Help with time zone?

[Super Frog]

If I am cruising to Jamaica and the cruise line's web site says that we are to be arriving at 8:30am, is that island time or home port time?

Thanks!

[naragonl]

If I am cruising to Jamaica and the cruise line's web site says that we are to be arriving at 8:30am, is that island time or home port time?

Thanks!

well, it depends:cool:

I know you are asking about Jamaica, but I'll post a letter I sent and received for our upcoming trip and excursion on Grand Cayman..you can read the excursion persons reply back and see why I say it depends...

MY POST/QUESTION ABOUT TIMES
Hi, I already have reservations for this excursion. However I have a timing
question. First, I am real nervous about missing the ship (Crown Princess)
departure at 3PM ship time. There appears to be a differnce in ISLAND TIME
vs SHIP TIME. The excursion supposedly gets back at 1:30 Island time (i
think that would be 2:30 ship time). This only leaves about 30 minutes to
get back to ship (that is cutting it very close, and that is if we are on
time getting back to office). I saw on the web that someone mentioned that
the Buccaneer excusion MAY have been moved up half an hour which means it
leaves at 10AM and gets back at 1PM (THIS WOULD BE GREAT)! Could you
elaborate or advise on timing? If too close, I may want/need to change to
the shorter excursion.

THE REPLY
Good morning,

Your times are actually fine as Princess and Disney, are the only cruise
lines smart enough to change the ship clocks to match local time so you will
have plenty of time.
__________________________________________________ ________

[twinkletoes4445]

Jamaica doesn't observe daylight savings. So it depends on when you are sailing, what cruise line you will be on, and what port you depart from.

We were on the Triumph (out of Miami) and we arrived in Jamaica in the winter. Ship time and island time were the same. If we'd been on that same ship in the spring/summer/fall (April-Oct-not sure of the exact months), ship time would have been an hour ahead of island time. We live in the midwest, and right now, Jamaica time is the same as our time, but come Oct., Jamaica time will be the same as east coast time.

Some cruise lines will change their clocks to match island time, others do not. Probably the best way to find out exactly what your ship will be doing is to find someone who recently sailed on that ship.

The time issue is the single most confusing thing about cruising...to me, anyway. We're cruising HAL this next time, and I have no clue what they do. I need to check into that sometime in the near future.

[twinkletoes4445]

Your times are actually fine as Princess and Disney, are the only cruise
lines smart enough to change the ship clocks to match local time so you will
have plenty of time.[/FONT]

I wish they would all do this. It certainly would make things less confusing. But I think they want us confused so we will purchase the tours from the ship, not on our own.

[Super Frog]

Duh.. I should have put that in the first post... blonde moment!

We are sailing out of Galvestion, on the RCCL Rhapsody OS. We do observe DST, but I'm not sure why?

You guys are right this time this is driving me nuts!

I have hired a private guide for the day, but I wanted enough time to have a leisurely breakfast and then walk off the ship....with out all of the crowd. I wasn't sure what time I should tell them to meet us?

[twinkletoes4445]

Duh.. I should have put that in the first post... blonde moment!

We are sailing out of Galvestion, on the RCCL Rhapsody OS. We do observe DST, but I'm not sure why?

You guys are right this time this is driving me nuts!

I have hired a private guide for the day, but I wanted enough time to have a leisurely breakfast and then walk off the ship....with out all of the crowd. I wasn't sure what time I should tell them to meet us?

It is so confusing! I'd find someone who's been on that ship and see what the ship does (or do a search for the ship's daily paper and see if it says what's going on in it).

What time of year are you sailing? If you are sailing during the spring/summer/early fall months, ship time and island time should be the same, I would think.

Your guide should know all this. I know when we booked our island tour, our guide told us that ship time and island time would be the same.

Don't feel bad about the "blonde moment." I have them all the time! lol :)

[TRACKER1]

If I am cruising to Jamaica and the cruise line's web site says that we are to be arriving at 8:30am, is that island time or home port time?

Thanks!
If in doubt go by the ships clock thats what they go by to leave or arrive in port! Just make sure if you book a private tour instead of through the ship or cruise line that you will be back in time for Departure! Cozumel is on Central Standard Time I think all the other ports are as well! Set your watch to ship's time you cant go wrong!

[twinkletoes4445]

I Set your watch to ship's time you cant go wrong!

But that's the problem...We just don't know what the ship does...sometimes the ship changes their clocks to island time, and sometimes they don't. The trick is finding out what the ship is going to do, prior to sailing, so you can book your own excursions.

I need to start trying to figure out what "ship time" will be on our next cruise. But for this cruise, we're not going to do a lot of tours, so it won't matter as much as our last cruise. I booked many things early in the morning, and needed to know exactly when we will be in port and when we can get off the ship. :)

[TRACKER1]

Just ask the purser then! they will know ahead of time; you can call them from your cabin! Smile!

[TRACKER1]

Just ask the purser then! they will know ahead of time; you can call them from your cabin! Smile!
JUst Call the Pursers Desk or go down there in person they will know ahead of time and plenty of time for when you want to plan Private tours!

[twinkletoes4445]

JUst Call the Pursers Desk or go down there in person they will know ahead of time and plenty of time for when you want to plan Private tours!

That's a good idea, but for our first cruise, we booked all our tours months in advance. For our tour in Jamaica, we had to e-mail a confirmation back to our tour guide so she could get inside the gated area by the ships. We wanted to pre-arrange our tours in advance, rather than deal with them at the last minute (and hope we get to do what we wanted).

But for our next cruise, we're probably not going to plan anything in advance (with the exception of HMC), so I'll just ask the purser once we get onboard. :)

[TRACKER1]

That's a good idea, but for our first cruise, we booked all our tours months in advance. For our tour in Jamaica, we had to e-mail a confirmation back to our tour guide so she could get inside the gated area by the ships. We wanted to pre-arrange our tours in advance, rather than deal with them at the last minute (and hope we get to do what we wanted).

But for our next cruise, we're probably not going to plan anything in advance (with the exception of HMC), so I'll just ask the purser once we get onboard. :)
Thats what I do is do the tours in advance as well this will be our first trip to Ocho Rios and Caymans so we will just see how things workout and just do our checking when there with Private tour Operators and get all our info for next Year and we will be Ready! Best to you and Yor DH and Family and hope the waters stay calm and cool breezes blow your way! Wave Bye!

[twinkletoes4445]

Thats what I do is do the tours in advance as well this will be our first trip to Ocho Rios and Caymans so we will just see how things workout and just do our checking when there with Private tour Operators and get all our info for next Year and we will be Ready! Best to you and Yor DH and Family and hope the waters stay calm and cool breezes blow your way! Wave Bye!

Why, thank you!

I do believe that most of the operators know what's going on, so we really don't need to worry too much. I know I wanted to book an early stingray excursion with Captain Marvin's (in Cayman), and Ruth from CM's told me we wouldn't be able to make the early excursion. Our guide in Ocho told me to be in the parking lot between 8-8:30 ship time and she'd be there and to not worry about what time is was on the island. She'd get us back in plenty of time, which she did.

We loved Grand Cayman so much, we recently spent a week there (in a condo on 7MB). It was so much fun. We're going back with the kids in January. They don't like to cruise...silly kids, so they're not going with us on our Feb. cruise.

Happing sailing to you and your family! :)