Do you have any sea days? These are normally when the formal night is held.

The emergency evacuation drill should now be carried out before the ship leaves port on the first day.

"Should" Luci, but we've been on some ships where they do them when you're out on the open sea!

Certainly 2 First Choice one's we did in the past did it after we had been sailing a few hours and our more recent Louis Cruise from Cyprus to Kastelorizo and Rhodes did it while we were at sea too.

I said "should" as the rules have been changed since the Concordia disaster last year. Prior to that it was normally the day after embarkation and certainly within 24 hours. However it is down to the individual cruise line whether they adhere to the new rules

NCL certainly did it while still in port on the Epic in October.

Formal night has always been on the sea day hen I have been on the Thomson ships.
Also the emergency drill is before you sail although I think that is a knee jerk reaction to the Concordia I prefered the drill to be on the first morning when all the new passengers are rested and relaxed. Was also surprised on a recent overnight ferry from Hull to Bruge the safety advice was very basic and no offical drill. I would think the risks are far greater on ferries than cruise ships.

luci HT Mod wrote:

I said "should" as the rules have been changed since the Concordia disaster last year. Prior to that it was normally the day after embarkation and certainly within 24 hours. However it is down to the individual cruise line whether they adhere to the new rules

NCL certainly did it while still in port on the Epic in October.

I hope they all do.... They do it on planes so why not on a ship?

The last cruise we were on was a joke.
It was a Cypriot cruise ship on a mini-cruise out of Cyprus but our drill was out at sea a few hours after we had already left the port and were in open waters.
We all had muster stations on the back of our doors but for the drill, we all had to attend in the entertainment lounge in our boat groups.
None of us were taken to the muster stations and the routes were ridiculous anyway. We were nearest to an exit but we had to cross to the opposite side of the ship in the complete opposite direction from the cabin next door to us (we were at the end of a corridor).
Unfortunately, the instructions in the entertainment room were all given in Greek language first which meant as soon as anything was said, the passengers all gabbled at each other and the remaining instructions for non-Greek speakers were drowned out. Particularly so whey they got to the bit about having a whistle on your lifejacket to attract attention. Yep, you guessed it! Nobody else heard a thing after that....
Good job we made it there and back in one piece!

Thanks everyone for the info.
Turned out formal night was the 'day at sea' (Sunday) & the drill was before left port. Some flights had not yet arrived so think they did it nxt morning. Will post review hol later, a bit mixed :-( Now to get used to snow.

Just dont get in any life boats

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/10/falling-lifeboat-thomson-ship-canary-islands

Those poor folk