Mariner Ship time versus island time

[ccrn]

I am going on the Mariner in June, and keep getting conflicting stories. I was under the understanding that the Mariner stays on EST, which is an hour ahead of Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel time. My family insists that the ship corrects their time to island time. I need to know for sure, as I have excursions booked privately off of the ship. If anyone has been on the Mariner recently, please let me know?

Thanks

Patty

[42trvl]

We just got off the Mariner on 5/1 - Western Caribbean. The ship stayed on Eastern Time (Daylight Savings). We never changed clocks.

[ccrn]

So the islands will be an hour earlier than ship time. Thanks for letting me know for sure

[later]

The ship is always on EST but not all islands will be an hour different. Some do not have daylight savings time. Check on the port board for the specific ports in question. They should be able to give you exact information related to the time zones for each port.

[42trvl]

You're welcome, ccrn. In this case, if you are traveling during our Daylight Savings Time, then each of those stops will be an hour behind ship's time. It's during the winter (when we are on Standard time) that some places may be the same time as us. Here's an interesting website I found that gives the current time for different countries: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_SL.aspx.

 

Just keep in mind that even with the extra hour, I wouldn't recommend cutting it too close. After arrival, it still takes a little time for the ship to "clear." Then if you are tendering, that can add on some time - in Grand Cayman we had to sit on the tender waiting for 25 minutes for it to fill up before we finally left. All in all though, we found the Mariner very prompt and efficient.

[ccrn]

We are traveling next month. We can't wait. This will be our kids first cruise, and they are so excited.

The earliest thing we have booked is GC. We are supposed to meet between 8:30-9:00 GC time. We dock at 8AM, so this should be 7 AM GC time, which gives us a little more leeway. We are going to try and get on one of the earliest tenders though. Thanks for the info. This ship will be thenewest and biggest I have ever been on. It will make the Tahatiaan Princess look like a toy, that I was on last year.

[42trvl]

ccrn - your timing in Grand Cayman should be fine. Not sure of your kids ages, but ours are 12 & 10, and had a great time on the Mariner. Also, the ship is in really nice condition. Every now and then, the buffet area got a bit too crowded for my taste, but otherwise, the ship is so large with so much to do, that we realy enjoyed ourselves. And, ironically, it really didn't seem that large when you were actually on it.

 

Have fun!:)

[3redheads]

We're doing a tour outside of the cruise line. Tell me if I'm right in figuring this out :eek:

 

 

Tour time (Cozumel time) 12:15pm

Ship time 1:15pm, if using ship time and our watches, be at pickup point by 1:15pm

 

If tour is 4 hours long, it will end at 4:15pm island time and 5:15pm ship time. Ship leaves at 7pm.

 

That leaves us 1 hour and 45 minutes leeway.

 

This is the same company the cruise line uses, but the cruise line has a minimum age of 12; whereas, the tour company has minimum age of 6 yrs old. That's why we booked directly with them.

 

This can be so confusing!

Kim

[worldsbestcandles]

This is an interesting thread.... I am doing a repo cruise from Hawaii to Ensenada/San Diego in October. I have been told that we are on Hawaii time within the Hawaiian islands (all 6 hrs earlier than EST), but then when we start our 5 days at sea we lose an hour everyday to make adjusting easier when we dock in Ensenada. Granted, we aren't getting off the ship at all, but I wouldn't want to miss anythign like the Quest :p due to being off time... I wonder if any other sailings alter time on board?

[42trvl]

3redheads - you're right with your calculations. I found it easiest to just keep our own watches on "ship" time, and then just deduct the hour for local time. Figured that not missing the ship was the top priority...Although, it was interesting that if we had our cell phones with us, they adjusted to the local time, so you had to be careful not to go by that.

 

worldsbest - different cruises are different. I think that when you start and end in different places/time zones, they will change the ship times as you go. We're doint Europe this summer, going through 3 or 4 time zones - between that and the jet lag, I anticipate some confusion and difficulties. At least for you the eastward travel makes staying up at night easier.

[PVDCruiser]

You're welcome, ccrn. In this case, if you are traveling during our Daylight Savings Time, then each of those stops will be an hour behind ship's time. It's during the winter (when we are on Standard time) that some places may be the same time as us. Here's an interesting website I found that gives the current time for different countries: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_SL.aspx.

 

Just keep in mind that even with the extra hour, I wouldn't recommend cutting it too close. After arrival, it still takes a little time for the ship to "clear." Then if you are tendering, that can add on some time - in Grand Cayman we had to sit on the tender waiting for 25 minutes for it to fill up before we finally left. All in all though, we found the Mariner very prompt and efficient.

 

:confused: :confused:

 

Isn't Saint Maarten on AST during the summer? Then the ship and island time would be the same because the ship is on EDT.

[42trvl]

:confused: :confused:

 

Isn't Saint Maarten on AST during the summer? Then the ship and island time would be the same because the ship is on EDT.

 

The OP is going on a Western Caribbean cruise. St. Maarten should not be one of her stops.

[PVDCruiser]

The OP is going on a Western Caribbean cruise. St. Maarten should not be one of her stops.

 

Sorry - thanks for the correction! :)

[42trvl]

dandude - sounds like you might be going on Eastern Caribbean cruise...? If so, have fun - we're still looking to do that itinerary.