Hello from Volendam!

[maxout]

Well at least it won't hurt if he bumped his head on the overhead behind him! :D

 

 

By the way, great shots! I am really enjoying this thread.

[longtimecruiser]

Just checked out the latest pictures Rev! You guys are nuts, I just love it. I was laughing out loud!!:D :D Tell Adele that the ladies at Curves are enjoying the pictures as well. I'm glad my mother is having a good time. I'm just a little bit jealous.;)

[cruisinjudy]

Brian,Is this the bird you saw? It's name is Magnificent Frigatebird.

I am enjoying the tale of this cruise!

[sail7seas]

Amazing photos...... You are all having waaaay too much fun!!! :D

Great, great, great.......

[cdkempton]

Sure looks like all are having a good time... happiness is......... :):)

[FinelyRetired]

I can't tell you guys how much I've loved reading your posts & seeing the pics!

 

Thanks for sharing your zaniness with all of us.

 

Your weather looks splendid. Continue to revel, revneal.

[RuthC]

Pistachio Ice Cream ... Adele ate it in honor of RuthC and her only "green stuff."

:eek: That is so not true! I also eat spearment leaves---they're green, too, ya know! And I'll drink green cream de menthe. :D

I'm glad to see that Scotty has returned his hair color to it's former glory. ;) Much better looking on him. :)

[kryos]

I think this is the first time I have read on any board of such a sizable number of passengers who preferred to remain very casual.

Didn't Ruth comment about something similar on the Noordam when she cruised that ship? Something about having no Black and White Ball because "these folks don't clean up very well."

 

It's a new age ... and especially on shorter cruises, I'm not surprised that more and more people are not bothering to dress up.

 

The solution?

 

Ignore them and stick within your own "well dressed" groups if you prefer formal nights as they were intended.

 

Unfortunately, that's about the only thing you can do because if more and more people begin refusing to honor formal night traditions, HAL surely will tend to enforce them less and less.

 

Before anyone flames me ... I'm not saying I agree with these folks who ignore formal night dress codes ... I'm just saying that if more and more people start adopting that behavior, eventually formal nights will be an entirely optional affair.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[NanaApa]

Hay Brian

Something you guys might enjoy from online soursc

Try www.boatnerd.com – then choose “Vessel Passage” from left listing – Then scroll down and look for and click on “Live Tracker World Wide Map” its just below the two maps – Once at world wide map scroll down and enter “Volendam” in Search for ship by name – If you then choose the coordinates it will show ship with respect with all others in area (by zooming out) it you choose the ship name it will display a dot plot of some of its recent locations (these are locations where the ship retruned weather, sea condition info to the database keepers)

Enjoy Apa

PS – What and where is HMC ?

[innlady1]

Wonderful thread, Brian and Greg...thank you so much for taking all of us along with you! Loved the photos, too!

Enjoy the rest of your cruise! ;)

[HeatherInFlorida]

Brian and Greg, I am LOVING this thread. Your posts are so vivid:) . Thank you so much for taking the time to post in such detail!

 

I'm really surprised about formal night. I know there's evidently a downturn in the number of people dressing for formal night, but 25% is unbelievable ... particularly on a 10 day cruise. I'd find it easier to believe if it were a 7 day, but even then it's really disappointing and a big change from what I experienced last December on Prinsendam.

 

Greg, possibly the woman making a comment to her husband was saying "You see that elegantly dressed gentleman over there? Didn't I tell you to bring your tux?":)

 

Makes me sad ... formal nights have always been so special.

 

Keep the great posts and pictures coming! Such a good read!

[Micmac]

Hi Revneal -

 

Loved the pictures. Looks like a great time was had by all! Hannah loves Carlos and Charlies in Mexico and is really excited that there is one in Aruba as well. She was wondering if you had a chance to see if the gangway had stairs or if we could get her off in the wheelchair?

 

Too bad you don't have any of my fashion police citations - sounds like you could use all of them!

 

Thanks for the great descriptions- helping to get us in the cruise mood-

 

Michelle

[DrTee]

Won't one of you tell us about the near-drowning on HMC? Please???

[Copper10-8]

Hay Brian

Something you guys might enjoy from online soursc

Try www.boatnerd.com – then choose “Vessel Passage” from left listing – Then scroll down and look for and click on “Live Tracker World Wide Map” its just below the two maps – Once at world wide map scroll down and enter “Volendam” in Search for ship by name – If you then choose the coordinates it will show ship with respect with all others in area (by zooming out) it you choose the ship name it will display a dot plot of some of its recent locations (these are locations where the ship retruned weather, sea condition info to the database keepers)

Enjoy Apa

 

PS – What and where is HMC ?

 

Thanks a lot for that website! Pretty cool! Check out Volendam's track

HMC = Half Moon Cay aka Cat island in the Bahamas, HAL's private island

[RevNeal]

I'm glad people are enjoying this. We're having MORE fun making this cruise! :)

 

Emily, your mother isn't reading the thread ... she wanted me to mention that to you. I think she's trying to save money (that's a good idea). :)

 

Tonight was a very nice, quiet night. We didn't leave Aruba until 11:30 pm, and now we're SLOWLY crawling our way toward Curacao. A SLOW cruise. Can hardly tell we're moving.

 

Dinner was fantastic tonight; my Veal was cooked to perfection. Superb.

Tonight everyone seems exhausted ... for the ship quieted down rather quickly. It WAS a long, hot, and humid day in Aruba ... so I guess people are taking it easy tonight.

 

Some conversation aboard ship about the Dress Code situation last night has initiated some interesting observations made by others. We have 2 groups aboard -- a Shakespeare Geek group and a Macintosh Geek group. It would appear, based upon word from some members in both of those groups (sponsored by the same travel agent) that the sponsoring entities failed to highlight the fact that HAL has a dress code. Or, at least, that's what I'm being told. As a result, many of those in these two groups who have never cruised before didn't even bother to bring a jacket and tie, much less anything more formal. That might account for a goodly percentage of 300 of those who failed to dress according to code.

 

Just as an aside ... I noted that the leading TA who arranged these two groups was wandering around the ship tonight -- on Smart Casual Night -- in shorts and a polo shirt. This would appear to substantiate the observation.

 

Though ... and I agree with this counter observation ... the information that arrived from HAL should have told the Shakespeare and Macintosh people all they needed to know about how to pack for this cruise. Sadly, it would appear that very few of them bothered to actually read the Know Before You Go booklet.

[RevNeal]

I'm really surprised about formal night. I know there's evidently a downturn in the number of people dressing for formal night, but 25% is unbelievable ... particularly on a 10 day cruise. I'd find it easier to believe if it were a 7 day, but even then it's really disappointing and a big change from what I experienced last December on Prinsendam.

 

Ditto. And, it's radically different from anything I've ever experienced ... it's far worse than my Alaska Cruise on HAL. Were this a 7-day cruise, I'd say "ok ... luck of the draw." But this is a 10-day cruise ... and not a cheap one, either. Perhaps the circumstances I've above-described explain a big part of it, but it is still amazing to behold. Oh, there have ALWAYS been some contrary ones who just refuse to play along; but they're usually in such an extreme minority that the glaring errors in their choices have been sufficient to illustrate advisability of conformity for others. But, that's not going to happen when the figure gets as high as 25%. In this case, I think it may be a bit erroneous to assume that what we're experiencing right now is characteristic of how things are trending; this is more symptomatic of a program and a TA that just doesn't care about such things, regardless of what the HAL documentation may say. I suspect it's more "the luck of the draw" than anything else. Still ... if groups continue to do this kind of thing, and ignore the guidelines that the rest of us are asked to follow, then we'll see more and more of this in the future as group-bookings become more and more common.

[FinelyRetired]

Didn't Ruth comment about something similar on the Noordam when she cruised that ship? Something about having no Black and White Ball because "these folks don't clean up very well."

 

It's a new age ... and especially on shorter cruises, I'm not surprised that more and more people are not bothering to dress up.

 

The solution?

 

Ignore them and stick within your own "well dressed" groups if you prefer formal nights as they were intended.

 

Unfortunately, that's about the only thing you can do because if more and more people begin refusing to honor formal night traditions, HAL surely will tend to enforce them less and less.

 

Before anyone flames me ... I'm not saying I agree with these folks who ignore formal night dress codes ... I'm just saying that if more and more people start adopting that behavior, eventually formal nights will be an entirely optional affair.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

It's a cultural thing.

 

We've told everybody for a generation there IS no black & white anymore. No right or wrong way to do anything. It's all gray,and okay. Do what/wear you feel like...you're okay.

 

I don't have too much problem with this anymore. It IS easier not to stand for anything solid or traditional.....easier not to be flamed.

 

It takes way too much effort to be a traditionalist. So very much easier to non-conform. That's what everyone wants: something easier.

 

I'll just keep putting on my formals, and look like a dinosaur. At my age, even at 25% casual today, I figure I'll outlive this trend. What do I care. They'll wear what they want. It's less effort for them & cheaper. And who would dare to tell them otherwise. Let them muddy the world with a lazy "who cares" attitude as they see fit. It's their world.

[DFD1]

From what I see, I believe we are heading in the direction where the dress code becomes smart casual and semi-formal, or maybe only smart casual, as is the case already on some cruise lines.

 

Airline weight restrictions together with changing lifestyles are contributing to the evolution of how we dress on board.

 

Time marches on and things change. JMO

[peaches from georgia]

From what I see, I believe we are heading in the direction where the dress code becomes smart casual and semi-formal, or maybe only smart casual, as is the case already on some cruise lines.........

 

HAL has already cut out semi-formal. At the moment there are only smart casual and formal dress code nights.

[SharonN]

Ditto. And, it's radically different from anything I've ever experienced ... it's far worse than my Alaska Cruise on HAL. Were this a 7-day cruise, I'd say "ok ... luck of the draw." But this is a 10-day cruise ... and not a cheap one, either. Perhaps the circumstances I've above-described explain a big part of it, but it is still amazing to behold. Oh, there have ALWAYS been some contrary ones who just refuse to play along; but they're usually in such an extreme minority that the glaring errors in their choices have been sufficient to illustrate advisability of conformity for others. But, that's not going to happen when the figure gets as high as 25%. In this case, I think it may be a bit erroneous to assume that what we're experiencing right now is characteristic of how things are trending; this is more symptomatic of a program and a TA that just doesn't care about such things, regardless of what the HAL documentation may say. I suspect it's more "the luck of the draw" than anything else. Still ... if groups continue to do this kind of thing, and ignore the guidelines that the rest of us are asked to follow, then we'll see more and more of this in the future as group-bookings become more and more common.

 

 

Sounds like you're having a great trip in spite of the dress code violations and I'm enjoying your reports (always fun to read live reports though it would be better to be on board of course). I suspect you're right about the groups on this one. We had a group of St. Louis Cardinal fans on our last Carribean cruise in 2005 and their idea of formal was adding a team baseball jacket to their tshirts. It was less people than you're seeing (maybe 75) but noticible just the same. And they just didn't seem to care that they weren't dressed right, some almost seemed proud of it.

[crystal808]

Crystal

So glad you found the wine card that I left in 7052!! So glad it was someone from CC - I guess we are the ones with the Bible trick!

 

 

Kathy:

 

Sorry it's taken me so long to thank you! It was quite a treat to find it!

 

I've been attempting to get online from the room with little success of late, so I came down to the Explorer Lounge...voila!

 

Now to read back over what i've missed...greetings from Curacao!

 

Thanks again...

Paul

[terrydtx]

HAL has already cut out semi-formal. At the moment there are only smart casual and formal dress code nights.

 

And HAL has taken out of their dress code that on formal nights the “suggested” attire is formal in all public areas

[innlady1]

This whole dress code thing seems to be the way of the future, I'm afraid.

 

We've just completed our 14th season at our inn, and in those 14 years, I've seen a complete relaxation of the dress code in all of the fine dining restaurants ~ and we have many. The most upscale is Toppers at the Wauwinet. Always required a jacket...this year we had a guest who had made reservations there and had left his jacket in their car on the mainland. I called Toppers for him and was told not to worry...jackets are no longer required. I doubt they'd let someone in a tank top & shorts, but a polo shirt and Dockers would be perfectly acceptable. In former years, they provided jackets for those who had left theirs behind.

 

Are there any cruise lines that enforce the dress code?

 

And which ones have done away with formal nights altogether?

[hammybee]

Are there any cruise lines that enforce the dress code?

 

There was a report last week about a Dining Room Manager on a HAL ship, giving a passenger a jacket. I guess they don't have 360 spare jackets for this cruise.:)

 

Zagat reported for 2006, there are only 2 restaurants in NYC that require a jacket. I wonder what the 2007 report will say.

[ekerr19]

The folks on our 7-day Oosterdam cruise were dressed far more formally than those on our recent 10-cruises, surprisingly.

 

We will continue to dress as we've always done - our Pinnacle nights will be our new "informal" nights. :)