Low Key Cruising - Who Wants To or Has Tried It?

[ChevyCruiser]

By low key, I mean leaving the formal wear at home, packing one carry-on sized bag for the trip, eating anywhere except the dining room, staying onboard for at least half the in-port days, having room-service dinner on your balcony as the sun sets, skipping dinner and actually eating at the midnight buffet, lounging by the pool while the herd disembarks at the end of the cruise, and then sauntering down the gangway with your one bag to maybe fly home that afternoon, or maybe even the next day.

 

The more we cruise, the more relaxing and inviting it sounds.

[cb at sea]

I enjoy the dressing up and the courteous formality of cruising! After what a cruise costs, I'm certainly NOT eating buffet food or trying to dine in a cabin with no dining table! No fun at all!

Now, staying on the ship in ports is something I do about 1/2 the time! (Once you've seen a Caribbean Island, you've seen 'em all!) I do enjoy the emptyness of the ship while everyone is of scurrying around trying to find the perfect piece of junk to bring home as a souvenier!

But, eating at midnight isn't my thing, and packing more shoes than Payless is what I do best, so......

[kitty9]

I also don't pay the prices to eat not-that-great buffet food for a week or longer. I could do the same things here at home 365 days a year, for a whole lot less money---eat burgers, sit outside by the pool, eat wilted salads, poorly cooked beef slices and jello---that's basically what you get in a cruise buffet. When I cruise, I want the dressing up, I want four course meals with lobster and prime rib. I want to enjoy the ambience that I don't get at home. If I want the no dressing up, I'll take my 28ft party barge out on the local lake and eat cold fried chicken. And as for room service, no matter what, it never, ever tastes the same. The food is usually lukewarm and not presented nearly as nice as in the dining room.

 

As for staying on the ship, we do that all the time. After 50 cruises, the islands all look alike, so the ship is our destination. We love how quiet it is on board when everyone goes out to buy the t-shirts and gold by the inch.

[caviargal]

On our last cruise to Alaska, we had a low key week. We had a corner aft suite so had dinner in our cabin twice, late at night, with the mountains as a backdrop. Three nights we dressed up in formal or semi attire for dinner in the specialty restaurant (I do not consider getting dressed up for dinner to be a stressful event so this counts as low key for me), never saw the buffet after embarkation day, had room service a couple of mornings early, had lunch in port whenever possible.

 

On HAL, they have a special dining room open for breakfast just for suite guests and it is small and lovely, with excellent food and service. We had breakfast there most mornings.

 

I like that HAL now offers As You Wish dining and find that having no set schedule is a great plus, especially in Alaska.

 

Low key means different things to different people. For me, it means having lots of flexibility and options as well as a smaller ship not packed to the gills with people. Just being on the monster ships is exhausting IMO:).

[cjil]

Personally, I think it sounds GREAT!!! Sign me up!!!:p

[serene56]

I did that for our past princess cruise. Ate at the buffet all nights except one night coz I wanted lobster so we ate in the dining room. Requested a table for two and hated it since the tables were thisclose to the others... I hated it.

 

the food on the other hand at the Caribbe cafe was above buffet food. I was totally impressed with the service also.

 

this is not something i would try on my carnival cruises. I, too like to be waited on too and the buffet area on princess for dinner gives you that -- all you do is get your own food- then you get waited on the rest of the meal,

[Kurbanfan]

Absolutely!!! We did that on our cruise last August. We ate at the deli, grill or buffet. We are not the type of people that book a cruise to eat lol!

But we will not stay on the ships on port days either. We pretty much cruise for the ports. It was soooo relaxing. Did what we wanted when we wanted. Less luggage to carry, it was great!

[happy cruzer]

I thought just cruising was low key. Having a lovely dinner in the dining room that someone else plans the menu for, prepares, serves and Then walking out with someone else to do the clean up is low key to me.

 

I like to dress. If I want less luggage, I can still get one very nice outfit and several casual ones in there with my day wear.

 

But I don't push it into a carry on because I now have to check my liquids anyway. I still could dress very nicely from one bag and so could DH.

 

Most people need one carryon for the camera and video gear. I guess low key could mean leaving that at home too.

 

Yes, low key means different things to different folks.... kind of like most of the options with cruises - some love 'en and other don't.

[LHT28]

We usually take 1 bag each and we eat in the dining room ...we dress nice for dinner and travel on a ship that has no formal nights so don't have to worry about fancy dress.

 

IMHO

I don't see the point of going on a cruise to eat in the buffet or cabin but is is all about choices.

[Kurbanfan]

We usually take 1 bag each and we eat in the dining room ...we dress nice for dinner and travel on a ship that has no formal nights so don't have to worry about fancy dress.

 

IMHO

I don't see the point of going on a cruise to eat in the buffet or cabin but is is all about choices.

 

We have never cruised on a ship that has no formal nights. But we will try it in the future. But for us it is nice sometimes not to have to sit thru a 2 hour dinner when we could be doing something else.

[surfklutz]

That describes my SeaDream cruise to a tee.

[firefly333]

How much space in a suitcase does one dress take up? Wear it twice. We have boarded with one carry on each, and manage to cruise and no problem.

 

Find some shoes that dont take up a lot of suitcase space to wear with the dress.

 

My sister is handicapped so I carry both bags and do self assist walk off.

 

We did bring one bigger bag to carry on some coke she wanted the last few times and I still bring my carry on which does have a zipper to make it expand for the stuff we buy.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Have well over 70 cruises under our belts.

 

No way have we gone low-key. In fact today I just went and bought a new sequene top to go with DH's new ruffled tuxedo shirt.

 

Still take 4 suitcases for every cruise plus 2 carry-ons along with a laptop.

[houch]

Would never consider that. Love the dining room and visiting with our tablemates over a nice meal. Don't mind putting on a nice pair of pants or dress for dinner. Enjoy going formal on the formal nights too.

[Leafpeeper]

We have been cruising for many years so the more we cruise the less formal we get. We are taking NCL Pearl for 5 nights in November and are happy it is "freestyle". DH won't need to pack his suit and tie for this cruise. We enjoy NCL's multiple restaurants. Unfortunately, we won't be staying in a balcony cabin on this cruise.

 

In February, we are taking a 12 night cruise on Explorer of the Seas from NJ to the southern caribbean. Looks like I will be packing my collapsable dining table for our aft balcony. It was the best $20 I ever spent--over the shoulder canvas carrying bag makes it light and easy to bring. I found it via a CC post. One thing we love on RCCL is having hot food on their room service menu and reading the dinner menu on our tv cabin each day. We will definetely be having breakfast and several dinners on our balcony--especially when we are in port. We have requested a table for 2 in the dining room because we know we will only eat there a handful of times. We prefer the quiet atmosphere in the specialty restaurants over the huge noisey dining rooms.

 

We do enjoy Princess cruises because they offer "anytime" dining and also have a dining table on the balcony instead of a small coctail table. We like flexibility in dining and don't want to be tied to a specified time in the dining room each night.

 

We have a weekend cruise on Carnival booked in January and know we have no choice other than the dining room or buffet for dining. Fortunately, Carnival does not have a strict formal attire policy. I noticed several men wearing Hawaiian shirts or a simple shirt and tie with no jacket on formal night during our last Carnival cruise. We'll suck it up for 3 nights and eat in the dining room on this cruise.

 

Like another poster said, cruising for us is not about the food. We are into relaxing and enjoy peace and quiet when we dine. We prefer intimate restaurants like NCL's LeBistro. It is well worth the $15pp fee. As a matter of face, I like all of NCL's restaurants. They do an excellent job with their restaurant themes and decor--great variety from French, Italian, Mexican, Japanese, American, etc. We love dining in a different place each night. Makes our cruise more fun.

[iheartbda]

By low key, I mean leaving the formal wear at home, packing one carry-on sized bag for the trip, eating anywhere except the dining room, staying onboard for at least half the in-port days, having room-service dinner on your balcony as the sun sets, skipping dinner and actually eating at the midnight buffet, lounging by the pool while the herd disembarks at the end of the cruise, and then sauntering down the gangway with your one bag to maybe fly home that afternoon, or maybe even the next day.

 

The more we cruise, the more relaxing and inviting it sounds.

 

Sounds to me like Windjammer Barefoot cruises are what you need to look into. You're messin' with too many things that traditional cruisers like.:D

[ChevyCruiser]

What got us discussing this whole low-key concept for us was during a formal night dinner. Generally, the sound level is so high in the dining room that conversation at anything larger than a four person table is difficult, if not impossible. Add live or canned music to that, and the background noise turns into a dull roar. We'd much rather eat in one of the specialty restaurants, the buffet, or on the balcony with room service and be able to actually have a conversation during dinner - 25 years together and we still have things to talk about;) .

[Kurbanfan]

What got us discussing this whole low-key concept for us was during a formal night dinner. Generally, the sound level is so high in the dining room that conversation at anything larger than a four person table is difficult, if not impossible. Add live or canned music to that, and the background noise turns into a dull roar. We'd much rather eat in one of the specialty restaurants, the buffet, or on the balcony with room service and be able to actually have a conversation during dinner - 25 years together and we still have things to talk about;) .

 

I totally agree!!!

[GTO-Girl]

Chevy, I think that sounds great! We had already done several cruises with a big group of friends, dragging all the formal wear, and hitting every port with a vengence. But this past February hubby and I by ourselves on a cruise and went "low-key" and had the time of our lives!!

 

I did take a pair of dress slacks and a few tops so we did go to the dining room a few times but not during formal night. We just mostly "bummed around" and IT WAS GREAT!!!!:D

 

Just do what you would enjoy the most.....after all it is YOUR vacation!

 

Happy Sailing,

 

Dianne

[cruisead]

A lot of that noise issue depends on the cruise line you're on. Not all have dining rooms that sound like you're at the circus. Pick the right ship and all that ambient noise won't be there.

[CC Help Michell]

Sounds to me like Windjammer Barefoot cruises are what you need to look into. You're messin' with too many things that traditional cruisers like.:D

 

I think these days Windjammer is a bit TOO "low key" for just about anyone! http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2226

 

I, too, thought the original post on this thread sounded a lot like NCL's "freestyle" cruising, particularly the dress code/formal nights (or lack thereof).

[momofmeg]

By low key, I mean leaving the formal wear at home, packing one carry-on sized bag for the trip, eating anywhere except the dining room, staying onboard for at least half the in-port days, having room-service dinner on your balcony as the sun sets, skipping dinner and actually eating at the midnight buffet, lounging by the pool while the herd disembarks at the end of the cruise, and then sauntering down the gangway with your one bag to maybe fly home that afternoon, or maybe even the next day.

 

The more we cruise, the more relaxing and inviting it sounds.

 

I have eaten alternate dining and also room service but this was when I was just too tired for the dinningroom because of a busy port day.

 

I love formal nights for the most part. well let me correct myself. I treally like informal nights like celebrity has. you dress up but not as much as formal night. I would love to do this every night of the cruise-forget casual, forget formal.

 

Celebrity does offer a third choice for thos ewho do not want to do formal night-for a $2 charge you can eat in the lido restuarant on formal night and still have wait service, plus a nicer menu- but be able to dress casually.