Time

[TexasHikers]

We are on the January 4-January 28, 2025 Baja Peninisula and Circle of Hawaii cruise.  In trying to schedule excursions, etc., does the ship stay on San Diego time or do we change time every time we change time zones?

We are in Cabo from 12:00 - 6:00 p.m..  Is that the Cabo time or the San Diego time?

I know this is a crazy question, but on a recent cruise we stayed on what they called "ship time" which was the time when we embarked or CST throughout the cruise.

I thought there are so many of you who have taken this cruise in the past, you would know.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[CruiserBruce]

The ship will switch to local time.

[Roz]

Every HAL cruise I've taken, we've switched to whatever is the local time.

[Jacqueet]

Ship's time will change with time zones. The TV always has ship's time displayed and you will get a notice in your daily mail.

 

[TexasHikers]

Thanks everyone!

[Crew News]

Your Room Steward will also place a notification card on your bed the night before any pending time change.

[NCTribeFan]

I'm also on that sailing.  Was just on the Hawaii portion but cancelled and rebooked the 24 nights since I've never been to the Mexican ports.  I need to have a look at excursions.  I have 4 sailings between now and next January and haven't planned anything for any of them. I'm now in the middle of tax season with very little free time and even less brain power.  I'll just pick something to lock in using my HIA.  I was disappointed to see the short hours at Cabo, since I've never seen it.

 

What I found interesting was on the Rotterdam 150th Anniversary TA last April, we "lost" our hours at noon on our eastbound crossing.  It would be 11:59 am and suddenly it was 1:00 pm.  I've never experienced changing time in the middle of the day.

[iflyrc5]

1 hour ago, NCTribeFan said:

I'm also on that sailing.  Was just on the Hawaii portion but cancelled and rebooked the 24 nights since I've never been to the Mexican ports.  I need to have a look at excursions.  I have 4 sailings between now and next January and haven't planned anything for any of them. I'm now in the middle of tax season with very little free time and even less brain power.  I'll just pick something to lock in using my HIA.  I was disappointed to see the short hours at Cabo, since I've never seen it.

 

What I found interesting was on the Rotterdam 150th Anniversary TA last April, we "lost" our hours at noon on our eastbound crossing.  It would be 11:59 am and suddenly it was 1:00 pm.  I've never experienced changing time in the middle of the day.

They do that some cruises so the crew does not lose an hour of sleep for several nights in a row.

[rafinmd]

33 minutes ago, iflyrc5 said:

They do that some cruises so the crew does not lose an hour of sleep for several nights in a row.

On my Rotterdam VI transatlantic in 2011 there was a day or 2 where they changed the closks at both noon and 2AM creating a couple of very short days but keeping the relationship between day and night somewhat in the right ratio.

 

I think there has been a time or two where they have not moved to local time under very exceptional circumstances, such as:

 

A half hour time change rarely

A port where there is very little opportunity to look at the time while in port

And always where you look at local time you will be back on the ship early rather than late.  It never happens at popular ports.

 

Roy

[Heidi13]

6 hours ago, TexasHikers said:

We are on the January 4-January 28, 2025 Baja Peninisula and Circle of Hawaii cruise.  In trying to schedule excursions, etc., does the ship stay on San Diego time or do we change time every time we change time zones?

We are in Cabo from 12:00 - 6:00 p.m..  Is that the Cabo time or the San Diego time?

I know this is a crazy question, but on a recent cruise we stayed on what they called "ship time" which was the time when we embarked or CST throughout the cruise.

I thought there are so many of you who have taken this cruise in the past, you would know.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Crossing an ocean, the Master will adjust the ship's cloxs, so as to maintain Meridian Altitude (sun at the highest point) reasonably close to Noon. Although they no longer do sights, I certainly hope this tradition is maintained.

 

Cloxs can be moved either 1/2hr or 1 hr, at the Master's discretion, with the ship arriving in each port consistent with local time.

 

I am aware that some cruise lines have started the practice of not changing cloxs, but in 40 yrs at sea, I have never visited a single port and had ship time differ from shore time. In fact, that type of error would be hazardous to the Navigator's career prospects.

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

What I found interesting was on the Rotterdam 150th Anniversary TA last April, we "lost" our hours at noon on our eastbound crossing.  It would be 11:59 am and suddenly it was 1:00 pm.  I've never experienced changing time in the middle of the day.

 

On cruise ships, the vast majority of the Officers & Crew are day workers that get most hours of rest at night. When heading Eastbound and cloxs move ahead, changing them at Noon makes it significantly easier to manage the crews hours of rest, as mandated by ILO, in the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, as amended.

 

For watchkeepers, 1 hr cloxs is split across the 3 watches, so when steaming East, each watch works 20 min less, so they get a small benefit from the reduction in hours of rest.

[Latkebabka]

Your devices - phone, watch, pad - will also change to whatever the local time is. At least they do on Apple. 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

I am aware that some cruise lines have started the practice of not changing cloxs, but in 40 yrs at sea, I have never visited a single port and had ship time differ from shore time. In fact, that type of error would be hazardous to the Navigator's career prospects.

Just returned a couple of weeks ago from an RCI cruise out of Fort Lauderdale that included Aruba, Curaçao and Haiti. The ship remained on EST throughout the cruise, with many reminders to passengers that the all aboard time was based on ship's time, not local time. This was our first - and hopefully last - experience with this approach to setting the time. 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Latkebabka said:

Your devices - phone, watch, pad - will also change to whatever the local time is. At least they do on Apple. 

You can change your settings to allow only manual settings of the time. I did that with my various Apple devices for our RCI Southern Caribbean cruise and had no trouble. I then reverted to automatic mode at the end of the cruise. 

[Heidi13]

2 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Just returned a couple of weeks ago from an RCI cruise out of Fort Lauderdale that included Aruba, Curaçao and Haiti. The ship remained on EST throughout the cruise, with many reminders to passengers that the all aboard time was based on ship's time, not local time. This was our first - and hopefully last - experience with this approach to setting the time. 

 

I just can't imagine having all pax using a different time from the shore. From a risk management perspective it is not necessary. Yes, crew hours of rest requirement are stricter now, but changing cloxs in the afternoon is an excellent tool, to help manage hours of rest for the majority of the crew.

 

Fortunately, I have never had that experience.

[dobiemom]

I think being on airplane mode prevents the phone/watch from updating. So I do the same thing as others have mentioned: When on a cruise I turn OFF the automatic time on my phone and set it manually, changing it when necessary. Then I KNOW I’m on ship time.

[oakridger]

4 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I just can't imagine having all pax using a different time from the shore. From a risk management perspective it is not necessary. 

 

I don't understand why some cruise lines do this!  RCI and Carnival I have heard about.  Do they think the passengers can't figure out how to change their clocks or something?  It just seems so confusing!

 

@Heidi13 do you know what those cruise lines' reasons are for not changing the clocks?

 

~Nancy

[Heidi13]

7 hours ago, oakridger said:

 

I don't understand why some cruise lines do this!  RCI and Carnival I have heard about.  Do they think the passengers can't figure out how to change their clocks or something?  It just seems so confusing!

 

@Heidi13 do you know what those cruise lines' reasons are for not changing the clocks?

 

~Nancy

 

Nancy - best guess is challenges with managing the majority of the crew's hours of rest, in accordance with MLC2006. However, this is easily mitigated by changing cloxs at Noon, or mid-afternoon, when moving them ahead.

 

Many of the Captain I worked for back in my days as a Junior Officer will be turning over in their graves, with ships arriving at the wrong time.

[2inSETexas]

14 hours ago, dobiemom said:

I think being on airplane mode prevents the phone/watch from updating. So I do the same thing as others have mentioned: When on a cruise I turn OFF the automatic time on my phone and set it manually, changing it when necessary. Then I KNOW I’m on ship time.

This reminds me of a European river cruise we took a few years ago. We had our time setting on our iPhones set to manual, but realized not everyone did it that way with the event of one particular morning. On one stretch of the Danube, Serbia (on the port side bank) was one hour behind Bulgaria (on the starboard side bank). The main channel ran along the Serbian side of the river so those with iPhones set to automatic were an hour behind the ship’s time as we were approaching a Bulgarian port. We wondered why so few passengers showed up at breakfast that morning. 😆

Edited March 1 by 2inSETexas

[AFNavigator]

19 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I just can't imagine having all pax using a different time from the shore. From a risk management perspective it is not necessary. Yes, crew hours of rest requirement are stricter now, but changing cloxs in the afternoon is an excellent tool, to help manage hours of rest for the majority of the crew.

 

Fortunately, I have never had that experience.

Last time we sailed on Carnival--back in 2018--they also kept ship time on EST the full cruise.  Lots of warnings and notices posted about abiding by ship time, not local time, when in ports.

[Heidi13]

6 minutes ago, AFNavigator said:

Last time we sailed on Carnival--back in 2018--they also kept ship time on EST the full cruise.  Lots of warnings and notices posted about abiding by ship time, not local time, when in ports.

 

Regardless of how many warnings and notices are posted, for pax on shore leave, it is still an additional risk factor that could be easily mitigated.

[jljcruise]

I bought a cheap analog watch that I wear on cruises. I set it on ship's time (verified each time we disembark) and then don't have to worry if some satellite changes our phone or tablet's time to local. I just find it an easy fix to the problem of worry about getting back at the correct time.

[wdw1972]

I have a tiny digital travel alarm clock that is set manually & does not change on its own.  I open it up when going o bed, so in the morning I know the "real" time, compare it to what my phone says & just remember to add or subtract an hour as necessary. I don't want to fiddle with changing a setting or the time on my phone - for me it's easier to just remember what adjustment to keep in my mind each day.

 

Sue/WDW1972

[syesmar]

On 3/1/2024 at 4:43 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

Regardless of how many warnings and notices are posted, for pax on shore leave, it is still an additional risk factor that could be easily mitigated.

 

On 3/1/2024 at 5:17 PM, jljcruise said:

I bought a cheap analog watch that I wear on cruises. I set it on ship's time (verified each time we disembark) and then don't have to worry if some satellite changes our phone or tablet's time to local. I just find it an easy fix to the problem of worry about getting back at the correct time.

For those who have experienced a cruise that uses a “ship’s time” that differs from that on land, do you find more passengers get left behind on such sailings?

[jljcruise]

3 hours ago, syesmar said:

 

For those who have experienced a cruise that uses a “ship’s time” that differs from that on land, do you find more passengers get left behind on such sailings?

I think that ships tend to be on local time usually and any problems come from passengers who ignore the notices of time zone changes or just don't pay attention to time when they're on land.