Caribbean Princess-time change

[VOLEYMOM]

Can anyone who has been on the Caribbean Princess sailing to the Western Caribbean in the last few weeks tell me if they changed the clocks to match island time or did it stay on Florida time? Trying to book some of our tours and want to make sure of the times.

Thanks,

[Pam in CA]

Princess almost always follows local time. I've never taken a Princess ship that stays on the embarkation port's time if the ship sails to a different time zone.

[paul929207]

Like Pam, we have always found ship time and local time to be the same on Princess

[WEGL81]

Cruised there last week and the ship stayed on ship time. They were very vocal about making sure all passengers knew it as well. The tour operators know this also.

[dfields1814]

Princess stays on local time. But once a couple of years ago they did not change to local time. It was in Mexico - west. They made a big deal about it making sure people knew when to get back on board. But this only happened once a few years ago.

[Restless Feet]

To reinforce the earlier response regarding recent experiences, during the 5 day Western Caribbean cruise ending today, the ship's time was Eastern Time throughout the cruise. This was my first experience with Princess not matching ship's time to local time. It was stressed to the passengers that ship's time was one hour earlier than local time.

[granny49]

We were on the Caribbean Princess 2 weeks ago and they used Eastern Standard Time for the entire cruise. They made many announcements to make everyone aware of it. We did the Western and Eastern Caribbean. It was nice not having to constantly change your watches 1 hour.

[geoherb]

I've been on several Princess cruises where the time did not change to match local time. The only time it caused a complication was in Costa Rica, when our local guide did not realize the ship would be an hour ahead of local time. Most of the time, the local tour operators realize what time ships will be in port.

[pablo222]

Can anyone who has been on the Caribbean Princess sailing to the Western Caribbean in the last few weeks tell me if they changed the clocks to match island time or did it stay on Florida time? Trying to book some of our tours and want to make sure of the times.

Thanks,

 

I have read here so many times that on Princess ship time ALWAYS

matches local time...

 

...that I made a point of saving the relavent patters from Carribbean Princess. For the cruise that ended today, ship time never changed,

and DID NOT match local time in Mexico.

 

I have attached a picture for the 'Always' folks...

[ggprincess2004]

On our August 2014 CB to the western Caribbean the ship remained on ship's time and DID NOT change to local time. There was an hour time difference between ship's time and local time. We are expecting that to be the case on our upcoming CB sailings as well.

 

Yes, this seems to be the exception to the Princess rule of always being on local time.

[IECalCruiser]

It's looks like the answer may be "Princess almost always used to match ship's time with local time." That was true for our 17 Princess cruises. That now appears not to be the case on at least some Caribbean cruises. It can be a bit of a pain to keep changing you watch, but I think it would be a bigger pain to have them not the same. Hopefully this is a Princess experiment that won't last :eek:

 

 

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[caribill]

To reinforce the earlier response regarding recent experiences, during the 5 day Western Caribbean cruise ending today, the ship's time was Eastern Time throughout the cruise. This was my first experience with Princess not matching ship's time to local time. It was stressed to the passengers that ship's time was one hour earlier than local time.

 

They did not stress it well enough.

 

If you were in the Western Caribbean, then ship's time (eastern) would have been one hour later than local time (central).

[pablo222]

That now appears not to be the case on at least some Caribbean cruises. It can be a bit of a pain to keep changing you watch, but I think it would be a bigger pain to have them not the same. Hopefully this is a Princess experiment that won't last

 

Local time and ship's time vary in the bahamas when the US is

on daylight saving time.

 

I remember this from 2010.

[Corfe Mixture]

This thread amazes me as I have a high regard for the typical Princess customer.

 

Most people who travel regularly are quite used to changing our watches to match local time and not being in local time simply confuses us.

 

Indeed a few years back in Cozumel, we got talking to some US folks on the beach, who noticed our accents, about what ships we were all on. In the course of conversation, they announced that they had to leave as they needed to be back by a certain time. When I questioned why they were leaving so early, they announced that they had been instructed not to change their watches from Eastern Standard Time and told not to ask any local people the time. I asked them what cruise line they were on and made a mental note not to use that line as I wondered about the intelligence profile of their typical customer,

 

Even us Europeans are aware that the US, excluding ,Hawaii, has four time zones, and the idea that a cruise ship finds it necessary to tell people not to change their watches gives the impression that the majority of their customers are not used to travelling within the US, let alone abroad.

 

OK we are established Princess customers and know that the majority of the US citizens we meet on board are both well travelled, and interesting conversationalists. However, if I was a potential new customer, who enjoys the experience of meeting new interesting people, I would think twice about booking with a cruise line which gives me the impression that the majority of its clientele had perhaps never been outside the US State they were born in.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Corfe Mixture

[Crzn-Life]

On the Caribbean Princess now. Did the 5 day western Caribbean which ended today. The ship did not change time. Notices in the Patter advising pax of this while in Costa Maya & Cozumel. Staying on for 7 day.

[IECalCruiser]

Local time and ship's time vary in the bahamas when the US is

on daylight saving time.

 

I remember this from 2010.

That's why I posted that in the past Princess almost always had ship's time match local time. On 17 cruises on Princess over 8 years we have never had an exception but they can happen. I feel it is very confusing to need to remember when they differ. If I ever take another Caribbean cruise maybe I will need to pack two watches, one set for ship's time and one set for local time :eek: And then remember which is which :eek:

 

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Edited September 6, 2014 by IECalCruiser

[geoherb]

Ship's time not matching local time is not a recent experiment. I remember it happened to us in 2003 on the Grand Princess on a western Caribbean cruise. The cruise I mentioned earlier where the ship's time was ahead of local time in Costa Rica was a Panama Canal one in 2011.

[Corfe Mixture]

........ maybe I will need to pack two watches, one set for ship's time and one set for local time :eek: And then remember which is which :eek:

 

 

Some of us would need three watches.

 

EST has no significance for me once we leave Port Everglades and, when roaming, my mobile phone automatically changes to the time zone being transmitted by the local telephone company and the home screen displays both local time and UK time.

 

The idea of having to remember that I am living in neither of these zones just seems plain stupid. We are booked on Ocean this Christmas and arrive early. We were considering taking a five day on Caribbean Princess.

 

However, given Princess appear to feel that the clientele this ship attracts will be uncomfortable changing time zones, we have come to the conclusion that this particular ship is probably going to be too down market for our taste.

 

Think we will rent a car instead and drive down to Key West, or maybe stay a few days in St Pete's Beach and drive up to Tarpon Springs (we are flying into Tampa as we had already decided we wanted to drive down the Gulf Coast and through the Everglades).

 

At least I will benefit from the fact that my mobile phone contract includes free calls to US and Europe, but sadly not Canada, when in the US, but not when I am in Mexico.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Corfe Mixture

[ggprincess2004]

Some of us would need three watches.

 

EST has no significance for me once we leave Port Everglades and, when roaming, my mobile phone automatically changes to the time zone being transmitted by the local telephone company and the home screen displays both local time and UK time.

 

The idea of having to remember that I am living in neither of these zones just seems plain stupid. We are booked on Ocean this Christmas and arrive early. We were considering taking a five day on Caribbean Princess.

 

However, given Princess appear to feel that the clientele this ship attracts will be uncomfortable changing time zones, we have come to the conclusion that this particular ship is probably going to be too down market for our taste.

 

Think we will rent a car instead and drive down to Key West, or maybe stay a few days in St Pete's Beach and drive up to Tarpon Springs (we are flying into Tampa as we had already decided we wanted to drive down the Gulf Coast and through the Everglades).

 

At least I will benefit from the fact that my mobile phone contract includes free calls to US and Europe, but sadly not Canada, when in the US, but not when I am in Mexico.

 

I am not sure that the decision to use the original time zone rather than change them for the CB has to do with Princess' conclusion about the ability of the passengers to adapt to the change in time zone. It may be that is it simpler and easier for the crew when it comes to work hours, especially the housekeeping and food service personnel. In addition, CB is doing quite a lot of 4 and 5 day sailings - it might have been a decision of convenience for any number of factors. Those rapid turn-arounds are taxing enough, without factoring in time changes every few days.

 

But if you think that it will be too down market for your taste, it probably would be - self fulfilling prophecies are sure things. I personally would not pass up more days on a cruise.......but Florida has quite a lot to offer, not the least of which is the Ringling Mansion in St. Pete, the Kennedy Space Center, one of the three walled cities in North America (that would be St. Augustine), lots of championship golf courses, excellent beaches...and of course, Disney.

Edited September 6, 2014 by ggprincess2004

[AZJerry]

Cruised there last week and the ship stayed on ship time. They were very vocal about making sure all passengers knew it as well. The tour operators know this also.

 

We must have been on the same cruise. Ship's time did not change to match Grand Cayman or Cozumel. The tour guides were well aware of this and emphasized it often.

[Corfe Mixture]

It may be that is it simpler and easier for the crew when it comes to work hours, especially the housekeeping and food service personnel.

 

At both Cozumel and Costa Maya, departure times are 5pm which means 4pm local time which, in the case or Cozumel means leaving the beach at around 2.45 local time.

 

The bottom line is that it transpires we were looking at five day cruise with two destinations and both destinations having having a 4pm local time departure.

 

No Thank You. Not for us.

 

Your reasoning may be right, but someone needs to be reminded that this is a service industry where the golden rule is: 'customers make pay days possible'.

 

Maybe that's why the cruise I was watching on 13th December is still less than 20% sold with just 3 months to go.

[ltcal94]

I just got off the Caribbean Princess and I can also confirm that we did change time. I have also been on other non-Princess cruises where we did not change our clocks to local time. From my point of view this should really be a non issue for most. If you wear a watch you do not have to change it . If you are using a smartphone, in most cases it will not change time if you have it on air mode or are using it exclusively on the ship. The only time you might be aware of the time difference is if you ask a local or arranged for private tour where they are using local time. However even in this case I only consider ships time to be my time.

 

On our cruise we arrived at 8AM and departed at 6PM (7AM to 5PM) , the Carnival Glory that arrived in Cozumel about 20 minutes before us left at 5PM so I do not feel we were cheated by not keeping switching to local time.

 

 

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[pablo222]

At both Cozumel and Costa Maya, departure times are 5pm which means 4pm local time which, in the case or Cozumel means leaving the beach at around 2.45 local time.

 

It is about 120 miles from Costa Maya to Cozumel.

 

The ship could stay until midnight, and still arrive in Cozumel on time.

 

I don't think the departure time has anything to do with whether

or not the ship is on local time.

[piper28]

I know on our 8/9 cruise on the Caribbean we didn't change time, which kinda surprised me. However, one thing I did find interesting was that the times that were listed in the itinerary beforehand were correct *local* times. Definitely was unusual for us that we didn't change times, but it's not the first time it's happened for us on a Princess cruise (I know we were worried about making a private excursion on St Thomas once, until we realized when we got there that the time hadn't changed on the ship).

[Corfe Mixture]

It is about 120 miles from Costa Maya to Cozumel.

 

The ship could stay until midnight, and still arrive in Cozumel on time.

 

I don't think the departure time has anything to do with whether

or not the ship is on local time.

 

Uhhh!!

 

What has distance got to do with it?

 

So, it is only 120miles and the ship does not need to leave until midnight

BUT

the itinerary says it leaves at 5pm (which will be 4pm local) and that is the relevant information.

 

What do you think I should do when I arrive at the dock at 4.45 and discover the ship has left?

 

Phoning the captain and telling him that Pablo says he did not need to leave until midnight doesn't sound like a viable plan!

Edited September 7, 2014 by Corfe Mixture