We will be on the 4 Sept HAL cruise (Noordam).. We can't wait! Only cruised once before on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and loved it.How many formal nights are there and who else loves dressing up for dinner?

HAL is cutting down on the number of
formal & semi formal nights. I just did a
15 night cruise rt from San Diego to Hawaii. There were 3 formal nights and no semi formal
dress nights! You will get that information in
the documents mailed to you about 2 to 3 weeks
before your cruise. I always liked getting
"dressed up", but that is slowing fading. HAL
is also going to free stlye as well as a fixed time for dinner. Have a great time!

Bernie

Thanks for your reply Bernard. I can't wait.

Hi cruising koalas, and welcome to cruise-chat.com!

I also love dressing up... not just for dinner, but for the evening. As Bernie noted, HAL did away with the semi-formal nights last year, and dress now falls into two categories: formal and smart casual. Even on those smart casual nights (or casual nights on other ships), I still tend to dress more toward the semi-formal.

This sounds like a fascinating cruise. Enjoy!

Would like info, as first time cruiser- going on the June8th 10 day Roman empire- Dubrovnik, Corfu, Katakolon, Santorini, Kusadasi, Valletta, Messina and then 4 days in Rome- lots of questions- what to see and where to read up on the sites? what to book ourselves vs. ship? safety and security-off ship and in Rome? What to pack- dinners on board etc? any insights would help!

Hi dickg and welcome to Cruise Chat.

What a wonderful trip you have in store! You'll love your floating resort.

You may want to check the Holland America web site for a lot of information. Look at their Shore Excursion area. You can pull up excursions for each city you're visiting. If you scan the excursions, you'll see a few that jump out at you right away.

Any good guide book or online guide to the Greek Islands or the Med will have lots of information on your stops. Many volumes have been written about Rome alone!

There may be 3 "formal" dinners on a 10-night cruise, depending on the ship. Suit is fine for men, although some may be wearing a tuxedo. Women can wear a cocktail dress or dressy pants suit. Non-formal nights can be thought of as "going out to a restaurant" clothing.

Sandy

We are also on this cruise. We have done two previous cruises but this is our first European one. We are excited too! Just wondering about getting from Rome to the ship. We will be in Italy for about a week prior to boarding the Noordam so will be making our own arrangements. Any advice?