Hello everybody,
I am very new here, and stopped in to read about the What To Wear question for our upcoming cruise (May 5, Holland America to Alaska). We live in Seattle, which apparently is a VERY casual city indeed, so it took all my research powers to divine how to dress up appropriately for the cruise.
First, thank you -- there is a wealth of very helpful advice on this board!
I also visited the HAL website today, and discovered they are changing their dress code beginning with the May 2007 cruises:
Effectively, they are getting rid of the "informal" category, and retitling the casual category as "smart casual," and giving some very specific advice on what they mean. I found this very helpful to know what they mean -- previously they just defined casual as comfortable, but we knew they meant "dressed up" by Seattle comfort standards!
All taken together, now I know what to wear! I thought I would pass along this info because it is so new.
Thanks again!
--Laura, Wardrobe-Challenged in the NW
This change is one I like. The semiformal thing always bothered me. It meant I'd have to pack and extra jacket just for one night on a 7-9 nighter. My tux packs compactly and is nearly wrinkle proof. I remember one night in the Pinnacle grill (I had not planned on eating there when I packed, but was invited by some friends we met) It was the informal night and I ended up wearing my tux jacket with a long tie. The "mood" lighting made the satin lapels show up and I felt compelled to offer explanations.
Hello everybody,
I am very new here, and stopped in to read about the What To Wear question for our upcoming cruise (May 5, Holland America to Alaska). We live in Seattle, which apparently is a VERY casual city indeed, so it took all my research powers to divine how to dress up appropriately for the cruise.
First, thank you -- there is a wealth of very helpful advice on this board!
I also visited the HAL website today, and discovered they are changing their dress code beginning with the May 2007 cruises:
Effectively, they are getting rid of the "informal" category, and retitling the casual category as "smart casual," and giving some very specific advice on what they mean. I found this very helpful to know what they mean -- previously they just defined casual as comfortable, but we knew they meant "dressed up" by Seattle comfort standards!
All taken together, now I know what to wear! I thought I would pass along this info because it is so new.
Thanks again!
Thank you for sharing this information!
I'm replying primarily to active your link so other readers won't have to copy and paste it.
This makes a lot of sense. If it means that the men do not require a sports jacket, only a tux or suit, that will make a difference in the luggage weight, which is a consideration we all have to make today.
This makes a lot of sense. If it means that the men do not require a sports jacket, only a tux or suit, that will make a difference in the luggage weight, which is a consideration we all have to make today.
Well, yes and no. When Princess tried the same change six or seven years ago, it brought a lot of passengers who did not want to dress up at all, and that spilled into major deterioration of the ambiance of what were supposed to be "formal" evenings.
Of course, the situation is different now. Six or seven years ago, Princess was an innovator. Today, many cruise lines have followed suit... so to speak... and there are viable "all casual" cruise lines, so there's not as large of crowd of folks who don't want to dress up at all who will flee to Holland America Lines as the "less dressy" alternative.
That said, there's also a significant percentage of the population who very much enjoy dressing up for nice evenings on a "mass market" cruise line. I'm really disappointed that Carnival Corporation is abandoning that segment of the market. OTOH, it's very good news for Celebrity Cruises, which still retains the tradition of "informal" evenings.
Connect with Facebook
new dress code for Holland America
Linear Mode
