Question about time on the Carnival Dream

[blondie99]

For those of you who have recently been on the Carnival Dream, could you tell me how ship time compared to Cozumel time? I'm going on the Dream on Saturday and trying to book a private excursion. I have a choice of 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. Cozumel time, which the place is telling me is Central Standard Time. Obviously 3 p.m. is too late, but I'm wondering if 1 p.m. gives us enough time to get back. The excursion is about 75 minutes with about a 20 minute ride back. People are telling me that ship time is Eastern since it leaves from Orlando, however my agent at Carnival is telling me it's Central Standard Time. Needless to say, I'm confused and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

[Celebrating40]

For those of you who have recently been on the Carnival Dream, could you tell me how ship time compared to Cozumel time? I'm going on the Dream on Saturday and trying to book a private excursion. I have a choice of 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. Cozumel time, which the place is telling me is Central Standard Time. Obviously 3 p.m. is too late, but I'm wondering if 1 p.m. gives us enough time to get back. The excursion is about 75 minutes with about a 20 minute ride back. People are telling me that ship time is Eastern since it leaves from Orlando, however my agent at Carnival is telling me it's Central Standard Time. Needless to say, I'm confused and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

 

From my trip on the Dream, the ship remained on Florida time (EST) and the time in Cozumel was an hour earlier. So, if my excursion ended at 2pm local time, the ship was leaving in an hour at 4pm ship time. Confusing? Yes, sorry not sure how else to explain it. I would not do a 1pm private excursion at all. It would be cutting it too close for my taste. Seeing as it is not a Carnival excursion, they will not hold the ship if you are late. Good luck and enjoy your cruise. I loved the Dream.

[blondie99]

From my trip on the Dream, the ship remained on Florida time (EST) and the time in Cozumel was an hour earlier. So, if my excursion ended at 2pm local time, the ship was leaving in an hour at 4pm ship time. Confusing? Yes, sorry not sure how else to explain it. I would not do a 1pm private excursion at all. It would be cutting it too close for my taste. Seeing as it is not a Carnival excursion, they will not hold the ship if you are late. Good luck and enjoy your cruise. I loved the Dream.

 

We are in Cozumel 10-6p ship time, so getting back at roughly 3:30p Central on the late end would be 4:30p ship time and that would still leave 30 minutes to get in line, right? I've been to this place before when I was on a Norwegian cruise and we made it back in good timing, but that ship did follow local time.

[navybaby1113]

When we were on the Dream, we stayed on Florida time, which is EST.

[sassy1ja]

I'm glad you posted this as I think I was the one telling you we should be in Eastern time and was starting to worry after seeing your post. We too are still debating if we should book something while in Cozumel and worried about the time.

[dallas52]

the ship stays on est, it never changes, you have to be back on ship time.

[blondie99]

Our Carnival agent today said that the ship will be Eastern until we get to the first stop and then everything will run on Central until we get back. So he said the 10 a.m. arrival listed for Cozumel is actually Central time.

[Katie John]

Our Carnival agent today said that the ship will be Eastern until we get to the first stop and then everything will run on Central until we get back. So he said the 10 a.m. arrival listed for Cozumel is actually Central time.

 

I just got off the Dream Western itinerary on Saturday and the ship stayed on Eastern time the entire cruise. Don't listen to the agent, they made several announcements reminding passengers that they were to stay on ships time at all ports.

[Rochmom]

Wow, it's sad that a Carnival agent is giving you such bad information. Carnival ships always keep ship time, set to what ever time zone you depart from. So the above posts are correct, you will always be on EST.

 

Just another tip, which you will probably hear on board. DO NOT USE YOUR CELL PHONE as your clock/watch. Cell phones will automatically reset to whatever is the local time at the nearest cell phone signal tower - so in Cozumel, your phone will change to CST. I had a riot watching my cell phone change time settings every few minutes as we entered/left port!

[GeorgiaMomof4]

I just got off the Dream Western itinerary on Saturday and the ship stayed on Eastern time the entire cruise. Don't listen to the agent, they made several announcements reminding passengers that they were to stay on ships time at all ports.

 

 

 

 

Hi! Since you just finished your cruise can you please tell us if you remember what the times are in the Western ports then? Such as Ship 10 a.m. - Coz is only 9 a.m.; Ship 10 a.m. - Roatan is ??? and so on! I'm going on the Dream - Western in April and have some excursions booked and would like to know what to expect timewise also. I'm sure there are many others that are just as confused as I am!

 

thanks in advance!

[k2excursion]

Hi! Since you just finished your cruise can you please tell us if you remember what the times are in the Western ports then? Such as Ship 10 a.m. - Coz is only 9 a.m.; Ship 10 a.m. - Roatan is ??? and so on! I'm going on the Dream - Western in April and have some excursions booked and would like to know what to expect timewise also. I'm sure there are many others that are just as confused as I am!

 

thanks in advance!

 

For you, it's important to know when your cruise is. That is because of the dreaded Daylight Savings Time. Roatan & Belize do not observe it, and Mexico doesn't change at the same time as us; they start April 3rd. Those factors coming into play will change the time difference. Right now, at this very moment, all 4 of Dream's Western ports are one hour earlier than ship time. So if ship time is 10am, those ports are all 9am. But during Daylight Savings for us (3/13-11/6), Belize & Roatan will be 2 hours earlier: Ship time 10am, Belize & Roatan 8am. Same for those few weeks in Cozumel (3/13-4/2 and 10/30-11/6). Sorry if this is too much information, but I've got to have it all covered. Check out timeanddate dot com for this info anywhere in the world.

 

For the OP, since you're cruising this weekend, ignore that last paragraph. For you, ship time will always be one hour later than your ports' times. I don't know why that agent was telling you what they did. When we cruised the Dream, ship time never changed, even when we had a 2 hour time difference.

[lbradford2]

For those of you with an iPhone, you can turn off the auto update of the clock and set it manually to the ships time. Just a heads up!

 

Settings > General > Date & Time

[GeorgiaMomof4]

K2EXCURSION - Wow - this gets confusing. We are actually sailing on 4/2 and will be in Cozumel on 4/4 I believe. So, if our itinerary says we are supposed to be in Cozumel from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on 4/4 that really means we are there from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cozumel time and that would also apply to Costa Maya - correct? During this same week Belize and Roatan will be 2 hours behind ship time or - arrive in Belize at 8 a.m. and depart at 6 p.m. ship time is really 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. Belize time, correct? I just want to be sure I have this correct as we have some excursions booked not through Carnival and I sure don't want to miss the ship! Thanks in advance for your help!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For you, it's important to know when your cruise is. That is because of the dreaded Daylight Savings Time. Roatan & Belize do not observe it, and Mexico doesn't change at the same time as us; they start April 3rd. Those factors coming into play will change the time difference. Right now, at this very moment, all 4 of Dream's Western ports are one hour earlier than ship time. So if ship time is 10am, those ports are all 9am. But during Daylight Savings for us (3/13-11/6), Belize & Roatan will be 2 hours earlier: Ship time 10am, Belize & Roatan 8am. Same for those few weeks in Cozumel (3/13-4/2 and 10/30-11/6). Sorry if this is too much information, but I've got to have it all covered. Check out timeanddate dot com for this info anywhere in the world.

 

For the OP, since you're cruising this weekend, ignore that last paragraph. For you, ship time will always be one hour later than your ports' times. I don't know why that agent was telling you what they did. When we cruised the Dream, ship time never changed, even when we had a 2 hour time difference.

[blondie99]

We checked with a Carnival supervisor today and she even says the ship will go from Eastern to Central time. We're so confused on who to listen to...lol

[lbradford2]

Listen to the announcements once you're on the ship. They WILL inform you of time changes, when to be back, etc.

[k2excursion]

K2EXCURSION - Wow - this gets confusing. We are actually sailing on 4/2 and will be in Cozumel on 4/4 I believe. So, if our itinerary says we are supposed to be in Cozumel from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on 4/4 that really means we are there from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cozumel time and that would also apply to Costa Maya - correct? During this same week Belize and Roatan will be 2 hours behind ship time or - arrive in Belize at 8 a.m. and depart at 6 p.m. ship time is really 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. Belize time, correct? I just want to be sure I have this correct as we have some excursions booked not through Carnival and I sure don't want to miss the ship! Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Well, I'm just as confused as blondie99 now. All reports from everyone have said that Carnival ships do not switch times when crossing time zones (except with Transatlantic, Hawaii, and possibly repositioning cruises). But now she's being told that they do.:confused::confused::confused: Maybe they've switched how they do it, but I haven't heard any reports from recent cruisers saying that they do. But to answer your questions, Costa Maya and Cozumel will work the same. Since they will make the Daylight Savings switch before you arrive, they will then be one hour earlier than Florida time. I think I confused you with Roatan & Belize. For us, since ship time stayed on Florida time, if ship time was 10am-6pm, Roatan and Belize time was 8am-4pm. They were 2 hours earlier than ship time. If Carnival does switch to Central Time on you during the cruise, the difference will be one hour (ship time-10am, Roatan and Belize time-9am). Once again, this is because Belize and Roatan do not observe Daylight Savings Time.

 

I totally understand your concerns of possibly missing your excursions (or having an extra hour wasted) because of the time differences. Best thing to do is to contact who you booked with ahead of time and inform them of these possibilities. People who run independent excursions in Roatan are usually very well organized, and will probably be completely aware of any time differences and make adjustments. With Belize, I would want to take extra steps to make sure they understand.

[5waldos]

Wow, it's sad that a Carnival agent is giving you such bad information. Carnival ships always keep ship time, set to what ever time zone you depart from. So the above posts are correct, you will always be on EST.

 

Actually, some ships change times. They announce it and put it in the Fun Times. So you can't assume that the times won't change. Depends on the ship, the voyage, and apparently, the Captain. But they can and do change. Don't know about the Dream- from what I am reading here it stays on EST.

[5waldos]

And yes- it gets even more fun when you are cruising during the time changes. Mexico changes at a different time than the US now does. One other thing- atomic watches can sometimes go nuts onboard ship. Have no idea why but one night my absolutely accurate watch showed 5:30am when it was about 12:30am- my son nearly got in REALLY BIG TROUBLE. but I was not alone- several people I spoke with who had atomic watches had the same trouble.