Logistics for going East across the date line?

I guess I'll find the answer in a half a year when I cruise from Japan to Alaska, but I'm curious about how cruises handle the logistics of crossing the dateline. When we cross the date line, we will change time back a day (or 23 hours). So there will be two Saturdays. If you make a reservation for a restaurant Saturday night or a massage during the day, how do they keep track of whether it is for the first Saturday or the second one?

There will be a notice onboard whenever there is a time change on the ship. All activities and schedules, including reservations, will be based on that time.

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Did this last year on a ship. There was the first April 21 and the second April 21. Everything was designated that way.

There was a young woman on the ship turning 21 on April 21. Oh boy, did she have a birthday celebration!

Did this last year on a ship. There was the first April 21 and the second April 21. Everything was designated that way.

 

There was a young woman on the ship turning 21 on April 21. Oh boy' date=' did she have a birthday celebration![/quote']

Interesting, so were you able to make pre-cruise reservations using the "first" and "second" April 21?

Have done it several times.

Going East to West you lose the day.

Going West to East the day is repeated two days in a row. Good news is that it is not Ground Hog Day so entertainment, enrichment, cuisine, etc is not repeated.

The tough part of going West to East on that type of crossing is changing the clocks. Ships are sail on forward the clock one hour one night at a time. I know of at least one line that does it during the daytime.

Keith

We took the eastbound Transpacific, and had two Friday the 13ths! It worked fairly well, except for some occasional mild confusion about which Friday the 13th a booking was for - Part One or Part Two. :D

Losing an hour every day for all those days was tough. We were getting up later and later, even though we were getting less sleep. But we did the westbound trip this year, and gaining all those hours back was tough too, more than we thought it would be - nearly as bad as losing them!

If you love sea days, a Transpacific is wonderful. We’re already planning the next one.

On the eastbound TA crossings, the clocks normally go forward an hour at noon. Means the crew don't lose an hours sleep.

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On the eastbound TA crossings, the clocks normally go forward an hour at noon. Means the crew don't lose an hours sleep.

 

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This must be only on some cruise lines. We’ve done quite a few crossings and never had the time change during the day. It would be a lot easier, and I wish all lines would do this.

Interesting, so were you able to make pre-cruise reservations using the "first" and "second" April 21?

Both were sea days, so there were no excursions to reserve. But I think we made alt restaurant reservations in advance, and it was pretty obvious from the listing which day was what.

Did it a few years ago during a world cruise. We had two Saint Patrick’s day’s. I think the ship celebrated the second day.

Going the other direction, someone missed their birthday due to loosing a day.

Don

This must be only on some cruise lines. We’ve done quite a few crossings and never had the time change during the day. It would be a lot easier, and I wish all lines would do this.

Probably this is at the Captain's discretion - but that was how it was done on our recent eastbound crossing [1200 became 1300 five times]

Probably this is at the Captain's discretion - but that was how it was done on our recent eastbound crossing [1200 became 1300 five times]

Standard procedure on P&O, as far as I recall.

Probably this is at the Captain's discretion - but that was how it was done on our recent eastbound crossing [1200 became 1300 five times]

That seems a bit easier to deal with on an East bound sailing where 1200 becomes 1300 than on a West bound where 12 becomes 11. In the former case, there is no time that occurs twice. In the latter, one has the question of whether the appointment or activity at 11:30 is in the first or second 11:30. That's similar to the date line issue of East bound having two Wednesdays vs West bound skipping Wednesday.

I guess they can avoid scheduling activities between 11 and 12 or always explicitly say first 11:30 or second 11:30.

We have 8 sea days on the itinerary, really 9 because the date crossing day occurs twice. Time changes by 7 hours so there will be a clock change almost every day.

That brings up another thing I've wondered about which is packages with costs based on the length of the cruise. This is listed as a 13 day cruise which counts the double day as 1. If one gets the drink package are they going to charge for 13 or 14 days? Laundry package? I'm likely to get the laundry package but the drink package is more academic interest. I'm usually a drink or two a day person on cruises and the slightest tinge of motion discomfort tends to make me disinclined to do even that.

On the eastbound TA crossings, the clocks normally go forward an hour at noon. Means the crew don't lose an hours sleep.

 

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Which cruise line does it that way? We've done eastbound ta on Celebrity, on NCL, and on Oceania and all 3 of those cruise lines changed time in middle of the night.

This must be only on some cruise lines. We’ve done quite a few crossings and never had the time change during the day. It would be a lot easier, and I wish all lines would do this.

Eastbound T/A's all seem to change at mid-day: 11:59 AM is followed by 1:00PM; and westbound at 2:00 AM: 1:59 AM is followed by 1:00 AM.

Which cruise line does it that way? We've done eastbound ta on Celebrity, on NCL, and on Oceania and all 3 of those cruise lines changed time in middle of the night.

On QM2 the eastbound [23 hour day] adjustments were made mid day, the westbound [25 hour day] adjustments were sometime at night - probably a longer 'mid watch' with two 0400 times.

Eastbound T/A's all seem to change at mid-day: 11:59 AM is followed by 1:00PM; and westbound at 2:00 AM: 1:59 AM is followed by 1:00 AM.

Not "all" eastbound ta's change at mid-day. As I posted above, our experience on eastward ta's on Celebrity, NCL, and Oceania were that change was done in middle of night.

Not "all" eastbound ta's change at mid-day. As I posted above, our experience on eastward ta's on Celebrity, NCL, and Oceania were that change was done in middle of night.

And someone currently on a Westbound Windstar TA says that they are changing time at mid-day.

Eastbound TA change mid day and Westbound change in the wee hours of morning makes sense. No losing sleep due to a lost hour and no confusion about duplicated times because they occur when there are no passenger activities. But apparently not everyone does it that way.

And someone currently on a Westbound Windstar TA says that they are changing time at mid-day.

 

Eastbound TA change mid day and Westbound change in the wee hours of morning makes sense. No losing sleep due to a lost hour and no confusion about duplicated times because they occur when there are no passenger activities. But apparently not everyone does it that way.

Correction, the person on the current Westbound Windstar says they are changing the time at 2 AM. It was someone who had cruised before (perhaps Eastbound) that said they changed clocks at Noon.

Actually it appears that I may have been incorrect, as information on another social site that cannot be mentioned on here [!], suggests that some P&O ships do move the clocks forward at night on the eastbound leg. Personally I think this is very unfair on the crew, who will get 5 nights, almost consecutively, with an hours less sleep.

Perhaps they do something to compensate for that. Since trans Atlantic cruises are often loaded, they might be able to adjust shifts to allow for earlier end of shift or later start for parts of the crew.

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Celebrity adjusts overnight both directions for TPACs. Brutal on the crew as it's a weeks worth of changes in a week. Probably to keep pax up and spending.

Did a container shp TPAC last year and changes were made at 1600 everyday there was change. Fun to see the remote clocks advance an hour in a few minutes.

All Princess TAs I have been on recently change time at noon.