Commandant's USMC Birthday Ball

One of the best events to attend and well worth every penny.

The Gaylord is a great place for the USMC Ball. It was well put together and for an event that supported over 3000 personnel, it went smoothly. Already looking forward to next year.

The best United States Marine Corps Ball I've ever been to.

Poor coordination with National Harbor event staff. Double booking with the Xmas tree lighting resulted in a 2-hour backup to drive into National Harbor.

Great event! Every Marine should take the opporunity and attend this event.

We arrived at the Ball at 1745 and spent over 45 minutes attempting to valet park our car. The hotel did not seem prepared to receive the number of guest that were arriving and seemed confused on where to send cars once a lot was full. Once we were able to get into the hotel, we waited for 15 minutes to get our parking validated. After we went into the event we choose to wait on a line to get drink tickets. We waited on line only to be told 20 minutes into our wait that the line was about to close and that we should proceed downstairs and we could wait on a line down there for drinks. We were able to find a short line as we went downstairs, bought tickets for 4 drinks for 45$ and then had no time to actually go to the bar as it closed. Again, it appeared that the hotel did not have enough lines/bars to support the crowd that evening. Possible pre-purchase of either parking or beverages may support a better evening.

This is the fourth ball I have been to at the Gaylord and was the most disappointing of them all; mainly because we were in the basement and not a ballroom. The lighting was horrible; you couldn't talk to the person next to you because there was a huge spotlight pointed in your face. The food was acceptable as usual and the wait staff did a good job. I think the Gaylord did a fine job hosting the event, but whoever on the Commandant's ball comittee selected the lower level convention hall should be fired. For $100 a ticket I'd expect a little more. The music selected should also reflect the taste of the audience. This was a gathering of mostly senior members of the Marine Corps and their guests. I don't think many of them were in to hip-hop. It was also played so loud you couldn't talk to anyone at the ball without having to yell over it.

Normally, the ball is held in a ballroom upstairs that is elegant and gives the Marine Corps ball the respect it deserves. This year, it was held in the exhibit hall, spotlights and all; It was perfectly fitting for a car show. The lighting was AWFUL!! If you were lucky enough to not have a floodlight in your face, your vision was ok. If you were on the other side of the table and had the floodlight in your face, you were not able to see a thing. People at your table had an ethereal glow around their heads and the bright lighting lasted for hours in your eyes. The lighting was so dim you couldn't even see what you were eating. Thank goodness for the flashlight app on peoples' phones. I had several people come into town specifically for this ball because I told them about the beautiful, elegant location the Marine Corps ball commands and this location in the hotel was abhorrent. It was an embarrassment and was not conducive to socializing (couldn't see) or fully enjoying all the evening had to offer. If the event is held in the exhibit hall again we will not be coming and will definitely tell others to avoid it as well.

The setting was beautiful, the ceremony was very moving and emotional, as a Marine I was so excited to see our new Commandant in person, the food was tremendous. However, for some reason we were placed down in the basement of the building in a room resembling a -- basement. Something must have been wrong with the lights, because there were some type of construction lighting or stadium lights set up in each corner shining spotlight beams at any unlucky person who happened to have their eyes open. We joked that we felt like confessing any minute just to get out of the glare. The shadows cast on the table from the centerpiece and serving ware, along with the searing glare in my eyes, made it hard for me to see my food, so I'm not sure what I ate but it was delicious! The music started just as we were finishing desert, and the music was so loud that we could not carry on conversation at our table. We were 2 tables from the back of the room, the dance floor was in the front of the room (over 300 tables in the basement), and yet we still could not hear each other. It effectively ended conversation. We left to get out of the PsyOps target area.

Great event... although the lights were a bit awkward and the drinks were a little pricey.

Great event, but the stadium lighting detracted. It was hard to see the people at your own table of you were facing into the spotlights.

Not a great event this year especially for the amount they charge. I've been to previous Birthday Balls at the Gaylord and this year was the worst. Food was terrible! I know it is difficult to serve that many people but it has been better in the past. The ballroom was set up poorly as well. There were huge spotlights glaring down that was annoying. The ceremony at least went well.

This was a formal ball held in a display hall. lighting was terrible. Noise and visibility were terrible.

The cocktail hour and official ceremony were very classy and elegant with atmosphere and decor. The spotlighting in the dining hall was a little harsh. A dim overhead lighting would be more pleasant. The music playlist was unclassy. This is an event celebrating Marines past and present. This is a black-tie event that Marines spend a good amount of money on themselves and their dates and to start the play list with loud "booty shaking, hook-up" music takes away the air of class expected of this event. A nice classical playlist that allows dates to dance with each other and is not reminiscent of college frat parties should be expected at an event of this caliber. If my schedule allows, I plan to return. Hopefully there are some changes. Semper Fidelis and Happy Birthday.

Awesome, sign me up for next year! It was wonderful!

Great time with the warriors of the Marine Corps celebrating 238 years of faithful continued service to our nation. Thank you Marines for our freedom.

This was my first and last USMC ball. I had a nice time but for the price I paid I think I expected too much. In this day and age I just thought more could have been done to portray the history of the MC. So I paid $95 to watch some videos and to hear a couple of songs...seriously! The food was ok even though it was served late and the overall set up was fine. I thought that the seating arrangement was tight but the Gaylord did what they could to accomodate. The highlight of the event was from the guest of honor, a wounded warrior, and his speech was just awesome. I think if it were not for him the whole evening would have been a bust.

Ceremony and chow was first class as usual. Guest of honor was inspirational and spot on. Now for the bad....DJ was horrendous at best!!! A little surprised a DJ was used at this event, as past year's events had excellent bands. A Dj could suffice "if" the right DJ was found. This DJ acted like he was playing at a cheap bar. In fact, I felt like we had left the Ball and went to some cheap venue once the DJ started. The music selection was predominantly geared towards 20 year olds who enjoy hip hop. If a DJ is used in the future, there should be a requirement for the DJ to mix music between genres and time periods. I'd recommend starting with older music for the more aged guests, in the event they want to dance a little and then depart, and then work up to current hits....maybe sequentially play 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, etc or at least mix it up. My wife and I, and our 4 guests, barely danced this year and we are all only in our 40s and early 50s.

It was obviously going to be a long evening when we noted the seating arrangements for our section were very screwed up, so that our unit was dispersed among four tables instead of being all put together, and that we were in a completely different area than the last two years. The schedule was not held to, beginning almost 15 minutes late. By the time dinner was served, we were almost 45 minutes off the mark! The sound management of the presentation was amateurish as best - the baritone singer, while being very good, was also broadcast so loud during the National Anthem, my ears rang the rest of the night! Once dinner was served, the wait staff was very rude, literally throwing the plates down in front of the diners. They could also use some training in pouring skills; at least two people at our table had their coffee poured onto them as the staff hurried to get through the meal plan! All in all, this was the worst ball I have attended in the past few years, suffering it seems more from a lack of planning than from content.

This was definitely an event to attend at least once. It was a great time and an opportunity to shake hands with MC leadership that I would have not ever met with in my career. The food and service was good but the drink prices were outrageous. I've attended several other large MC Ball events, such as the Tampa Bay Marine Ball, and those events have been much more memorable. I will say the picture prices were extremely low compared to other MC Ball events I attended in the past. That was a much added bonus when compared to the prices we paid for drinks. I was not the only one that felt the damage on the pocketbook from this event.