Halloween on a formal night question....

[MaryPoppinz]

I guess my best bet is just be prepared with a costume (for later in the evening) and formal attire for dinner...if it is held on the same night.

 

It's not my thing, but you can wear the costume to dinner. Many passengers and crew were dressed in costume in the dining room. It was my husband's birthday, so it was sort of funny for us to be dressed up and being served by a Titanic survivor. It was even funnier when the Titanic survivor became *extremely* apologetic and solicitious for sending a butter-laden lobster tail flying into my husband's tie. :)

 

If your cruise is stopping in St. Thomas, you can get random odd-n-ends for costumes and plenty of candy at KMart. Saves a little on packing. Also...I don't know if anyone mentioned earlier in the thread, but there will probably be quite a few pumpkin-based menu choices at dinner.

[kendon]

I had a thought....does anyone else think it's rather ethnocentric to assume a ship load of passengers from all over the world would want to celebrate American holidays? This comment has no sarcasm behind it, however I'm ready for the answers to come flying my way.

[gambit57]

I had a thought....does anyone else think it's rather ethnocentric to assume a ship load of passengers from all over the world would want to celebrate American holidays? This comment has no sarcasm behind it, however I'm ready for the answers to come flying my way.

 

I've only sailed on Princess cruises that depart from the US. On those cruises, the overwhelming majority of passengers are US. Only makes sense to throw some extra decorations. They shouldn't really offend other nationalities.

[caribill]

I had a thought....does anyone else think it's rather ethnocentric to assume a ship load of passengers from all over the world would want to celebrate American holidays? This comment has no sarcasm behind it, however I'm ready for the answers to come flying my way.

 

Among celebrations on board Princess that may not be for all nationalities or religions:

St. Patrick's Day

Cinco de Mayo

Hanukkah

Christmas

Easter

 

Just join in the celebrations you like and ignore the others.

[gambit57]

Halloween can be iffy too. In Cali, I've noticed Christian churches seem to make a concerted effort to alter it and not really mention the word "halloween".

 

But I agree. Join in the ones you like and ignore the ones you don't. I celebrate all of them. :) It's all in good fun. I don't need to be Mexican to party on Cinco de Mayo. I'm not Jewish, but I'll help em party during Hanukkah. I just won't partake in any of the religious ceremonies, but they don't do that on cruise ships cept in the chapel.

[morgan53]

We're on the same cruise as you! This is only our 2nd Princess Cruise. I have thought about halloween. I've never been a big costume person, but...we're always ready to party on a cruise! What do you think, and what are your ages? We're booked on the Riviera Deck with our friends, cabin #738 and 742. They're balcony rooms. We'd love to meet you! Where are you from? We are 50 something.

[sunnyv]

We're on the same cruise as you! This is only our 2nd Princess Cruise. I have thought about halloween. I've never been a big costume person, but...we're always ready to party on a cruise! What do you think, and what are your ages? We're booked on the Riviera Deck with our friends, cabin #738 and 742. They're balcony rooms. We'd love to meet you! Where are you from? We are 50 something.

Come join our roll call! http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=637254 It has grown to 19 pages, start in the beginning, middle or end. We'd love to have you join us at an informal preSail-away meet and greet at Outriggers about 2:00. Where in the Midwest are you from?

[monakayk]

We're on the same cruise as you! This is only our 2nd Princess Cruise. I have thought about halloween. I've never been a big costume person, but...we're always ready to party on a cruise! What do you think, and what are your ages? We're booked on the Riviera Deck with our friends, cabin #738 and 742. They're balcony rooms. We'd love to meet you! Where are you from? We are 50 something.

 

Morgan53,

Hey, loved to see you join our roll call. Just click on the link that Vicki (post above) posted. We have a great bunch of folks that are fun loving in the roll call already.

My DH and I are from CO....and this will be our 2nd cruise with Princess.

Hope to see you at our roll call and on board the Crown!:D

[Teetype]

Morgan53,

 

Hey, loved to see you join our roll call. Just click on the link that Vicki (post above) posted. We have a great bunch of folks that are fun loving in the roll call already.

 

My DH and I are from CO....and this will be our 2nd cruise with Princess.

 

Hope to see you at our roll call and on board the Crown!:D

 

Hi Mona! I answered your post on our roll call board.:)

 

Tee

[morgan53]

We're on the same cruise! There is 2 couples. We are from Indiana. We're on balcony Riviera deck. We'd love to meet any fellow cruisers. Let me know.

[fathercop]

They do not schedule formal night on Halloween. We have sailed with Princess a couple of times on the 31st of October and they move Formal Night to another evening.

 

As for the word, "halloween", it is derived from the Christian religious festival of All Saints, or in older English usage, All Hallows Day. Hallow means, "holy" and halloween, is the evening before All Saints Day, or put in older English usage, All Hallows Even. In the Christian church, the day does not begin at midnight, as we are accustomed. The Christian day begins at sunset the evening before and goes to sunset the next day. That is why in many traditions, Anglican, Roman, Eastern Orthodox, major holy days have a special evening commemoration. (This is also how the Jewish day is reckoned.) The ghoulish aspect of All Hallows Even is a carry over of non Christian practices and beliefs in the occult, etc., sort of the non-hallowed souls vs. the hallowed souls. There is much more to it than that, but suffice it to say, halloween has had strong Christian connotations as a the beginning of the celebration of All Saints Day and the seven days following it, comprising All Saints Day's ocatave.

 

Good luck to you and enjoy your cruise!

[sunnyv]

We're on the same cruise! There is 2 couples. We are from Indiana. We're on balcony Riviera deck. We'd love to meet any fellow cruisers. Let me know.

We would love to have you, click on the link to our roll call above and post there. You'll be added to the roll call list and get the information on our meet and greets!

[Longtonian]

I had a thought....does anyone else think it's rather ethnocentric to assume a ship load of passengers from all over the world would want to celebrate American holidays? This comment has no sarcasm behind it, however I'm ready for the answers to come flying my way.

 

A flying answer.........it's not just an American holiday - it's a big day over here as well (another way of parting us from our money by buying masks, pumpkins, devil and witch costumes etc). I believe it's originally of Celtic origin and the tradition crossed from us to you, though we used to hollow out turnips, not pumpkins!. The tradition that that has moved in the opposite direction though is "trick or treat" - something we could live without!!!

 

People should wear what they like, it's just a bit of fun

[megessey]

I had a thought....does anyone else think it's rather ethnocentric to assume a ship load of passengers from all over the world would want to celebrate American holidays? This comment has no sarcasm behind it, however I'm ready for the answers to come flying my way.

 

The only American Holidays that would not be celebrated by other countries is American Independence Day and American Thanksgiving, and I don't know if they do anything different for those days on most cruises.

 

Some other holidays you hear about on a cruise are Christian-based religious celebrations, so I guess you could worry about how non-christian religious worshippers feel about that.

[sam1148]

The SO's solution to Halloween costume and packing light was to do Clark Kent.

You can ebay a superman t-shirt and Clark Kent glasses. Or rip the nose off some 'groucho' glasses.

 

Wear the t-shirt under a a white dress shirt with jacket and tie. Then later open up the shirt..loosen the tie and throw it over your shoulder. You're now Clark Kent in transition. And you just pack a t-shirt and glasses extra.

[MaryPoppinz]

They do not schedule formal night on Halloween.

 

Obviously, those tuxedos, suits and gowns I saw when formal night was supposed to be on Halloween were costumes! And, they may have held a rescheduled formal night, but if they did....nobody showed up.

[caribill]

The only American Holidays that would not be celebrated by other countries is American Independence Day and American Thanksgiving, and I don't know if they do anything different for those days on most cruises.

 

These two holidays are celebrated on Princess ships (not sure about the ones permanently assigned to Australia.)

 

On Thanksgiving, they have (among other options) a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in the dining rooms.

 

On July 4, they usually have a menu oriented to traditional American foods.

[monakayk]

Hi Mona! I answered your post on our roll call board.:)

 

Tee

 

Cool Tee!:cool:

 

I will check the post over there!

[monakayk]

Just a 'gentle' reminder for those of you who have departed from my OP topic...I was not asking anything about the religious aspect of the holiday of Halloween. I would respectfully ask posters to please stick to my original question....Thank you. Also thanks to everyone for answering my question...some very good suggestions have been made.

 

OP TOPIC BELOW:

>Has anyone cruise before when Halloween was on a formal night?

The DH and I are sailing on the Crown over Halloween week this fall and we (as well as our roll call) are not sure if Princess will still have a formal night on the same night Halloween would fall on. Just wondered what they do in a case like that.

 

Would Princess just move a formal night to a different night? If not....what about dressing in costume during a formal night dinner?

 

Any help or info from past experiences would be greatly appreciated!<