clothes on a cruise

cool as my DGS would say "cool"!!

whitewave my apologies.
And to you Galen
(I am still getting to know the different personalities here on GN)

do you mean meek little wouldn't say boo to a goose me?
I certainly wasn't boasting, but I know some people who do. I find it's usually our friends from over the puddle!
Once they've got it out of their systems they're usually quite nice though.

No cool I didn't mean galen of course!! I can't in all honesty ever imagine her boasting about anything. I was answering a previous post. Although saying that galen is more than able to stick up for herself I think

Surely though does not apply to cruises, people are always talking of their holidays one"s they have been on or the one they intend to go on next. Human Nature I would have thought.

As I said earlier though .cruises seem in a different category people seem more boastful, as if they have done something SPECIAL. Perhaps it is a throwback to when cruising was SPECIAL and only for wealthy people.

Not quite the same I know, but when I went on a Ledger bus tour to the Dolomites people were always talking about other tours they'd done and I simply thought it was an ice-breaker, or people looking to share tips about places or things they had in common.

As for people you meet on cruises talking about others they have done.......Hand on heart we always saw these conversations as great ice-breakers rather than ways to boast. We've been on 3 and have met folks who have almost lost count. The conversations however, were always entertaining accounts of the good, bad and bizarre and we always enjoyed them.

I must stick up for Whitewave I thought she was referring to Nonu's post on her observations.

Whitewave.......Did you mean that Galen was boasting?
I thought Galen was being helpful using her experience of having been on frequent cruises.

Thank you Hilda that's a good tip.

To be honest I love all types of holidays. This year we fancy a cruise but other years we will probably do something else. Sort of looking at some sort of tour in Europe the year after, as we haven't done much of Europe and there is so much to see.

Not sure why the amount of cruising that you have done should be a matter for boasting - seems odd. It is all to do with choice isn't it? I mean if all you do is cruise (ahem! present wheelchair company accepted) you miss out on such a lot of other stuff.

Difficult to see any mountainous region or any other inland areas of interest.

Teatime the only line that do segregate guests is Cunard with their three Queens. They have Queens grill, Princess grill and Britannia which is standard class.

I'd love to go on a cruise and do all the formal dressing up nights but I get jelly legs just going over The Mersey on the Ferry to Liverpool so there would be no chance of me even attempting more than a half hour trip.

It is funny you should say that RIVER, we have never been on a cruise and do not intend to for the foreseeable future.

However, we know quite a few who do and they do exactly that, list them and then grade them ,and are forever telling us how we would enjoy them,[no we wouldn't,] how much food they manage to stuff in their Cakeholes, for goodness sake just enjoy, I say, like I do on my holidays.
L A L

Last year my brother and his wife took their first cruise, from Australia to the UK - his big complaint was the terrible one-manship regarding how many cruises one has been on.

He said it's the first thing everyone asks you and they then go on to proudly boast how many they've done and start to list and grade them ....

Teetime......social strata never a problem on Saga boats......we dined with retired diplomats, ex miners, semi retired electricians and the odd real 'Lady'.....everyone in together honestly, that's what appeals to us we loathe some of the other lines who operate a not so subtle two tier system.

My wife likes getting on her posh frocks and I hate getting dressed up. So we compromise by avoiding cruises that require mandatory formal attire. I do wear smart jacket and tie rather than dinner suit. I notice that many other blokes also do this and it is generally accepted.

We go on holiday, many cruises included, to relax and prefer to travel relatively light simply because coping with huge cases is stressful.

Thanks all- DH dislikes dressing up even more than I do- so it's nice to know there are alternatives.

Maybe we will do a cruise on day- but I just don't feel 'ready'. We are the sort of travellers who like to turn right or left on a whim, and go and have a look behind and over or under.... and I think we'd both get frustrated at having to return to the boat at a precise time. I imagine it would be a good way to see where you might want to return one day for a 'proper look and explore'. Agree about not travelling on to new locations every night of two though- when we did our Arizona-Utah-Colorado trip, we took 3 weeks and had several days at a time in several locations, and only a few overnights.

I realised very early on in life that no-should ever feel shy or uncomfortable in any situation as most people are too concerned with themselves to really notice anyone elses shortcomings,sartorial or otherwise.

Whilst I love dressing up. I couldn't care less about other people. If you think about it, how much notice do you take of other people, and how many do you remember? I bet like me absolutely none, although I do appreciate people looking stylish - something I never seem to achieve. and that is what I think other people are like - if not in my opinion they are a bit pathetic.

We used to go to plenty of black tie formals when working. Now retired they are few and far between so I enjoy getting full wear out of my evening kit. I've not cruised on European rivers but in the Far East the dressing was casual but not jeans etc in the evening. I've never yet been on a cruise for the sake of going on a cruise but have chosen the cruise for where I want to go and the no packing and and unpacking is bliss. We used to drive all over the place,one night here,one night there until I said never less than three nights in any one place. In Viet nam last February DH still managed to sneak in an overnight train. He still thinks I love to go awandering a knapsack on my back fal de dee.

There are a lot of freestyle cruising companies. NCL being one of them. If you want relaxed dressing you will find it usually on the larger ships I think. My OH was really anti dressing up having had to do it in the RAF but now he owns two diner jackets and white and black shirts.
Ask a travel agent what each cruise line wants. The one we go on has formal nights but if you don't want to dress up there are alternatives and you can use the public rooms etc in ordinary clothes. Some people on formal nights even change after diner before going to the show etc into casual wear.

loopylou I think I've gone of cruising now with all that competitive dressing. I'm also worried about the social stratification i.e. whose allowed to go where and who gets first dibs at the lifeboats.

granjura we went on river cruise with Saga and I am definitely not into "dressing up" . Didn't feel out of place at all. I just wore a nice pair of evening type black trousers with a variety of tops. Didn't take or wear a dress at any time. I do think other types of cruising are more formal but if you fancy a river cruise, go for it. Our Saga boat was beautiful. Very clean, the staff wonderful, helpful and polite. Cabin great, food delicious.

Perhaps I did not make myself very clear....although on formal nights many ladies were in full regalia....everyone could wear their own version of 'posh'. Yes there were sequins but my top of the range formal is a dark maxi dress with a matching bolero type cardie and something shiny around my neck. It was my version of formal and I did not feel overdressed or uncomfortable. all I'm saying is that if anyone wants to go the full bling they will not be over the top. Many ladies were wearing just a simple well cut short dress and a favourite necklace or evening well cut evening trousers. Also (and I only know about Saga) even on designated formal nights you can still choose to eat a very similar menu in the less formal dining room which is run on a help yourself/waiter assisted system. This meant you could take a fraction of the time to eat say a couple of courses rather that the whole starter/soup/main/desert menu in the main dinning room. I'm a proper scruffy dog haired living in the country sort of person but I felt perfectly at ease with dolling up 3 nights out of 14.