dress code on non formal nights

[tring]

We are going to Spitsbergen on Balmoral in July. There is no info on non formal night dress code in the ticket booklet and the brochure says that most nights are informal when gents wear jackets or shirt and tie - I suspect they want shirts with jackets though!! Does that mean that there is usually a requirement for jackets and/or ties or is it OK to go smart casual if you want.

I thought cruises had informal and smart casual nights with different requirements, but we have only done mini cruises on FO so are unsure about this one.

[Parsman]

I am on the same cruise, my 4th on "Balmoral" and 26th with Fred. Olsen . Apart from the formal, theme and casual (first and last nights) the dress for men is "jacket and long trousers or long sleeved shirts with a tie". Make of that what you wish.
I just hope the temperatures on the ports of call pick up a bit (see the "My Cruises" section of the FOCL website) or we shall need the maximum amount of cold-weather clothes.
None the less it should be a good cruise. Not quite sure why the check-in is quite so late.
Bon voyage.

[tring]

Thanks.

The BBC website has a good weather section where you can access annual average conditions for some places - I think I searched for Norway and accessed that way. Spitzbergen (their spelling) is available. It gives July temps of 7C max and 4C min, with 11 wet days and average precipitation of 25mm.

So much like our winter if that is correct. The long days should warm things up quite quickly I would have thought (well relatively that is).

There are also averages for Bergen and Narvik on the BBC site which show a max of 19 and 18 respectively but wetter conditions for both places. I should imagine there will be quite a wind chill factor on deck going north though, but it is our first visit to the arctic so I have no detailed knowledge.

[tring]

What time is check in normally - our tickets say check in closes at 3.30pm. Mind you we are asked to get there no earlier than 3.20pm, which is clearly ridiculous.

[simonpjd]

No earlier than 2.30 I think.
We are planning to get there around 2ish.

And I am certainly hoping to get away with no tie for most evenings apart from penguin nights. And am still debating whether to invest in some 'long johns' for shore trips. But we are getting quite excited about the whole thing now. Only 4 weeks to go.

[zennor]

Based on our recent Braemar cruise lasting 9 nights - 2 nights were formal, 1st & last night was casual, 2 nights were themed - Western & British - so this was casual plus the theme if you like - I wore jeans for Western & my husband happended to have a check shirt. I didn't bother about British but a lot of people just wore red, white & blue casual clothes & it looked a lot more tasteful than I expected! Other nights were 'informal' & that does mean Jacket and/or tie in the main restaurants.