Thread: Formals and Special Dinners on HAL

I have been reading about all the interesting dinners that HAL has, and I want to pack accordingly for my cruise.

For a 14 day cruise:
How many formals should I expect? Do they tend to have one of them one or two nights before debarking?
Do all ships have a Dutch night? Is it formal?
Do all ships have a Black and White Dinner?
Are tuxes de rigeur?
Anything else I should know?

On the Prinsendam you should have a Black and White Ball. On all the ships that we have been that were 14 days and longer we always had a Black and White Ball - except the Westerdam (as reported in my Trip Review.

You should have 4 formal nights - we have always had that many on 14 day cruises.

Haven't had a Dutch night in over 2 years on any ship. Some ships will have an evening where some Dutch items will be on the menu -- nothing special - no hats -- and usually on a smart casual night.

There will never be a formal night the evening before you disembark as everyone has to pack and get their luggage out.

Although we have never been on the Prinsendam, I understand that since it is a smaller ship, it is more formal than the other ships. Joe always wears a tuxedo on formal night no matter what ship we are on.

Check with the cellar master to see if he is going to have a special wine dinner -- sometimes they are great -- we had a really great one on the Ryndam (Epicuruan Travels) - $59 per person. On the Veendam - 7 day and 14 days -- nothing. Westerdam - each cruise they had a special dinner prepared "in front of your eyes" by the chef -- $79 per person. Talked to people just down the Hall from us -- total waste of money. So you can never tell what to expect from them.

Some of the ships have the Master Chef dinner. We did it about 4 times and now just head to the Pinnacle that evening if we know that the ship is going to have one.