Clarification help re time on ship and time in ports

Hi there. I have asked a similar question regarding the "ship's time" and how to ensure I best stay on it and get up for my excursions in the ports, but I could use some more help. (I tried calling RCL for assistance and got nowhere)

I am from Toronto Canada and we observe the "spring ahead 1 hr rule" in our Eastern time zone. I believe it starts/happens March 12th or so. My cruise aboard the Harmony of the Seas departs from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale April 29th to May 6th which is also in the EST zone. Do they switch to Eastern Daylight Savings Time at around the same time? (universal spring ahead for all of those in EST in North America)

The ship stays on its home port time zone time for the duration of the cruise, correct? In this case,Eastern Daylight Savings Time correct?

The reason I ask that is, we are travelling to Nassau Bahamas first.We want to be up early enough to enjoy our resort daypass there. Our itinerary thus far, states we will be arriving at 7am. Is that EDST (ship's time)?

Or is it Nassau's time? If so, will it be regular EST? and 1 hr behind the ship? Or does the Bahamas do the same spring ahead 1 hr thing as us and are on EDST too and will be the same time as the ship?

We also stop in St. Thomas and St. Kitts. I believe both are Atlantic Standard time which I believe is 1 hr ahead of the regular? EST. Is that correct?

Am I to assume that if the ship is on EDST for this cruise, then it will have caught up 1 hr and be the same time as those Atlantic Standard time zone islands? (be on the same time)

For instance; we arrive in St. Thomas at 10am. Again, is that ship's time or St. Thomas time? Or are they now the same?

My shore excursion meeting time is 10:45 am and the owner indicates that this meeting time is local time. (interesting as I guess it depends on the operator/island because others say their meeting times are ship's time) So ultimately i want to be clear about any differences if they exist between the time zones. Do I have to make any adjustments/accommodations to meet up at the right time?

Ditto: St. Kitts. On AST correct? If so I guess same differences or similarities to EDST as St. Thomas? We arrive there 8am. Local time? Ship's time? Different or the same time? TheTour operator wants to meet at 8:15-8:30, so I'd like to know how I must adjust or not to make his tour (he comes highly rated, but isn't the clearest with his email communications about how his tour time compares) (kind of like me here trying to express myself and ask these questions!)

Thank you very much for your assistance and patience with this, but it's important for me to stay on track and organized on a trip I have been looking forward to.

... The ship stays on its home port time zone time for the duration of the cruise, correct? In this case,Eastern Daylight Savings Time correct? ...

The ship may or may not stay on it's home port time for the duration of the cruise. That is up to the Captain, may change sailing to sailing, and is not predictable.

Just put your watch on ships time, whatever that is. The compass will tell you of any changes the evening before, if any. You get off the ship on ships time and get back to the ship on ships time, port times might or might not be the same, the locals always know when the ship docks

As has been explained in your other thread. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2427536. ALL the ports visited on the Harmony 29 Apr 2017 Eastern Caribbean cruise will be operating on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) minus 4 hours. Some are on EDT, some on AST, but ALL are GMT - 4 hours. You are definitely over thinking this. Do NOT change your clocks and you will be okay.

To address a few of your statements. It is not a given that ships stay on the time of the port of departure, but in your case they will because everybody involved on this cruise on this date is on the same time. Canada, US and Bahamas change to DT on the same date; Europe and Mexico have different change dates.

Stay on Ship time. I make sure my watch is set for the ship time not the ports, any time change will be set by the Capt.

Just put your watch on ships time, whatever that is. The compass will tell you of any changes the evening before, if any. You get off the ship on ships time and get back to the ship on ships time, port times might or might not be the same, the locals always know when the ship docks

Exactly. You are way over thinking this:D

At the time of your cruise all the times at the ports you are going to will be the same as the time in Fort Lauderdale.

http://www.worldtimeserver.com/convert_time_in_US-FL.aspx?y=2017&mo=4&d=29&h=13&mn=0

All locations will be on the same time as Toronto. No need to adjust your watch for the cruise:

Nassau, Toronto and Fort Lauderdale are all in the same time zone (EST) and all move to DST.

St. Thomas and St. Kitts are both on ADT, but don't move to DST. Consequently, they are one hour ahead until the others "spring forward" and match their time.

Also be aware that "smart" devices (such as smartphones or watches with smart functions that are time zone aware) may automatically adjust to local time, which is something you want to avoid happening in order to remain on ship time, regardless of the port you're in. You will want to disable this functionality prior to boarding the ship for any cruise. For example, on an iPhone, you should find it under Settings->General->Date & Time->Set Automatically.

P.S. It's "Daylight Saving Time", not "Savings". And the changes are made at 02:00 on the second Sunday in March (clocks move forward one hour) and the first Sunday in November (clocks move backward one hour). So in 2017 it will indeed be March 12th :)

As an aside, my very first cruise was a western transatlantic. It was sort of fun in a way because the Captain adjusted the ship time backwards by one hour on several consecutive sea days at 15:00 (so we repeated the hour from 14:00-15:00).

Also be aware that "smart" devices (such as smartphones or watches with smart functions that are time zone aware) may automatically adjust to local time, which is something you want to avoid happening in order to remain on ship time, regardless of the port you're in. You will want to disable this functionality prior to boarding the ship for any cruise. For example, on an iPhone, you should find it under Settings->General->Date & Time->Set Automatically.

In the case of the OP's and many other cruises, there's no need disable this functionality as "local time" and "ship time" will remain the same.

In the case of the OP's and many other cruises, there's no need disable this functionality as "local time" and "ship time" will remain the same.

"Many other" cruises, but not all. For example, on the western Caribbean cruise I just returned from, ship time was UTC-06:00 and not adjusted to UTC-05:00 when we docked in Cozumel. Some fellow cruisers expressed concerns about the time difference and the Cruise Compass for that day also spoke to the issue of devices automatically setting time.

Furthermore, some smartphones that cannot get a cellular signal and/or cellular data service for an extended period of time may revert to UTC. While I was in Labadee earlier this year, a few fellow cruisers were puzzled as to why their phone's time jumped ahead by 5 hours.

I felt it was worthwhile to alert the OP and other people reading this thread to this device feature, and believe it's a good idea to disable it at the start of a cruise to keep a consistent practice.