Horizon Local vs Ship Time

[jmps]

I tried to search but couldn't find this info. I am planning private excursions for Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Roatan, and Port Limon CR for the March 25th sailing of the Horizon. Does anyone know if they change the ship time to match for all the ports? I know we cross into the central time zone and have DST to deal with. Thanks!

[chessbriar]

Celebrity chianges ship times to match port time. You will be jumping back and forth on this one.

[mferranti]

You will be informed in advance of all time changes in the daily paper and probably by a card left on the bed by your cabin attendant. Also, all clocks on board will display the correct time.

[jmps]

Thanks Chessbriar!

[mcmarya]

Don't know they are handling it now, but when we cruised a year ago, I believe that we did not change ship's time until after Panama so I know that ship's time and local time were different in Porto Limon, Costa Rica. They did it this way because Panama is on Eastern time and that elminated some confusion. So, the ship was on Central time for Roatan and Cozumel, Eastern time for all other ports. Once you get into daylight saving time, it may work differently depending on whether or not the port's country observes dst.

[jmps]

Thanks for the info on specific ports. Gosh it will be 6AM in Porto Limon when we dock. That is OK with me because we want to see wildlife on the tour and I heard that the earlier the better.

 

I relized that we will switch to DST during the cruise so we will lose on hour on Saturday night and one hour Sunday night going back to Eastern time. This assumes that Cozumel goes to DST which I read that they do. Then when we get back home we are back in Central and get and hour back. :-)

 

Gosh who would have thought that time could be so confusing? This must be how it was before the railroads forced time zones!

[hajekfam]

Celebrity chianges ship times to match port time. You will be jumping back and forth on this one.

 

We have been on Celebrity cruises where they did change ship times to local times and others where we stayed on ships time. There is no definitive answer - it depends on where the ship is sailing (one way cruises crossing time zones will always change, i.e. Ft. Lauderdale to Barcelona, as you arrive in the end port at local time) while round trip (sailing from and returning to the same point)cruises vary. I have not found any consistency in the application of time changes other than with one way cruises.

Most private tour operators know when your ship is docking local time.

[42trvl]

We have been on Celebrity cruises where they did change ship times to local times and others where we stayed on ships time. There is no definitive answer - it depends on where the ship is sailing (one way cruises crossing time zones will always change, i.e. Ft. Lauderdale to Barcelona, as you arrive in the end port at local time) while round trip (sailing from and returning to the same point)cruises vary. I have not found any consistency in the application of time changes other than with one way cruises.

Most private tour operators know when your ship is docking local time.

 

I think the one way explanation makes the most sense. When we cruised the Caribbean on Summit roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale, we never changed to local time. Yet, one way on the Summit from Alaska to Vancouver, we did change to Vancouver time (one hour difference) on the last day.

[birders]

I think the one way explanation makes the most sense. When we cruised the Caribbean on Summit roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale, we never changed to local time. Yet, one way on the Summit from Alaska to Vancouver, we did change to Vancouver time (one hour difference) on the last day.

 

(We were posting about this on another thread...)

 

But when WE cruised the Caribbean on Summit roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale (January '05) we changed to local time. Four Celebrity Caribbean cruises, always changed to local time.

 

Moral of the story: Guess you'll just have to pay attention on board to whatever they announce!

[lisiamc]

There's a real horror story on a different forum about what happens when you think you have the right time and you don't.

 

It's on the Community Guidelines and Message Board Help forum, of all places. The thread is titled Stranded on Roatan: Bad experience, and boy was it ever!:eek:

 

Here's the URL:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=134549

 

After reading that, I will always make sure I'm using ship's time when I go ashore!

 

Lisa

[birders]

After reading that, I will always make sure I'm using ship's time when I go ashore!

 

Lisa

 

Oh - perhaps you misunderstood my statement to mean that WE (individuals) switched to local time AS OPPOSED to ship time?!?

 

By that I mean each time the ship sailed into or out of a time zone, the Celebrity Summit told all her passengers to change clocks. And all the ship clocks in public areas changed as well. The "we" means the Summit - crew and passengers - all switch to local time! That way, your wristwatch always matched the ship (no missing a sailaway) AND a clock anywhere on the island, including the taxi driver's!). Ship time = local time on all our Celebrity cruises.

[hajekfam]

And I have been on Celebrity Caribbean cruises where we have stayed on Ft. Lauderdale (our point of embarkation and disembarkation) time the entire cruise even when crossing time zones. In fact the port and shopping lecturer would tell everyone to make sure their watches were set to ship time and don't rely on asking someone in town what time it is because you might miss the ship.

If ship time will change with the time zones, there is notice put on your pillow as well as being printed in the daily. Always set your time to ship's.

[lisiamc]

Oh - perhaps you misunderstood my statement to mean that WE (individuals) switched to local time AS OPPOSED to ship time?!?

 

By that I mean each time the ship sailed into or out of a time zone, the Celebrity Summit told all her passengers to change clocks. And all the ship clocks in public areas changed as well. The "we" means the Summit - crew and passengers - all switch to local time! That way, your wristwatch always matched the ship (no missing a sailaway) AND a clock anywhere on the island, including the taxi driver's!). Ship time = local time on all our Celebrity cruises.

 

Hi birders,

 

Sorry for the confusion - I've been on some cruises where local time and ship's time were the same, and some where they were different (all on Celebrity). I just meant that after reading that couple's sad story, I am going to double-check that I am safely on ship's time every time I go ashore, and not get confused by local time, whether it's the same as ship's time or different! (I never was much good at telling time anyway!:D )

 

Lisa