Time Zone Question

[nikki908]

Does Royal Caribbean change the ship time to match the time zone they are sailing to?  If sailing from Florida to the western Caribbean, will the ship stay on Florida time or change to the time zone for Mexico or Roatan?

[Ourusualbeach]

7 minutes ago, nikki908 said:

Does Royal Caribbean change the ship time to match the time zone they are sailing to?  If sailing from Florida to the western Caribbean, will the ship stay on Florida time or change to the time zone for Mexico or Roatan?

It depends.  Sometimes they do and sometimes they dont. 

[George C]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

It depends.  Sometimes they do and sometimes they dont. 

Agree have seen both 

[nikki908]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

It depends.  Sometimes they do and sometimes they dont. 

Well, that's interesting...it's the Wonder of the Seas 6/2 I'm curious about.

[time4u2go]

They will tell you if they are changing the time. You should bring a dumb watch. Don't rely on your cell phone to know what time it is.

[alfaeric]

3 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

They will tell you if they are changing the time. You should bring a dumb watch. Don't rely on your cell phone to know what time it is.

Or be smart with your smart phone and tell it what time it is. 

[cruiseguy1016]

It's entirely up to the captain. Some do, some don't. There will be a clock at the gangway that shows the ship's time. Make note of the time when you leave the ship. That is the only time that matters.

[Ourusualbeach]

16 minutes ago, nikki908 said:

Well, that's interesting...it's the Wonder of the Seas 6/2 I'm curious about.

Look on the app for a sailing on the same ship and exact same itinerary that is sailng and if the ship is changing time it will list it in the app.  You will need to look at every days daily planner and it usually lists it late in the evening. 

[smokeybandit]

Summer cruises are less likely due to DST in the states but not the port country.

[RockHoundTX]

As others have said, you will need to check the App/Cruise Compass when you get on the ship. Alaska cruises use local port time. In the Carribean, RCL "typically" stays on the original departure port time. Out of the last 30 or so Carribean cruises, I did have one that used local port time for some reason (maybe because it was an Eastern Carribean?). Also as previously warned, an analog watch is best since most sports watches will revert to local time if they connect to GPS. I have seen more than a few pier runners who "thought" they were on-time 😉

[Minuet888]

Stupid question but is there a time change between New York and the Bahamas?

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Minuet888 said:

Stupid question but is there a time change between New York and the Bahamas?

No. 

[cruiseguy1016]

6 hours ago, Minuet888 said:

Stupid question but is there a time change between New York and the Bahamas?

 

The Bahamas are on EST and they also observe daylight saving time so their clocks will always be the same as east coast clocks.

[leaveitallbehind]

As others have mentioned it is strictly the Captain's choice, when there is a time zone difference, to change to the local time or not.  As I understand it, typically it is to the convenience of the crew and their daily work schedule versus that of the passengers in port.  It is often far easier to maintain the original ship departure / return port time so as not to disrupt the crew's hours with their schedules for a given port of call than to have the passengers simply adjust their time accordingly for that port of call.  All ship sponsored, and typically as well with independent tours, would be aware of the ship time in port and will coordinate those tours accordingly.

 

One typical exception, as example, is with East coast US to Bermuda cruises when there is two or three days in port.  In our experience at a point en route to the island the Captain will change the ship time to match the port time since the ship is there for that extended period of time. The reverse takes place on the return.  It is then both to the convenience of the passengers as well as the crew.  The other typical examples would be with trans-Atlantic and Pacific repositioning cruises where the time is adjusted with each time zone transitioned.

Edited April 18 by leaveitallbehind

[leaveitallbehind]

15 hours ago, nikki908 said:

Does Royal Caribbean change the ship time to match the time zone they are sailing to?  If sailing from Florida to the western Caribbean, will the ship stay on Florida time or change to the time zone for Mexico or Roatan?

In our experience on that itinerary, there was no change in ship time to local time. 

[mel76]

13 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

It's entirely up to the captain. Some do, some don't. There will be a clock at the gangway that shows the ship's time. Make note of the time when you leave the ship. That is the only time that matters.

On our last cruise in February a clock at the gangway was not correct. It was 1 hour back.

[jerick]

Is the ”ship time” in the app always correct?

 

[leaveitallbehind]

2 hours ago, jerick said:

Is the ”ship time” in the app always correct?

 

Always?  Not sure it can be said with that degree of absolute certainty.  But as @Ourusualbeachindicates that is one source of information that should have the correct ship time v port time listed.  But along with the app, it will also typically be broadcast, posted in the ship's daily information sheet, and shown at the disembarkation station with each port of call. 

Edited April 18 by leaveitallbehind

[PhillyFan33579]

As others have stated, it is up to the Captain. Prior to last year I had been on 30 if not more Western Caribbean cruises and the ship never changed time. Then last Summer I was on 3 cruises where the ship changed time (went back an hour early in the cruise and forward an hour later in the cruise). The change was well publicized including multiple announcements on the room speakers. I have been to the Western Caribbean several times already this year with no time changes. Based on my limited experience, not many Captains change ship time in the Western Caribbean.