What Can Happen When you Have a Disregard for Time on a Cruise Ship

[chieft26]

When I first read that post, I wrongly assumed that it was their first cruise. I could see where first-time cruisers could make that kind of mistake. Then, when I got to the part where she said it was her sixth, I felt absolutely no sympathy for their situation. I've been around folks before who have no concept of time, nor do they care, and when they miss their bus, their planes, their appointments, etc., then it's always somebody's else's fault. I know this sounds bad, but all I have to say in this particular case is "would you like some cheese with your whine"?

[BND]

They really gave themselves very little time even if they knew the correct time.

 

Yes, everyone makes mistakes, but they compounded their own. Are they looking for sympathy? The mistakes they made sounded like they expected everyone to take care of them and be responsible for them. I just dont' get posting complaints like that about something that's almost entirely in their control. Everything they're complaining about was something they had some control over and what happened after they missed the ship happened because they missed it and weren't prepared for that possibility. I've seen many posts about taking copies of passports and bc's with you when you leave the ship. The copy alone is enough to save yourself a lot of headaches.

[ppeckham]

At a number of ports we've razzed people who are coming back late that the ship was leaving. I bet she was one of those we've hollered at from our balcony.

 

You should always plan to be back to the ship at least 30 minutes before leaving port. That way you don't need to worry about the little delays.

 

Sounds like complete irresponsibility on their part.

[gatorclaw]

This is a really great story. What's interesting is that these 'victims' have never posted anything else. That leads me to conclude one of a few things:

 

1- They are embarrased and now recognize they are fully responsible. So they quietly went away.

 

2- They are so angry at people's obvious lack of compassion and eagerness to jump on anyone without giving full consideration to their circumstances. So in anger they never responded to others.

 

3- it was an elaborate lie to get a fun thread going. I mean it's so easy to believe their story but blast their faulty logic, making an excellent recipe for an epic thread.

[zachnlucy]

As far as the ship changing time according to the time zones they are traveling through, I believe it depends on the cruise line. We kept ship time (which was local time in NOLA) on the Carnival Conquest. On the NCL Sun, ship time stayed with the time zone we were traveling in. I don't have a clue as to what RCCL does, but I will before I disembark at any port.

[vijoge]

Has anyone ever been on a cruise where the ship changes the time to reflect local time? I never have..

 

Nope. The ships we've been on kept the same time throughout the cruise.

[ronrythm]

 

I also don't understand, why another ship of the same cruise line (NCL Dream), didn't go out of their way to help these paxs out. They could have verified cabin numbers, identification, etc. and helped to make arrangements for these people to, at least, get to their port of embarkation ! :(

 

The Dream was getting to ready to sail itself at that point. They can't hold the ship to help, anymore than the Spirit can. They cannot allow the people to embark on the Dream or the Dream will be in violation of the post 9/11 security rules and the ship could be refused entry to the US (remember, manifest listing all passengers have to be turned in 72 hours before sailing FROM the US now).

[deborahjo]

I have to laugh at this. When we went to Roaton in November we booked our own tour and the guide knew exactly what time our ship left. There was no time issue. I was thankful for this. It was a big help because it let us spend as much time on the island as we could.

 

If you walk off a ship it is your responsability to get back not the ship or anyone you hire. For anyone to think NCL is responsable is out of their minds. I just think these people want a free cruise to make up for the one they messed up.

 

No sorrys here.

[pcruz4ever]

The first two times I cruised, back in the early 80's, on Home Lines, we changed time. Of course, both cruises were NY to Bermuda and back, so there weren't multiple changes.

 

The other 8 cruises I've been on we had multiple ports of call, and always kept ship's time (which was our port of departure time).

 

I have one question for the couple who posted the original thread. Since they were such "experienced" cruisers, did they skip the orientation talks always given before the first port of call, where invariably the cruise director explains that ship time remains constant to avoid confusion?

[kujobie]

I think the story is made up. As for ship time vs. local time, all of my cruises have stayed on the time zone of the port of embarkation. I wish that it was standard practice across the fleet to consistently do it one way or the other. It seems that it depends on the ship or the mood of the captain or something and that makes it hard to plan activities in advance.

[booboo4031]

When I first read that story, my first reaction was no sympathy here and I was curious to see what reaction the rest of the seasoned cruisers would have. And my first reaction hasn't changed. If in fact this was their 6th cruise, evidently their common sense failed to make the ship at the point of embarkation;)

[Ellya]

Well, I think they made a big mistake. However, I have had the experience of actually arriving at the airport a full hour ahead of when I had intended to due to my own confusion over time zone changes (thank goodness it wasn't the other way!). So, stuff like that does happen, even to the best of us.

 

I didn't read it that they weren't accepting any responsibility for that part, just that it happened that way. I certainly do think that NCL could have been more helpful to them since there was a ship in port, in making sure their documents were sent as promised, and securing their personal belongings. They made an already horrible situation worse instead of better.

 

I hope that their story was posted, at least in part, as a cautionary tale rather than just to complain. That is how I took it anyway.

[CanTex]

On ships that are returning to the port of embarkation, my experience (on multiple lines) is that the ship's time stays on the embarkation port's time. In other cases, e.g. a repositioning cruise embarking and debarking from different ports and crossing multiple time zones, the clocks get moved over the duration of the cruise to the debarkation port's time. Last fall on Galaxy we crossed two times zones on a repos. cruise plus Daylight Saving's time ended during the cruise, so we adjusted time 3 times...

[momof4boys]

The OP must be a "troll", according to my teenage son who is now reading CC! He keeps warning me to be careful!! Says some just like to write things to get others going. :rolleyes:

[kujobie]

Definitely a troll. I have a teenage son/internet wizard, too!

[oceantravel]

As far as the ship changing time according to the time zones they are traveling through, I believe it depends on the cruise line. We kept ship time (which was local time in NOLA) on the Carnival Conquest.

 

When we were on the Conquest last March ship time changed to local time of every port. Just goes to show why this matter is so confusing. As someone else said all cruise ships should be the same. It appears that even individual cruise ships change what they do. See what happens when you give the Captain too much power...LOL!

[bonniemari]

When we travel I always change my watch to the local time-my DH never does. Luckily he is smart and listens to me about what time we have to be where. And I always get us to the airport on time. If I depended on him well we would be late/early everywhere we went.

 

In 16 cruises i can only remember changing my watch a couple of times once to the Southern Caribbean and once in Canada. On our 2 Conquest cruises we never changed time.

[mohavemommy]

The original thread and story have been removed. Guess it was getting too heated. :(

[jcrandle]

As far as the ship changing time according to the time zones they are traveling through, I believe it depends on the cruise line. We kept ship time (which was local time in NOLA) on the Carnival Conquest. On the NCL Sun, ship time stayed with the time zone we were traveling in. I don't have a clue as to what RCCL does, but I will before I disembark at any port.

Don't know when you sailed on the Conquest, but from the Carnival Capers from our recent Conquest sailing (1/16/2005) we set the clocks forward one hour on Monday evening, and then back Thursday evening.

[Kathy555]

When I was on the Disney Magic 4 years or so ago they would tell us to set our watches foward or back according to the time zone we were in. This made it a little confusing when we were on Carnival so we were extra careful to make sure what time to get back.:)

[Fran0521]

Has anyone ever been on a cruise where the ship changes the time to reflect local time? I never have.

 

 

We were on the Norwegian Sun this past November, our ports were GC followed by Roatan, Belize and Cozumel. We were told thru several announcements that we would be following local time (port of call time) It was mentioned several times during the evening after the shows and on the PA system, it was also published in the Free Style Daily in big bold letters.