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Fred. Olsen - dress codes changes


Parsman

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Readers of Fred. Olsen's "Cruiselines" magazine may have noticed that there is no longer a casual dress code on board their ships. There will, in future, be three dress forms; formal, informal and smart casual.

Smart-casual is defined as passengers should wear a collared shirt (open neck if preferred) with trousers(or smart jeans) for men whilst, for ladies, casual separates or a Summer dress would be suitable.

Flip flops, hats/caps, vests, torn jeans and swimwear remain prohibited from the restaurants in the evenings.

This will be useful information for many passengers.

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  • 1 month later...

I am not sure what these descriptions actually mean, I wish the cruise lines were more specific, or better still have sample photos. in the brochure . I was on a FO cruise to the Caribbean last year, we fully understand 'formal' and dressed accordingly. We assumed that informal meant long sleeve shirt with a tie for men but the majority of men wore short sleeve shirts without ties, which of course was more comfortable for the climate, especially when outside. We go to the Caribbean again next month, any hints on what the new dress code is for any nights that are not 'formal' ( I mean in the dining rooms not Palms) . The girl at the FO help line I would say was too young to have ever been on a FO cruise and didn't have much guidance except say 'be smart' . This could mean anything to different people!

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  • 2 weeks later...

We do give the following information concerning dress codes on our website:

 

 

Formal nights – For ladies, this is the opportunity to wear a cocktail or evening dress. For gentlemen, dinner jacket or tuxedos – if you do not have a dinner jacket you may wish to hire one (please see Dress Suit Hire). Alternatively, a dark suit and tie is acceptable.

 

 

Informal nights – (excluding Caribbean fly/cruise programme) Men will be comfortable in a lounge suit or jacket and/or tie. For ladies, anything ranging from tailored trousers to a dress, will be appropriate.

 

 

Smart casual – Stylish leisure wear is ideal. Open neck shirts with collars please, for the men; whilst casual separates or a summer dress will be fine for the ladies.

 

There will also be various theme nights such as ‘Nautical’, ‘International’, ‘Tropical’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’, which you may wish to join in. Dress code guidelines are mentioned in the ship’s Daily Times so you can anticipate the tone of the next evening to come. The number of formal, informal and smart casual nights for your particular cruise will be advised in your ticket pack.

 

 

Please note that on day of embarkation we always operate a Smart Casual code for dinner as your cabin baggage can take up to 2 hours to be delivered to your cabin.

 

 

If you have any more questions regarding your time on board with us please visit http://www.fredolsencruises.com/About-Cruising/A-Z-Holiday-Cruise-Guide/A

where we hope our A-Z guide of cruising will help answer any questions you may have.

 

 

I do hope this is more help to you.

 

 

Regards FOCL

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Men will be comfortable in a lounge suit or jacket and/or tie. L

 

I am sure I have seen similar guide lines from other cruise lines. Never sure if it means "Men WILL be comfortable" or "men will be comfortable"

 

Why do I always think of "Mad dogs and Englishmen" when I see this?

 

David.

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We do give the following information concerning dress codes on our website:

 

There will also be various theme nights such as ‘Nautical’, ‘International’, ‘Tropical’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’, which you may wish to join in. Dress code guidelines are mentioned in the ship’s Daily Times so you can anticipate the tone of the next evening to come.

I do hope this is more help to you.

 

Regards FOCL

 

As a passenger it would be useful to know how many, and what kind of theme nights are to held on each cruise. As there are now four possible themes you could end up carrying clothes that are not required. [and not carrying clothes that are!] Guidelines in the ship's Daily Times are far too late to ensure you have what you need with you.

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The theme night dress codes are not compulsory. They are meant to be a bit of fun - but if it isn't your bag - no need to bother.

agree with you,on the last two f. o cruises we were on i would say less than 50% dressed up on theme nights,we did and it was good fun but if its not for you don't bother as you will not be only ones.

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You are informed of the different dress code nights when you receive your tickets.

 

Yes, I now remember that on past cruises I had this information and had forgotten that it was on the ticket. I'll put it down to my age.:confused:

 

What confused me was that I have received my cruise book for my next Fred Olsen cruise [the one that includes baggage labels etc.] which sets out the required dress code but doesn't even mention theme nights. I would have thought that this was the logical place to give that information.

 

I'll be interested to see what Fred gives out on these theme nights [if anything] - will we get an EU flag instead of the Union Jack on the international evening! Or water wings on the nautical evening instead of the neckerchief we used to get on the C&W? :)

 

I'll be interested to see whether there is more, or less, support for the new themes. I rather suspect the latter.

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On international night they gave out flags of different nations - sadly no Norwegian one!

They decorated the Neptune lounge with flags and it looked very festive. I think there was some international dancing.

 

The nautical night was great fun. I think there were some cardboard pirates hats given out. They had a silly trivia quiz for pirates v sailors.

 

Can't remember what they did for the rock n roll night

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Sorry, but that is not true.

 

We have not been informed about the number of formal nights nor about the 'theme' nights.

 

That is not normal, we've been told each time so far, ask your TA to chase them for the details or just give them a call.

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We received our etickets for our Christmas Cruise this week.

The number of formal nights/themes are not listed; it states to check on www.fredolsencruises.com/About-Cruising/Check-in-Times-and-Theme-Nights to find out this information. You follow that link to your ship and on that page it lists the next three cuises.

I must say we were a bit disappointed the information wasn't in the cruise book, which now mainly contains information about excursions.

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That is not normal, we've been told each time so far, ask your TA to chase them for the details or just give them a call.

 

In the cruisebook the pages of the theme nights were blanc.

Somewhere in the brochure and the info from our TA (FO's Dutch agent) we found the number of formal nights within the number of days the cruise is.

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We received our etickets for our Christmas Cruise this week.

The number of formal nights/themes are not listed; it states to check on www.fredolsencruises.com/About-Cruising/Check-in-Times-and-Theme-Nights to find out this information. You follow that link to your ship and on that page it lists the next three cuises.

I must say we were a bit disappointed the information wasn't in the cruise book, which now mainly contains information about excursions.

 

What a very useful link,I too was wondering as nothing in my pack and that was from Fred himself but guessed correctly.

Thank you

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Quote- "for some reason the first on the list sailed last week and has not been removed yet, so we still wait to see what is planned for our cruise just after Christmas."

 

We found exactly the same thing when we were waiting for the Christmas cruise to come up. In the end I e-mailed them and they changed it that day!

I do feel that 3 cruises in advance is not enough time anyway. I hesitate to say it, but other cruise lines we travel with post the information online far earlier (e.g. P&O, Cunard).

It's not a huge thing and we like travelling with Fred but it could easily be fixed; especially as they no longer print it in the 'Cruise Book'.

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Looking at the other ships it seems like they list up to 3 cruises ahead up to the next month as right now none of the ships are showing January sailings even though they only have two sailings in December.

 

I do agree that this really isn't enough advance warning.

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As a passenger it would be useful to know how many, and what kind of theme nights are to held on each cruise. As there are now four possible themes you could end up carrying clothes that are not required. [and not carrying clothes that are!] Guidelines in the ship's Daily Times are far too late to ensure you have what you need with you.

 

To give our guests an indication of our dress code this information can always be found on our website. Please follow the provided link where you will find and extensive A-Z guide of cruising with Fred. Olsen, www.fredolsencruises.com/About-Cruising/A-Z-Holiday-Cruise-Guide/D

For more information on Fred. Olsen Crusie Lines please visit www.fredolsencruises.com

Regards

FOCL

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  • 2 months later...

We are traveling to Rio to join Balmoral 7 march 2112 for the journey back to dear old Blighty and we have already been given the info for the 4 Formal evenings and also the 3 themed evenings ( international, Rock and Roll and tropical). Looks like the Western themed night has gone for a burton. Like others have already said, not all passengers take part in the actual dressing up but still enjoy the atmosphere. :) Others on this forum have mentioned they might be too young for FO but you are as old as you feel and my wife and I have many retained younger friends met on FO who we still keep in touch with after many years :) We have done one trip on Balmoral to Tangiers which ended up in Antwerp instead and I reckon the older end just took in their stride. Force nine and a bit windy.. Locked indoors for three days ;)

 

 

SEE YOU IN RIO.

 

AGED 73 AND 65

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