Ship's Time vs Local Port Time

[ProgRockCruiser]

I am pretty darned sure I read somewhere on Carnival's website what their general policy was regarding Ship's Time vs the local time at whatever port you may be in: that Ship's time generally stays with the same time zone as the originating port for the entire cruise.  Some exceptions may have been noted, like West Coast <-> Hawaii.

 

But I cannot find that info anywhere on Carnival's site, using their website's search engine and also using external ones like Google.  The only thing I have found are their "blogs" where cruisers say "make sure you stay on Ship's Time while at Port!".

 

My queries arise as a result of an upcoming cruise to Bermuda - just trying to figure out if the ship will switch to local time or not, since it is an overnight stay.

 

So, does anyone have a link to Carnival's official policy, to make up for my lack of Google-Fu today?

[Jamman54]

10 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

I am pretty darned sure I read somewhere on Carnival's website what their general policy was regarding Ship's Time vs the local time at whatever port you may be in: that Ship's time generally stays with the same time zone as the originating port for the entire cruise.  Some exceptions may have been noted, like West Coast <-> Hawaii.

 

But I cannot find that info anywhere on Carnival's site, using their website's search engine and also using external ones like Google.  The only thing I have found are their "blogs" where cruisers say "make sure you stay on Ship's Time while at Port!".

 

My queries arise as a result of an upcoming cruise to Bermuda - just trying to figure out if the ship will switch to local time or not, since it is an overnight stay.

 

So, does anyone have a link to Carnival's official policy, to make up for my lack of Google-Fu today?

 

On our cruise to Bermuda on the Pride last October the ship did adjust to Bermuda (Atlantic), time. One hour difference. 😎

[ProgRockCruiser]

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

 

On our cruise to Bermuda on the Pride last October the ship did adjust to Bermuda (Atlantic), time. One hour difference. 😎

 

OK, good to know!  The official itinerary is 4pm to 4pm, but if that was ship's time =/= local time, then it could have meant 5pm to 5pm, locally.

 

Still not long enough to do anything useful either day.  Why couldn't they go just a little faster and get there at 9am, depart at 8pm next day, or something?  I'd be OK skipping Grand Turk for an extra day in Bermuda!

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

You will be notified the evening before to change the time. Ships time is whatever port you are in. Check a clock usually at a stairway or just ask. The time on the TV in you room may not be correct. Do not go by that. When in Bermuda it saw not correct.

[martinm]

I confirm ships time w/ a crew member on my way out.
I wear a watch and do NOT allow my phone to keep time.

 

 

[crewsweeper]

29 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

You will be notified the evening before to change the time. Ships time is whatever port you are in. Check a clock usually at a stairway or just ask. The time on the TV in you room may not be correct. Do not go by that.

That may be true in Bermuda and Hawaii type cruises, but in the Caribbean, ship time is always the same time as the port of departure,  Thus ships debarking out of East Coast and Florida ports are always on Eastern time. Ship out of the Gulf ports are always on Central time.  Most ports in the Caribbean do not observe daylight savings time.  Bermuda does observe daylight savings time thus it's time is always +1 hour to Eastern time.  Cozumel and Costa Maya are on Eastern standard time all year round, by Mexican law for Quintana Roo.

 

The ship time and port times are listed on the cover of the Fun Times in your cabin the night before.

Edited June 20, 2019 by crewsweeper

[Elaine5715]

There is always a big sign regarding time by the exit.

[JaniceB]

Use a watch with ship time because phone will adjust to local time if you use it and won't go back to ship time when you return to ship.

[ProgRockCruiser]

For those folks reminding me that the ship's time is available on signs, TV, and to make sure I wear a watch, etc - that is good info, but not what I want to know "now".  Although an hour is not a big difference, it means possible subtle or not-so subtle changes to plans regarding catching the sunset at the Dockyard area and which ferry to take to/from Hamilton.  And I'd like to suss that all out now, rather than react at the last minute.

 

Yeah, I will make sure I haven't assumed the wrong thing as we get off the ship, and I will check every useful source at that time, so that advice is still appreciated.

[wo5m]

On our last 7 day Alaskan cruise they changed times 4 times. Twice going up and twice coming back. The only other cruise were we had to change time was on a 14 day repositioning cruise. The time change was mid-cruise and it was the local time at the new home port. 

[purplephenom]

5 minutes ago, JaniceB said:

Use a watch with ship time because phone will adjust to local time if you use it and won't go back to ship time when you return to ship.

 

If you'd like to use your phone, just turn off automatic time zone updates, and it won't change. I do this because I like to use my phone as an alarm, but I also take it in port with me, just in case.  I know that's not what the OP is after, just thought i'd share, if you weren't sure. 

[3smithboys]

This is actually a good reminder to get a battery put in one of our old watches that we don’t use anymore and throw it into our bag to take with us. We all have Apple Watch’s and Smart Phones.... We didn’t have Apple Watches on our last cruise, so I’m not sure if they switch to local time like iPhones do. I will like having a good old watch as a back up! 

[ishap]

3 minutes ago, 3smithboys said:

This is actually a good reminder to get a battery put in one of our old watches that we don’t use anymore and throw it into our bag to take with us. We all have Apple Watch’s and Smart Phones.... We didn’t have Apple Watches on our last cruise, so I’m not sure if they switch to local time like iPhones do. I will like having a good old watch as a back up! 

 

I have a cheap $5 waterproof watch that I just use for cruises.  My Apple watch goes in the safe and typcially I don't even take my phone.  

[ishap]

2 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

 

OK, good to know!  The official itinerary is 4pm to 4pm, but if that was ship's time =/= local time, then it could have meant 5pm to 5pm, locally.

 

Still not long enough to do anything useful either day.  Why couldn't they go just a little faster and get there at 9am, depart at 8pm next day, or something?  I'd be OK skipping Grand Turk for an extra day in Bermuda!

 

That would suck for Bermuda.  I plan on doing a Bermuda cruise sometime but will probably take the one out of Baltimore that docks in Bermuda on day 3 at 8am and does leave until 5pm on day 5.  Plenty of time to see the island.

[Garth2]

2 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

 

OK, good to know!  The official itinerary is 4pm to 4pm, but if that was ship's time =/= local time, then it could have meant 5pm to 5pm, locally.

 

Still not long enough to do anything useful either day.  Why couldn't they go just a little faster and get there at 9am, depart at 8pm next day, or something?  I'd be OK skipping Grand Turk for an extra day in Bermuda!

 

Carnival also has some cruises which stay in Bermuda for 2 nights.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Last year we did Bermuda on the Carnival Conquest. It was a Halloween Cruise. Arrived 8:30 AM on Oct. 30th and departed 4:00 PM on the 31st

[crewsweeper]

1 hour ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

For those folks reminding me that the ship's time is available on signs, TV, and to make sure I wear a watch, etc - that is good info, but not what I want to know "now".  Although an hour is not a big difference, it means possible subtle or not-so subtle changes to plans regarding catching the sunset at the Dockyard area and which ferry to take to/from Hamilton.  And I'd like to suss that all out now, rather than react at the last minute.

 

Yeah, I will make sure I haven't assumed the wrong thing as we get off the ship, and I will check every useful source at that time, so that advice is still appreciated.

Somewhere on line there is posted sunset times for Bermuda for the entire year.  Somewhere on line there is posted the Hamilton Ferry times.   These are most likely posted in Bermuda time( -3 UTC for daylight savings, -4UT for standard).  Google or DuckDuckGo are your friends.  Therefore you can suss out your plans and be ready for any change that may occur, i.e,, ship changing time or not.

[maryred]

Here's what I know about how Carnival handles time changes and a good portion of it comes from a conversation with E/CD that has "defected" to work on RCI. On closed loop cruises Carnival will change the ship's time to local time if and only if more than 50% of the total cruise's port of call time is in that other time zone and there needs to be at least 36 hours between when the time change can occur (during an overnight) and arriving at the port of call and continuing to the next port of call (in a different time zone) or returning to homeport to have time for passengers to adjust for it. If all the conditions can not be met they will not adjust ship's time to local time.

So in the case of a ship doing a 5, 6, or 7 day cruise with Bermuda being the only port the ship docks at for 36-54 hours, the time change will usually be announced on embarkation night by the Maitre D, the CD at shows, and comedy club host(ess) as well as noted as part of your printed FunTimes. So set your watch or other time piece ahead by an hour. For the return the night that you depart from the Royal Dockyard you will be reminded to turn you clocks and such back and hour in anticipation of docking at the homeport some 36-48 hours later. For the quick getaway 4 day or less cruises it's rare to do the time change, but it could happen depending on sail away and return docking times to the home port.

But in other cases where Bermuda is just a stop for less than 30 hours it will vary as to if they adjust to Atlantic time. It really depends on how many seadays you will have between your ports and what time zones the previous and upcoming ports are on. So say a Journey's cruise leaves from Charleston with stops in San Juan, Amber Cove, and Bermuda: there is a very good chance as all 3 ports are in the Atlantic Time Zone that there will be a time change (just be careful though Amber Cove does not observe daylight savings time so if an adjustment is made during the summer ship's time there will not be local time). Now using the same home port but instead the ship is going to Bermuda first then 2 ports in the Bahamas, it's less likely because the majority of ports are in the Eastern time zone. Again it will depend on the amount of hours between ports so it is always a possibility.

On open jaw type cruises such as a Transatlantic or repositioning cruise time changes for ports of call will really depend on what time zones your departure and arrival ports are in, and where along the voyage that the stop in Bermuda happens.

[ProgRockCruiser]

3 hours ago, Garth2 said:

 

Carnival also has some cruises which stay in Bermuda for 2 nights.

 

Yeah, but none out of Port Canaveral, which is "just down the road" for us.  Driving to a nearby port is a fantastic convenience...

[coevan]

5 hours ago, ishap said:

 

I have a cheap $5 waterproof watch that I just use for cruises.  My Apple watch goes in the safe and typcially I don't even take my phone.  

 

 

You haven't used the Hub App, it's awesome. 

[ishap]

11 hours ago, coevan said:

 

 

You haven't used the Hub App, it's awesome. 

 

I have when it first came out, but I didn't like carrying my cell phone with me around the ship, so I typically just carry a copy of the fun times.  I may check it out on this next cruise though.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

23 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

That may be true in Bermuda and Hawaii type cruises, but in the Caribbean, ship time is always the same time as the port of departure,  Thus ships debarking out of East Coast and Florida ports are always on Eastern time. Ship out of the Gulf ports are always on Central time.  Most ports in the Caribbean do not observe daylight savings time.  Bermuda does observe daylight savings time thus it's time is always +1 hour to Eastern time.  Cozumel and Costa Maya are on Eastern standard time all year round, by Mexican law for Quintana Roo.

 

The ship time and port times are listed on the cover of the Fun Times in your cabin the night before.

If the ships next port is in a different time zone, they will change the ships time to match the port. Currently a ship leaving lets say Fort Lauderdale will be on daylight savings time. Not est. If the ship is going to a port that does not recognize dst. The ships clock will reflect that. You will be notified. That is to prevent confusion when going ashore and the time you must return to the ship. Shore time is ships time.

[crewsweeper]

18 hours ago, maryred said:

Here's what I know about how Carnival handles time changes and a good portion of it comes from a conversation with E/CD that has "defected" to work on RCI. On closed loop cruises Carnival will change the ship's time to local time if and only if more than 50% of the total cruise's port of call time is in that other time zone and there needs to be at least 36 hours between when the time change can occur (during an overnight) and arriving at the port of call and continuing to the next port of call (in a different time zone) or returning to homeport to have time for passengers to adjust for it. If all the conditions can not be met they will not adjust ship's time to local time.

So in the case of a ship doing a 5, 6, or 7 day cruise with Bermuda being the only port the ship docks at for 36-54 hours, the time change will usually be announced on embarkation night by the Maitre D, the CD at shows, and comedy club host(ess) as well as noted as part of your printed FunTimes. So set your watch or other time piece ahead by an hour. For the return the night that you depart from the Royal Dockyard you will be reminded to turn you clocks and such back and hour in anticipation of docking at the homeport some 36-48 hours later. For the quick getaway 4 day or less cruises it's rare to do the time change, but it could happen depending on sail away and return docking times to the home port.

But in other cases where Bermuda is just a stop for less than 30 hours it will vary as to if they adjust to Atlantic time. It really depends on how many seadays you will have between your ports and what time zones the previous and upcoming ports are on. So say a Journey's cruise leaves from Charleston with stops in San Juan, Amber Cove, and Bermuda: there is a very good chance as all 3 ports are in the Atlantic Time Zone that there will be a time change (just be careful though Amber Cove does not observe daylight savings time so if an adjustment is made during the summer ship's time there will not be local time). Now using the same home port but instead the ship is going to Bermuda first then 2 ports in the Bahamas, it's less likely because the majority of ports are in the Eastern time zone. Again it will depend on the amount of hours between ports so it is always a possibility.

On open jaw type cruises such as a Transatlantic or repositioning cruise time changes for ports of call will really depend on what time zones your departure and arrival ports are in, and where along the voyage that the stop in Bermuda happens.

 

5 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

If the ships next port is in a different time zone, they will change the ships time to match the port. Currently a ship leaving lets say Fort Lauderdale will be on daylight savings time. Not est. If the ship is going to a port that does not recognize dst. The ships clock will reflect that. You will be notified. That is to prevent confusion when going ashore and the time you must return to the ship. Shore time is ships time.

 NOT TRUE!!!!  See maryred's post above.  We've cruise all the time during Daylight Saving Times from East Coast ports to ports not observing DST.  Ship time always stayed on EDT. 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

2 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

 

 NOT TRUE!!!!  See maryred's post above.  We've cruise all the time during Daylight Saving Times from East Coast ports to ports not observing DST.  Ship time always stayed on EDT. 

Fine. I am not going to argue. All of our 70 cruises have been to all the Eastern ports. Guess we have no idea what the time was on the ship. When we cruise tomorrow out of Fort Lauderdale the ships time will be the same.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

14 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

 

 NOT TRUE!!!!  See maryred's post above.  We've cruise all the time during Daylight Saving Times from East Coast ports to ports not observing DST.  Ship time always stayed on EDT. 

Looks like we are both correct. it depends on the cruise line.

Most ships adhere to the time zone they are in and clocks are set forward or back to adhere to local time. Passengers are also advised to change their watches to the 'correct' time—there is usually a reminder card on your pillow before you go to bed. However, not all ships do that, particularly in the Caribbean! Some ships stay on "ship" time, which can be different from "island" time.