Formal Night

Tonight was the third formal night, it was advertised as a Surprise Party.  When we saw the advance activity list, we weren’t quite sure what to expect for a Formal Night with a Surprise.  I speculated it might be a chocolate surprise.  When we saw the daily program – here is what it announced.

SURPRISE NIGHT

No Sweeter surprise than to share our surprise to you – a party with the Crew!

After dinner, dress casual, formal, or to surprise as we welcome you to our pool-side Crew Party with music featuring DJ Nyron, aka Shore Excursions Manager

Enjoy a club-like ambiance with complimentary sparkling wine and other drink specials

Feeling indulgent?  We got you covered with a crew-style late-night snack in the Lido Market and live music by Billboard Onboard.  Chat, dance, feast, and party with your Crew!

Party 9:00 p – 11:00 p

Lido Poolside, 9

Snack 10:30p – 11:30 p

Lido Market”

This will be a first for me…..a crew party with passengers.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

ROOM NUMBER ROULETTE

Since tonight was a Formal Night, we would be hosting the Tuxedo Junction – but tonight with a twist.  Instead of meeting in the Ocean Bar, we would assemble in the Casino at 6:30 pm and play Room Number Roulette.

Here was the announcement posted on our roll call

The Tuxedo Junction will meet in the Casino at the Roulette Wheel between 6:30 and 7:30 to play ROOM NUMBER ROULETTE.

Here is how it works.

“Bring $50 – this will get you 10 Spins – If you want to risk less the $50 – that’s OK, but each spin has to be a minimum of $5 (spread across any combination)

At the Roulette wheel, you can trade in your cash for Roulette Chips or use cash or regular casino chips.

Then you can play your room number/birthdays or any other number….

Stay as long as you like – there is no start or finish time..

If you don’t want to play – stop by and cheer us on!”

Four couples were active players with another six couples cheering us on as we played from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.  We had a great time watching the wheel spin and roulette is a great group gambling activity.  Roulette is easy to learn – requires little thinking or active participation and you can’t really play “wrong”.  Three of the four couples pretty much broke even (we were down to $50 – but played it all on RED for the final spin and doubled up!).  Regardless, it’s a lot of fun and even if you lose $100 – it’s a great way to spend an hour.

Here is the menu for the formal night – the food was delicious and the service was prompt – as always.  The actual menu was the typical square fold out Gala menu – I am posting the version you can download from the Navigator.

SURPRISE PARTY

Here is a one minute highlight reel of the party

The Surprise Party was scheduled to run from 9 to 11 pm.  Even though today was a formal night, the ship let everyone know that the dress code for the Surprise Party was “Anything Goes”.  Many guests stayed in their formal clothes, but many more guests and all the crew wore casual clothes or swimwear.

If there was any opening ceremony, we missed it, and by the time we arrived at 9:15, the party was in full swing.  Most seats were taken, but many more people were up walking around or dancing.

No one passed champagne when I arrived, but it was quickly available from any bartender.  A “crew only” bar was on the starboard side, mid-ships.

Most of the crew stayed on the starboard side, with the passengers mainly on the port side.  There was plenty of mixing all around.  The center of the action was within a 50-foot circle surrounding Nyron, who was on stage keeping the music going.  The songs weren’t introduced, and Nyron avoided much chatter.  It was a steady stream of dance music that had about 100 people dancing around the aft part of the Lido near Nyron.  As expected, women dancers outnumbered the men by 4-1.

Whenever you turned around, a waiter appeared with a tray of cupcakes, Rice Krispie treats, or something wholly irresistible.

The party remained full blast as we approached the 11 pm end time.  11 pm came and went, and Nyron still ruled the Lido pool with his fantastic selection of dancing tunes.  I did recognize the Macarena and a few Abba Tunes – e.g., Dancing Girl, but most of the tunes were new to me.  The party continued at full blast until midnight but was still going strong at 12:30 when I saw Henk signal it was time to wrap it up.

We have been on HAL ships for over 500 days, and I have never attended a party that continued at this intensity for over 3 hours.

Later on, I realized there weren’t any decorations, and then I realized that most of the time, the memory of decorations fades quickly after an event but the fun, excitement, and personal interactions are something you’ll never forget.

The magic was including the crew, their average age probably 50 years less than the guests, was the secret sauce that sparked the other guests into action.  As always, what makes a party grand and fun are the participants – music helps, and continuous music is even better.

LIDO MARKET

Meanwhile, in the Lido Market, the Billboard piano duet entertained the diners from 10:30 to 11:30 pm as passengers selected their dinner choices.  There weren’t many people in the Lido, and only a handful of people were sitting nearby to listen to the Bill Board duet.   Here was the LIDO Menu

This was a “Surprise Party” we will long remember.

ANOTHER PILLOW GIFT

Back in our Cabin, we received our third pillow gift of the cruise.  You can find pictures of the pillow gifts on my 2023 World Cruise Reference Page – HERE