Eastern Time, Ship Time, Island Time

Can someone clarify how time works when you are on a cruise? We leave from Miami and will be on Eastern time. Does the ship always stay on Eastern time? If we are in a port from 10-6, what does that mean for excursions and returning to the ship?

The ship stays on the same time Eastern if leaving Miami. It wont change

Ally times stated are in "ships time". This time may or may not change during the cruise depending in the Captains preference.

Okay. So when people are rushing to get back on the ship, it is often because they were looking at local clocks and not doing the time translation.

And an excursion provider is naturally showing start times as their local time, so I need to see what time zone they are in and do the math.

Thanks!

Okay. So when people are rushing to get back on the ship, it is often because they were looking at local clocks and not doing the time translation.

 

And an excursion provider is naturally showing start times as their local time, so I need to see what time zone they are in and do the math.

 

Thanks!

A lot of people are also late because they use their cell phone as a watch without realizing it switches to local time.

A lot of people are also late because they use their cell phone as a watch without realizing it switches to local time.

Good point! Would putting it in airline mode for the whole trip stop that from happening?

The ship stays on the same time Eastern if leaving Miami. It wont change

Not necessarily true!

But - I would have said the same thing - prior to our Breeze cruise in February. We were asked to change our clocks.....that hasn't happened on Carnival in a really long time!

Good point! Would putting it in airline mode for the whole trip stop that from happening?

Nope! You need to turn off the "auto update" in the time and date settings.

Good point! Would putting it in airline mode for the whole trip stop that from happening?

Probably, you can also set it to a specific time zone.

I take my cheap $12 watch - as I get off the ship there is a big paper clock (at least on the cruises I have been on) telling you what time it is and also it states in the Fun Times as well as about 10 locations on the ship - you really can't screw up. I make sure my watch is set to that time. As others say, do not use a cell phone, IPhone, Blackberry, computer etc - use the old style watch

So tell me if I have this right:

My itinerary tells me that we arrive at Grand Cayman at 10 AM - Eastern. I presume.

An excursion company on Grand Cayman tells me that tours start at 8 AM and 10:30 AM - Central, I presume, as Grand Cayman is in the Central time zone.

8 AM Central = 9 AM Eastern....too early

10:30 AM Central = 11:30 AM Eastern....we can do this one

This is all basic stuff, I know, but another set of eyes never hurts. :)

You might want try asking this on the Caymen's port board to see what recent cruisers have experienced.

Adjusting the ship's time from the departure port to the destination port is not unheard of if there will be at least 1 at sea day between the ports wit ha time difference. But it is solely the discretion of the captain to do so and not every captain chooses to do it.

best website is time and date dot com will tell you time in a city/country and MOST IMPORTANT if the country uses daylight savings time as some countries do not or implement it later then USA. But always remember the most important time is Ship Time....... They'll leave without you

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk..... I apologize fer ne spellng miztakes as itz hard to type on dis little fone

So tell me if I have this right:

 

My itinerary tells me that we arrive at Grand Cayman at 10 AM - Eastern. I presume.

An excursion company on Grand Cayman tells me that tours start at 8 AM and 10:30 AM - Central, I presume, as Grand Cayman is in the Central time zone.

 

8 AM Central = 9 AM Eastern....too early

10:30 AM Central = 11:30 AM Eastern....we can do this one

 

This is all basic stuff, I know, but another set of eyes never hurts. :)

One of the advantages of using excursions offered by Carnival is that they are operated on ship's time, so you don't have to worry if the operator, the ship, and you are calculating time the same way.

Biggest question of all: Is Grand Cayman on Central Time or Eastern Time, and do they observe Daylight Savings Time? DST (or lack thereof) can really throw you for a loop! 8AM Central Standard Time = 8AM Eastern Daylight Time!

Other posters have said it already, wear a good-old-wristwatch (digital or analog, your choice) and make sure it stays on ship's time. Saves a lot of embarrassment... They even warn you in Fun Times that cellphones shift to local time - and no, airline mode won't prevent it - the phone still receives time and locator signals, it just doesn't transmit back in "Airline." You can override the time control on some phones, others don't allow it. Don't bet your well-being on your cellphone...

Howdy,

I am the main planner of our group cruise coming up in May and I sent an email to my little group about this issue a few weeks ago. I cut and pasted a portion of it here for you to read and take in. Now these are the ports we are going to, again, time and date dot com is the best website for you to look at to determine what time zone a particular country is in. I hope this helps, it helped people in my group to understand what to expect:

So I’ve started looking at excursions pretty heavily and it dawned on me that most of you may not understand the time zone element that you will have to deal with if you are planning on independent excursions or car rentals etc. Often times the excursion operator will want to know what time you will be at the port etc, and this part of the carribean can be a little confusing because most of the ports we are visiting will be on Central Time and our ship will be on Eastern Time. To further complicate the matter, some ports do not observe Daylight Savings Time.

Now don’t worry too much, all of these tour operators are fully aware of local ship arrival and departure times and will get you back on time but for your own education and personal responsibility if you are planning on venturing out on your own it’s important that you understand that the times in port will not be the same as our ships time. The most important thing to remember: SHIP TIME IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TIME, BECAUSE THE SHIP WILL LEAVE WITHOUT YOU IF YOU ARE NOT ON THE SHIP!!!!!

So first rule is to always keep your watch set to ship time. DO NOT RELY on your cellphone’s since it will automatically adjust to whatever country you are in should you decide to use it/turn it on. The itinerary that Carnival publishes showing our port times is SHIP TIME and not the actual time in the port.

On our trip, our ship will have its time set to Port Canaveral Time or EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME throughout the entire cruise. Below is each of our port stops with 2 sets of time listed. The first set is the published itinerary time by carnival of our arrival and departure from port or as commonly referred to as “Ships Time”. The 2nd set of time is the actual time at the port.

Cozumel – 1hr behind “ship time”

10am – 6pm – Ship Time or EDT

9am – 5pm- Actual Time on Cozumel or CDT (Central Daylight Time)

Roatan – 2hr behind “ship time”

10am – 6pm – Ship Time or EDT

8am – 4pm – Actual Time on Roatan or CST (Central Standard Time). Roatan does NOT observe Daylight Savings Time.

Belize – 2hr behind “ship time”

8am – 6pm – Ship Time or EDT

6am – 4pm – Actual Time on Belize or CST (Central Standard Time). Belize does NOT observe Daylight Savings Time.

Costa Maya – 1hr behind “ship time”.

7am – 2pm – Ship Time or EDT

6am – 1pm- Actual Time in Costa Maya or CDT (Central Daylight Time)

Again, it can be a little confusing and the only reason you would need to know the above information is if you want to book independent excursions or car rentals. During your research you may notice that the tour operators will list times of departure etc, remember this is their local time. As an example, if you were to book a cave tube adventure through an independent operator in Belize and they tell you the tour starts at 9:00 am local time that would be 11am ships time so you don’t have to try and rush to be the first one off of the boat since our ship doesn’t arrive until 6am local time or 8am ship time.

If you choose to use Carnival Excursions then you don’t need to worry about any of the time issues as Carnival tells you where to go and when to be there relative to ship time. I know this may seem like a small confusing detail but trust me, it matters if you are booking independent excursions."

I hope this helps you.

Very helpful! Thanks so much to all who have responded.

So tell me if I have this right:

 

My itinerary tells me that we arrive at Grand Cayman at 10 AM - Eastern. I presume.

An excursion company on Grand Cayman tells me that tours start at 8 AM and 10:30 AM - Central, I presume, as Grand Cayman is in the Central time zone.

 

8 AM Central = 9 AM Eastern....too early

10:30 AM Central = 11:30 AM Eastern....we can do this one

 

This is all basic stuff, I know, but another set of eyes never hurts. :)

But we honor daylight savings time they don't so they are actually 2 hours behind us well roatan Belize costa maya and Cozumel are was there 2 weeks ago

But we honor daylight savings time they don't so they are actually 2 hours behind us well roatan Belize costa maya and Cozumel are was there 2 weeks ago

Actually, Costa May and Cozumel do implement Daylight Savings Time but it doesn't go into effect for them until April 7th, where the US did it a couple of weeks ago thus the 2hr difference you noticed.

Belize and Roatan do not observe Daylight Savings at all.