Sailing the Med. - How does the time change work??

[smilegirl07]

Hi, y'all!  We are sailing through the Mediterranean in August on the Viva, first time crusing in Europe!

 

I finally got myself together and started looking into all the excursions and activites, and I am looking at some 3rd party programs as well since they are more diverse.  However now I am getting totally confused with time!

 

So we are starting our cruise in Lisbon, which they are one hour behind the rest of the countries we are stopping at (Spain, France and Italy).

 

Do the time work as "on board time" which will be same as Portugal time and throughout the whole cruise or will it change?  

 

So for i.e. I am looking at an excursion in Ibiza that starts at 2PM, that should actually be 1PM on board time?

 

I am so confused and my brain is boggling and not functioning.....😆

 

I would appreciate help from someone who did any cruise through the Med!  I always get so much help from CC and fellow cruisers, can't thank y'all enough!

 

Have a marvelous day!

[N-8]

We were on a NCL cruise a couple of years ago that changed time zones and we got a notice in our cabin the night before to remember to change the times. It was on the daily as well. We always matched the "local" time when in port but that is just a sample size of one...

[KeithJenner]

NCL keep to local time so you will set your clocks forward an hour the night you leave Lisbon.

[yakcruiser]

18 minutes ago, smilegirl07 said:

Hi, y'all!  We are sailing through the Mediterranean in August on the Viva, first time crusing in Europe!

 

I finally got myself together and started looking into all the excursions and activites, and I am looking at some 3rd party programs as well since they are more diverse.  However now I am getting totally confused with time!

 

So we are starting our cruise in Lisbon, which they are one hour behind the rest of the countries we are stopping at (Spain, France and Italy).

 

Do the time work as "on board time" which will be same as Portugal time and throughout the whole cruise or will it change?  

 

So for i.e. I am looking at an excursion in Ibiza that starts at 2PM, that should actually be 1PM on board time?

 

I am so confused and my brain is boggling and not functioning.....😆

 

I would appreciate help from someone who did any cruise through the Med!  I always get so much help from CC and fellow cruisers, can't thank y'all enough!

 

Have a marvelous day!

Onboard time will usually be local time. Did this trip in reverse last April and only had one time change. If I remember right it was the last day we left Spain on to Portugal. Loved Ibiza.

[smilegirl07]

@KeithJenner @yakcruiser @N-8  Thank y'all for the info.  We have done a ton of cruises through the Caribbean and they always were on the "ship time".

 

Good to know, so everything will be local time!  Def less confusing.  Thank you again!

[ontheweb]

LOL, just back from a river cruise and was only in the Netherlands and Belgium. There should not have been any reason for a time change, right? Well, no it seems the Netherlands did not do the changeover to daylight savings time until the last weekend in March.

 

But to answer your question, you will be told just like we were on that cruise and on the Mediterranean cruises we have been on and the Baltic cruise we were on. (Go as far east as st. Petersburg, Russia, and you really get a time change.

[KeithJenner]

10 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

LOL, just back from a river cruise and was only in the Netherlands and Belgium. There should not have been any reason for a time change, right? Well, no it seems the Netherlands did not do the changeover to daylight savings time until the last weekend in March.

It’s not just Holland. The whole of Europe changes their clocks at the end of March, a couple of weeks after the US. We also change back at a slightly different time.

 

It’s a pain for those of us who watch US sport, as the times get thrown out.

 

We have been travelling over to the US a few times when they change and it can get quite confusing, sometimes ending putting the clocks back or forward twice and other times missing it completely. 

[smilegirl07]

3 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

It’s not just Holland. The whole of Europe changes their clocks at the end of March, a couple of weeks after the US. We also change back at a slightly different time.

 

It’s a pain for those of us who watch US sport, as the times get thrown out.

 

We have been travelling over to the US a few times when they change and it can get quite confusing, sometimes ending putting the clocks back or forward twice and other times missing it completely. 

Ouch!  Missing a sport game is pretty damaging! 😆. (I am a Texan and it is another religion here 🤣)

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

It’s not just Holland. The whole of Europe changes their clocks at the end of March, a couple of weeks after the US. We also change back at a slightly different time.

 

It’s a pain for those of us who watch US sport, as the times get thrown out.

 

We have been travelling over to the US a few times when they change and it can get quite confusing, sometimes ending putting the clocks back or forward twice and other times missing it completely. 

I wonder if any of the passengers knew this as we were all either Americans or Canadians. 

 

The time to change has not always been mid-March as it is now in the USA. I remember one year that I was unhappy 😢 as my birthday in late April had only 23 hours.

 

There also seems to be here in the United States a movement to get rid of having to change the clock twice a year. But some favor daylight savings time to be the only time used while others would stay with standard time for the entire year.

 

Is there any similar movement to change this in Europe?