Time Zones-Ship vs Local

[DanishBeauty]

My DH and I will be on the AOS on 2/4/07.

Does anyone know if the ship stays on Eastern time?

The ship embarks in SJ, will it be on San juan time?

I am planning excursions with shoretrips.com and their times are reserved on Island time.

For example, if the ship arrives in St Thomas at 8 am, and i book an excursion on local time to snuba at Trunk Bay at 11 am. would this still give us time to have breakfast, get through customs and get a taxi to St John?

They also have 1PM available, so I can change it if need be.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Love this website! I am obssessed with it!!:) :cool:

[Bonnie J.]

It depends on the ship. Some ships stay on 'ship's time' others add or subtract to be on the local time in ports. But Passengers are well informed as to what time the ship is on. It is announced more than once and is in daily news you get and we have gotten cards telling us what to do in our cabin, on our bed, when beds are turned down for the night.

I think St. Thomas is on Eastern time. There aren't customs in the ports. You just get off the ship with whatever you're carrying. I would say an 11am excursion is fine. St. Johns is an island, you can't take a cab there. You can get a ferry to St. Johns in Charlotte Amailie or take a cab to Red Hook and get it there. Check to see if the ferry to St. Johns is part of your tour. You can also ask them about time when you book. How long is the tour? Where do you meet the tour? Make sure you have enough time if you book the 1pm tour to get back to the ship. Don't remember how long ferry is to St. Johns but make sure you get back in port in plenty of time so you don't miss the ship.

[RB Bonzo]

I think St. Thomas is on Eastern time.

 

St. Thomas is on GMT - 4 hours (Atlantic time zone). But, it does not have daylight savings time. So, when the Eastern time zone is on DST, it is the same time as in St. Thomas. But, when we are on standard time (or GMT -5 hours) they are one hour ahead of us.

 

The same is true for San Juan.

[kitty9]

When we cruised AOS out of San Juan, the ship stayed on San Juan time and didn't change. But, it all depends on the Captain. Some like to change their clocks to reflect any changes and some will keep the ship's time the same. You won't find out until you board the ship if you're going to be changing time.

[wrp96]

San Juan and all the islands the AOS visits are in the same time zone, Atlantic, which is 1 hour ahead of Eastern in February. You won't have to worry about changing time zones.

[PelicanBill]

You DO have to clear customs if your ship arrives at St. Thomas after visiting a non-US port. They will set up someplace on the ship and everyone will be required to line up early (at breakfast time). Everyone must be accounted for before they will allow anyone ashore so make sure there is time for any delay if your cruise has to do this.