Want Casual to alaska

[calgarycowtown]

We are planning Alaska from Vancouver with our aging parents. Thought I had finally settled on Celebrity Mercury, but now the dining rrom dress is a concern as Formal (even informal) is a problem We need Casual at all meals. Solution??

[cb at sea]

On most ship's, you can do casual, if you don't go to the dining room on formal nights. How "casual" do you need to be?

[calgarycowtown]

casual -- our male parents don't have suits. Lucky if their only pair of dress pants will fit them...

Moms quite worried also about not having much more than blouse and pants...

As long as there is someplace that we can still eat at, we will make this work. Except that our option now looks like pizza, hamburgers and fries??

[gotsand]

I am going on an Alaskan cruise with my 70 yr old father in May. We booked with Holland. My father does not want to do formal. On Holland, on formal nights in the dining room, you can order the same menu as the dining room, in the Lido area. From what I have read the tables even have tablecloths at dinner in the Lido. We will go to the dining room for the smart casual nights though.

[GORDONCHICK]

NCL would be the most casual of the lines, with formal nights being optional. Several ships still have buffets in the evenings, but Celebrity does not. Mercury doesn't have a specialty restaurant but they do turn an area of the buffet area into a sit-down restaurant with menus, tablecloths, and waiters. I've always gone to the dining room, so I don't know what the dresscode is.

 

Rest assured, it would be hard to go hungry on a cruise. On some lines, you can order from the evening dining room menu on room service. Mercury does have a grill for burgers, hot dogs, and chicken sandwiches, a pizza and pasta station, and a sushi place as well. Many ships have specialty dining, with some staying casual while others go with the dining room dress code.

[kitty9]

I would look at NCL. That line doesn't have much of a dress code and you can be casual all the time. Even if you choose a line like Celebrity, it's stated in their daily newspaper that guests are expected to remain in the code of the evening, for the entire evening, if you want to be in any public venues after 6pm. On Celebrity, you won't find many who are in the public rooms at night in casual clothes on formal or informal nights. NCL sounds exactly what you need for your cruise to Alaska. On another thread, you said you needed cabins next to each other. If you're talking about cruising this summer, you may have a problem booking cabins near each other as Alaska cruises are very popular and have been booked for a time now.

[CMDE]

We were on Holland America's Westerdam in March, 2008 and the first night we had dinner in the Lido. Very casual, same great food as the main dining room, very enjoyable, white tablecloths, great service. So I would imagine this would be an excellent alternative for formal night.

[GottaLuvCruising]

In my experience, Carnival has been more casual than NCL. Your family could enjoy the dining room in fairly casual attire and fit right in. They might opt for the Lido Deck on formal night. The Carnival Spirit does Alaska and is a wonderful ship.

[PennyAgain]

Our elder folks refused to dress up as well. Perhaps it was a Florida retirement thing. We cruised with them many times on RCI, NCL and HAL with no dining room issues at all.

 

The most dressed up my late MIL would get was a pants suit outfit or a skirt and blouse with jacket (she was always cold). We took along one jacket and tie with dress shirt for Lou to wear with his best slacks.

 

The old folks were happy. No cruise line gave them any grief about needing to dress up more. We dined in the dining room every night. Early sitting.

 

In no case did MIL wear dressy shoes as she only had one pair of shoes that she could wear at all.

 

As I am getting older, I understaqnd some of the older folks thinking on this.

 

It worked for us!

[momofmeg]

I am going on an Alaskan cruise with my 70 yr old father in May. We booked with Holland. My father does not want to do formal. On Holland, on formal nights in the dining room, you can order the same menu as the dining room, in the Lido area. From what I have read the tables even have tablecloths at dinner in the Lido. We will go to the dining room for the smart casual nights though.

 

celebrity does that also. I do think there is a $2 tip charge though.

 

 

to the OP, We have also ordered room service when returning from a late excursion and missing early dinner-so there are other options- and better then hamburgers and french fries!

[miami]

I would suggest NCL. No assigned dining times or dining rooms and every night is casual attire.

 

Something you will read quite often about NCL is that there are long waits for the dining rooms. We never had to wait more than a few minutes for a table on NCL.

 

Loved our Alaskan cruise.

[caviargal]

NCL is your best option. IME, Celebrity is a more formal experience overall and the dress code is for the evening throughout the ship. How strictly it is enforced is not consistent but really, why choose a vacation that does not meet your main priority? I would not personally.

[Toyz711]

i did alaska with FIL, his idea of dressing up was to put on a clean jumpsuit. with NCL that is not a problem since the dress code, any night, is resort casual. didn't have to hurrying to make our dinner times, either, since there are no set times or table mates. you can eat any time the dining venue is open.

NCL only does round-trips ...the best route is the pearl out of seattle.

i did the NCL star, lovely ship.

[Nebr.cruiser]

casual -- our male parents don't have suits. Lucky if their only pair of dress pants will fit them...

Moms quite worried also about not having much more than blouse and pants...

As long as there is someplace that we can still eat at, we will make this work. Except that our option now looks like pizza, hamburgers and fries??

 

You can eat at the buffet restaurant; in the evening they will have at least some of the same food as in the dining room, much more than just pizza, hamburgers and fries. You'll have a choice of several meats, entrees, veggies, salads, desserts, etc.

 

Celebrity is more formal than most in the dining room. On many ships you can 'get by' with a shirt and slacks for men and a blouse and skirt or pants for ladies, even in the formal dining room. Note that I'm not advocating this, just that you probably can do it.