paulad39uk

2 hours ago, tring said:

 

We were on the Canada/US cruise last month as well.  We did not search for ties over there though.  Great cruise and good weather as well overall. We do not think we can complain much about loss of one tender port at that time of year in that area and we still walked a great deal on that first very wet day in NY, (about 12 miles) - did not think  I would have been able to do that, but it was our first visit and we were quite keen to see a lot.  Paced ourselves better the other days though 🙂  A very good itinerary as well.

 

 

We loved every minute  but got a bit wet first day in New York on Liberty Island. We'd do that cruise again😁

22 minutes ago, tring said:

 

DH will only use bow ties he can tie himself as he likes to undo them later in the evening and seems to be a sort of status thing!

 

He has been trying to buy new ones and they are very difficult to get, only plain black available or some patterns which are not too interesting.

 

Amazon have loads at various prices but as you've said in plain colours or paisley colours mainly. I saw some great silk ones in Bloomingdales and Saks on a recent Aurora cruise but put them down quickly when they were more expensive than my Cerutti suit.

Thanks very much for all of your advice I think we shall take our suits as I've just learnt to tie a bow tie and it's a shame to waste the skill 🤣

29 minutes ago, tring said:

 

 As far as I know it is just the main restaurants that require formal dress, so the self service restaurant will be the same as any other night.  That is just needing smart casual dress and Fred considers dark coloured smart jeans as acceptable for smart casual.  You will find a fair number of people around the ship in formal dress on those evenings on Fred, but not everyone.  I am not sure about the speciality restaurants, but others can likely tell you what is required for them.

 

A normal lounge suit with a standard tie is quite acceptable for the main dining room on formal nights and some people will be wearing them instead of a dinner suite, so no need to buy full formal wear just so you can eat in the main restaurant on those nights.

 

I am not sure what the situation will be on formal nights when there is a captain's welcome or farewell reception in one of the bars.  That is a free drinks do and the Captain speaks to the guests, (usually on a relaxed and quite amusing manner).  I think you will need to be be dressed in at least a lounge suit to attend that.

 

Thank you for your reply It's much appreciated. Having cruised on mainly P&O, Royal Caribbean, Thomas Cook & NCL We don't bother with all the prissy cocktail parties we have had our fill of tuxedos and suits especially in the hotter countries and didn't want to pack one, just smart casuals. We use the ships like a means of transport, they offer us little in entertainment they get us to where we want to be in relative comfort as we can no longer fly I really wanted to know if we were going to be escorted out of the bars like we were on P&O's Arcadia a few years ago for wearing just black shirt and trousers as was the woman who reported us to the head waiter who then asked us to leave she was allowed to stay. So I would like to know if this is going to happen again🤣

Hi I'm trying a Fred Olsen Cruise on Balmoral for the first time in November. We are getting a bit fed up with enforced formal nights and have been banned from certain areas on other ships in the past. I would like to know if it's only the main restaurants and or bars, lounges and if so which ones, thank you.

Since you are of "neither eilk" why worry? I am not a recovering alcoholic but I am gay and I wouldn't be going to a LGBTQ+ meeting on any ship they aren't very well attended in the main

3 hours ago, pete14 said:

Your earlier post stated you received no benefit from booking select fare but you received OBC which paid for some of your 30 specialist dining meals. I realise that your OBC perhaps did not match the price difference between select and saver but it should surely be considered to be a benefit of booking select which you would not have received if you had booked a saver fare. 

What I got refunded in OBC wasn't anywhere near the difference in price between the two fares. What I am saying is the Saver fare in my case would definitely have been the better choice in the long run you live and learn.

1 hour ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi

On Saver you can pay a few pounds more to select location of cabin.

When I book it I choose Mid Aft that way you won’t get Aft or Forward.

The categories are ‘Aft—-Mid aft—Mid—Mid forward—Forward.

Thanks Jeanie that's why I was a bit disappointed that I could have done the same at saver rate and saved more not really benefitting from select fare as I said

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

I guess that as you say you received no benefit from booking Select, you didn’t receive any onboard credit to close the gap between the relative costs of select and saver to a degree? If you did, maybe it covered some of your select dining which for 30 nights must have set you back a bit. Presumably, being Aurora, that was Sindhu, Glasshouse and / or Beach House.

Not enough on board credit to pay for the select dining🤣. Sindhu on Arcadia was fabulous, on Aurora not so. We had fabulous meals in the Glasshouse and Beach House though with wonderful staff and service. Yes the bill was a bit of an eye opener and I was a bit annoyed they took a payment without letting us know until after it was taken two weeks into the cruise. Yet some people struggled using their onboard credit go figure🤔

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

But you did receive the benefit of a midships cabin  which probably would not have been the case if you had booked a saver fare.

No I had to pay extra on top of the select fare to ensure my midships cabin wasn't moved. I could have paid extra at saver fare for the same.

We have just returned from a 30 night cruise on Aurora R318 to Canada and North America. We booked Select Fare but received no benefit from it

We never ate in the main restaurant only speciality dining which we paid extra for.

They did not put on any shuttle buses apart from a free one in Boston

We had to pay extra for a central cabin to prevent us being upgraded? to a cabin aft or stern

So we may as well have paid saver fare we won't be bitten by that one again😥

Formal nights tend to fall on sea days so most people have time to get ready. They are very rarely on days in port as most people are off on trips. The final formal night is usually the evening prior to the final sea day so everyone can get packed ready to disembark. Things can change though at a drop of a hat nothing is set in stone. Although we always pack formal wear we often forget formal nights in favour of complete comfort and do our own thing away from all the stuffiness.