Ship Time vs. Port Time

Never having been on a cruise before, please can someone help explain the difference between ship and port time? Do they use different clocks? Does the ship use the time from the departure port?

Worried about missing the boat based on time... We are going on Carnival from Fort Lauderdale to the Eastern Caribbean. Will there be any time changes? Can I use my watch and phone for the correct time?

Thanks!

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You will not change times. It will always be the time from the departure port.

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Most cruise lines adjust to the local time. A few lines (often Carnival but that can vary) stick with ship time in port. This will be reflected on the ships program.

Again, in most cases the ship keeps to local time.

Keith

Never having been on a cruise before, please can someone help explain the difference between ship and port time? Do they use different clocks? Does the ship use the time from the departure port?

 

Worried about missing the boat based on time... We are going on Carnival from Fort Lauderdale to the Eastern Caribbean. Will there be any time changes? Can I use my watch and phone for the correct time?

 

Thanks!

 

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk 4

Ship time is the time on the ship. You ALWAYS go by this time. It is not always the same as the local time. Thus, you can set your watch to ship time and be okay. However, your phone will change to local time. As this may, or may NOT be the same as the ship time, do NOT use your phone to tell what time it is.

If your cruise does go into a different time change, the majority of the time the ship's clocks will be adjusted to the local time of the port.

There will be a notice in your daily program about time changes.

Thank you very much to all for your help. I will check the ship time each time we leave for a port excursion and set my watch to it if different.

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Many of the Eastern Caribbean islands are on Atlantic Standard Time year round. When the Eastern US is on daylight savings time, the time will be the same on the ship and in port. When the Eastern US is on Standard time, there will be a one hour difference. So If you are asking for your December cruise, the local time will be one hour ahead of the ship. Keep your watch on ship time and always use that to determine the time. Many cell phone automatically update as you move to a new time zone. This will not work with your cruise.

When you board the ship, check the time on one of the clocks-set your watch, turn off your phone. Unwind. Now you are on vacation, and Carnival goes by ship time, which is Eastern time. So you will see the sun rising earlier each day, but you stay on the ship time. If you do an excursion on your own, dont ask the locals for the time, look at your watch! Your watch is on ship time. Adjust if necessary when you return home.:) Have a great cruise.

HAL goes by local time. They put a note on our bed each evening the time changes on the following day.

HAL goes by local time. They put a note on our bed each evening the time changes on the following day.

Princess does the same thing. They also announce it in the daily schedule (Princess Patter).

I presume when Carnival does a transatlantic, they change the ship's time to match local time? :rolleyes:

Wow, we travel quite often but I never thought about this. Thanks for posting! Looks like I have an excuse to buy a new watch! :p

Having a watch is a good thing on a cruise.

since daylights savings time will be taking effect next sunday morning.

looking at your ports time vs florida time you can see what the difference is.

If the island is reflected about a 2 hours difference carnival will change it to reflect one hour. Rare does it change to the entire time.

Time is where you are at. Port or Ship, Announcements can be heard each morning over a loud speaker, to remind you where you are at...

I presume when Carnival does a transatlantic, they change the ship's time to match local time? :rolleyes:

errrrrr, my thoughts too when I saw the first reply (Stefan - "it will always be the same time as departure port").

But I suspect that probably Stefan knows the OPs itinerary, and that there are no time changes on that itinerary.

My own experience is that ship's time is usually adjusted to local time.

But not always the case if it sails out of a time zone for just one port & then returns to its original time zone - in those circumstances its less complicated to be out-of-synch with that one port.

If the day before a time-change port is a sea-day, ships usually change their clocks on that day - better to arrive for breakfast an hour late on a sea day than to be an hour late for a booked excursion next-day.

Time display on phones & bedside appliances & such can be a nightmare. Some change automatically & some don't. I can never remember whether mine does. Some that you assume will have changed won't have done so cos they didn't get a signal. Some will take their signal from another island that's on a different time - hellfire, at one time folk in Dover UK were getting phone signals - and erroneous times - from France.:D

So, as other posters have stressed, don't rely on technology - wear a watch.

And check it against ship's clock (and mebbe gangway staff) as you go ashore.

It's really very simple, and crew always give plenty of reminders.

But I've seen plenty of examples of folk who've screwed-up. :rolleyes:

JB :)

In most cases, ship's time and port time are the same. HOWEVER it is not always the case. To avoid a short-term time change and then changing back, if, for example, one port is on a different time zone, the ship might not change to correspond with the port. As has been stated, there will be ample announcements, but be sure you are aware of whether or not the ship's time and the local time are the same. In those rare instances where they are different, the time you have to be back will be according to ship's time.

Once again, this is a rare thing, but it does happen.