Dressing For Dinner

[CruiserBradFromKY]

Should my DH plan on wearing a jacket to dinner every night? He will be in tux or dinner jacket on formal nights but would like to skip the jacket on the other nights. This is our first cruise with HAL and we are not sure what would be best. What percentage of men wear a jacket or suit on non formal nights? Would some of you frequent HAL cruisers please advise.

[jtl513]

Should my DH plan on wearing a jacket to dinner every night? He will be in tux or dinner jacket on formal nights but would like to skip the jacket on the other nights. This is our first cruise with HAL and we are not sure what would be best. What percentage of men wear a jacket or suit on non formal nights? Would some of you frequent HAL cruisers please advise.

On non-formal nights only a very small percentage will wear a jacket, never mind a suit. Any shirt with a collar will do just fine on "smart casual" nights.

[hammybee]

On a typical 7-14 day cruise, the majority of men will not be wearing a jacket on non formal evenings. One of the more unusual dining attire situations I have personally experienced occured in Alaska, last year.

 

The first night, it seemed as though a majority of men wore jackets on the first evening, designated a casual night. I thought this interesting and that somehow the 1000 +/- male passengers on this sail tended towards more formal attire. I was mistaken.

 

As this cruise progressed, it became more and more causal. The last formal night did not look as dressed as the first casual night.

 

You just never know ..................

[jeanlyon]

I don't know about your ship, but I would have thought a jacket was required at dinner any night, just a casual one.

[catl331]

I don't know about your ship, but I would have thought a jacket was required at dinner any night, just a casual one.

I guess you haven't been reading the HAL boards very long! :) :)

 

Evening dress falls into two distinct categories; Formal or Smart Casual. Smart Casual can be defined as slacks and sports shirt or sweater for men and skirt or trousers and sweater or blouse for women. T-shirts, swimsuits, tank tops and shorts are not allowed in the restaurants or public areas during the evening hours. On festive Formal evenings, ladies usually wear a cocktail dress or gown and gentlemen usually wear a suit and tie or tuxedo. There are approximately two formal nights per week.

[cccole]

I hope that twinkletoes reads this thread because she gave a very lengthy report on formal and casual dress on the Zuiderdam. It was incredibly helpful to me. It seems that casual nights are just that......no jacket necessary and the majority have just a collared shirt with khakis.....and that you will find a huge range of casual.

 

We are getting ready for our first HAL cruise and I not only was concerned with casual but also formal. The concensus was that formal is definitely formal, no khakis and sports coats.....and casual is mostly collared shirt & khakis but there are those who wear a jacket and those that wear t-shirts with their long pants.

 

It is always nice to know what to expect!!!! If I can find twinkletoes' day-to-day report I will try to attach it to this post.

[caviargal]

DH wears a collared, button down shirt and dress slacks on casual nights. When we go the PG he wears a sportcoat or suit unless it is a formal night.

[sapper1]

On my cruise on the Volendam last April, men were requested to wear jackets on one of the nights other than the three formal nights.

[CruiserBradFromKY]

Thanks for the information. Now we know how to pack. We can always rely on CC members for the information we need.

[JimVrhovac]

No Tank tops, t shirts, shorts, bathing suits, or jeans are allowed. They will ask you to go change....

 

Ruth & Jim

[countrygal52]

On our non-formal nites, SEVERAL men wore polo shirts or short sleeve button down shirts with khakis and even blue jeans and they were NOT asked to leave. As long as you look neat and the jeans are NOT "holy" or ragged looking, you will probably be ok. My DH wore khakis the first non formal nite and then jeans the rest of the trip with a nice polo.

 

Of course, this was on an Alaskan cruise....

[twinkletoes4445]

I hope that twinkletoes reads this thread because she gave a very lengthy report on formal and casual dress on the Zuiderdam. It was incredibly helpful to me. It seems that casual nights are just that......no jacket necessary and the majority have just a collared shirt with khakis.....and that you will find a huge range of casual.

 

We are getting ready for our first HAL cruise and I not only was concerned with casual but also formal. The concensus was that formal is definitely formal, no khakis and sports coats.....and casual is mostly collared shirt & khakis but there are those who wear a jacket and those that wear t-shirts with their long pants.

 

It is always nice to know what to expect!!!! If I can find twinkletoes' day-to-day report I will try to attach it to this post.

 

I'm happy that I was able to help you. :) I am reading this since we're booked on the Noordam next year. It's seems like the cruise is very far off in the future, but time will fly...at least I hope so. But at least I have a plan for the next cruise. I took along way too many clothes, but I was glad I did. But now I know what to expect...so it will be interesting to see if passengers are dressed the same way on our next cruise.

 

Here's what we're doing this next time...

 

Formal

 

Suit for hubby.

 

Fancy slacks and sequin tops for me.

 

 

 

Casual

 

Dockers, polo-type shirts for hubby (also a Hawaiian-type shirt in case they have a tropical themed night, which they did on the Zuiderdam)

 

Nice slacks/shirts/skirt or nice matching capri set or sun dress for me.

 

Hubby is not taking along a jacket. He did question me about wearing a nice pair of dress slacks and a nice jacket on formal night (since we did see men wearing this), but he decided to go the suit route. We did not see many tuxes. I always love to see my hubby in a tux, but he goes along with pretty much anything I ask of him, so I gave in on this point. For our Zuiderdam cruise, I'd brought "fancier" pant suit type outfits (the slinky pants, jacket and sleeveless shirt type), but I felt I was WAY overdressed with this on casual nights, and went with capri outfits (nicer matching types-with a jacket and shirt). We also saw a lot of women in pretty sundresses, so I am going to also bring along a few of these. Maybe it was just the Caribbean, but the dress was very casual. Nothing sloppy mind you...everyone looked very nice...just very casual. :)

[cccole]

Here are the two recent threads that were helpful to me. I do not know how to copy them to this thread but the titles were "How to Dress for Smart Casual", which included pictures, and twinkletoes' review under "Hal Embarkation Advice, Ft. Lauderdale." If you do a thread search you will find both. I have really appreciated everyones' input. Cherie

[Krazy Kruizers]

On formal nights -- DH wears his Tuxedo.

 

The only other time he wears a jacket - thanks to the new "smart casual" nights is when we go to the Pinnacle on a non-formal night.

[hammybee]

On our non-formal nites, SEVERAL men wore polo shirts or short sleeve button down shirts with khakis and even blue jeans and they were NOT asked to leave. As long as you look neat and the jeans are NOT "holy" or ragged looking, you will probably be ok. My DH wore khakis the first non formal nite and then jeans the rest of the trip with a nice polo.

 

Of course, this was on an Alaskan cruise....

 

Polo shirts, button downs and jeans are all permitted on a casual evening on any HAL cruise.

[Marmarjudy]

I'm happy that I was able to help you. :) I am reading this since we're booked on the Noordam next year. It's seems like the cruise is very far off in the future, but time will fly...at least I hope so. But at least I have a plan for the next cruise. I took along way too many clothes, but I was glad I did. But now I know what to expect...so it will be interesting to see if passengers are dressed the same way on our next cruise.

 

Here's what we're doing this next time...

 

Formal

 

Suit for hubby.

 

Fancy slacks and sequin tops for me.

 

Casual

 

Dockers, polo-type shirts for hubby (also a Hawaiian-type shirt in case they have a tropical themed night, which they did on the Zuiderdam)

 

Nice slacks/shirts/skirt or nice matching capri set or sun dress for me.

 

Hubby is not taking along a jacket. He did question me about wearing a nice pair of dress slacks and a nice jacket on formal night (since we did see men wearing this), but he decided to go the suit route. We did not see many tuxes. I always love to see my hubby in a tux, but he goes along with pretty much anything I ask of him, so I gave in on this point. For our Zuiderdam cruise, I'd brought "fancier" pant suit type outfits (the slinky pants, jacket and sleeveless shirt type), but I felt I was WAY overdressed with this on casual nights, and went with capri outfits (nicer matching types-with a jacket and shirt). We also saw a lot of women in pretty sundresses, so I am going to also bring along a few of these. Maybe it was just the Caribbean, but the dress was very casual. Nothing sloppy mind you...everyone looked very nice...just very casual. :)

 

Based on our first HAL cruise in January (after 20+ others) what you are saying is perfect. But, if he so desires, your husband would be FINE in a jacket and tie for formal nights. The percentage of tuxes on our Westerdam cruise was very low, not even 25%, (and we saw both early and late diners,)suits were maybe 50%, but jacket and tie had to be at least 25%, if not more. Maybe 10% were just a shirt and tie, or jacket and no tie. Everyone looked fine. People were dressed fine. No one stuck out as underdressed, even those in a jacket without tie or shirt/tie and no jacket. Who cares about the details?

 

Remember that you are only in dinner clothes for a short period each night. I have 3 pairs of black slacks, with various degrees of "dressiness" that work all week. I repeat tops...no one keeps track...there really aren't any clothes police. Stop stressing and don't overpack....just my opinion.

 

Judy

[twinkletoes4445]

Based on our first HAL cruise in January (after 20+ others) what you are saying is perfect. But, if he so desires, your husband would be FINE in a jacket and tie for formal nights. The percentage of tuxes on our Westerdam cruise was very low, not even 25%, (and we saw both early and late diners,)suits were maybe 50%, but jacket and tie had to be at least 25%, if not more. Maybe 10% were just a shirt and tie, or jacket and no tie. Everyone looked fine. People were dressed fine. No one stuck out as underdressed, even those in a jacket without tie or shirt/tie and no jacket. Who cares about the details?

 

Remember that you are only in dinner clothes for a short period each night. I have 3 pairs of black slacks, with various degrees of "dressiness" that work all week. I repeat tops...no one keeps track...there really aren't any clothes police. Stop stressing and don't overpack....just my opinion.

 

Judy

 

Thanks, Judy.

 

I'll mention the jacket/shirt/tie route and see what he says. I was a tad bit stressed the first time, since it was our first HAL cruise, but I am not stressed at all this time...and for this next cruise, I know I won't take along any clothing that I won't need. :)

 

I may even bring along 2 different tops and rotate them for the 3 formal nights. Like you said, no one will even notice if I wear the same thing twice. Heck, I can't even remember what I wear!