because it's only being tried out on a very limited amount of ships in the fleet:)