Ship time vs port time?

[Sauceress]

I am a little confused about ship vs port time. I need to know if the ship excursions are port time or ship time, and if the private tours are port or ship time. Thank you for listening.

[terri910]

You can include me in the "confused" group.

 

When we sailed the Spirit to the Mexican Riviera there were all these changes....ship time, port time....I never understood how the ship could be on a different time than the place the ship was AT. As far as know, airplanes don't do that.

[Ehpride]

The ship should stay on the embarkation port's time throughout the cruise. So keep a watch with the ship's time on you in the ports. Do not rely on a cell phone since most automatically change the time to the local time, which could cause you to miss your ship. Private excursions, unless otherwise specified, will more than likely be on local time, but ship excursions should be listed by ship's time. Also, if you prebook private excursions, keep in mind that you may not be able to get off right away, especially if you tender, so give yourself a cushion there. Also, you have to be back on the ship at least half an hour before the ship leaves port so don't plan something that may have you rushing back to the ship.

 

A helpful website: http://www.timeanddate.com has a world clock where you can compare the time on a certain in two different locations.

[boatdoc]

If you keep you watch set on ships time, you will be fine. While it's likely that you will cross time zones the ship doesn't change its clocks.

[terri910]

So....is this going to get weird again, when we sail from Vancouver to Hawaii? I'm sure there will be several time zones difference between the two.

 

If the itinerary says we are in port at 8 a.m....does that mean we're REALLY in port at 11 a.m. (local time)?

[cruisinbuddy]

Funny, I've cruised 6 times and there has never been a difference in the ship time and the port time. I know there's a lot of talk about it, but I've never experienced it.

[snc421]

Funny, I've cruised 6 times and there has never been a difference in the ship time and the port time. I know there's a lot of talk about it, but I've never experienced it.

 

Ship time onboard the Legend last month never changed from the embarkation point, Tampa, EDT. We were made aware that Grand Cayman and Cozumel were one hour behind us, that Belize and Roatan were two hours behind us, and to make sure our watches are on SHIP time. That said, I have heard others say the same thing about ships they have been on. It must be a ship-by-ship thing.

 

As far as how that impacts private tours, I'm sorry I don't know that.

[Rockee4055]

ALWAYS stay on ship time.

[BND]

In St Thomas we had an hour's difference in port and we had to tell the tour guide what the difference was for us so he could tell us what time to find the open air tax/van at Magen's Bay, but the ship never changed time. In the Mexican Riviera, we changed times twice going down and coming back. By the time we got to Puerto Vallarta we were on Central Time, but it was announced in the Princess newsletter so we'd know when to turn our clocks each time (twice going down and twice on return). In the eastern caribbean (St Thomas, St Martin, Bahamas) we never changed time onboard, we just had to be aware in port and only checked our watches, not the clocks in port.

[PINEVIEW01]

I was on four ships from Feb to April. Two were RCCL and two were Carnival. One of each of the lines stayed on "ship" time and one of each line didn't. "Ship time" being the port you left from time. So, on two of the cruises we never changed our watches from when we left but on the other two cruises the paper would tell us to set you watches back an hour or foward an hour.

[snc421]

I was on four ships from Feb to April. Two were RCCL and two were Carnival. One of each of the lines stayed on "ship" time and one of each line didn't. "Ship time" being the port you left from time. So, on two of the cruises we never changed our watches from when we left but on the other two cruise the paper would tell use to set you watches back and our or foward an hour.

 

That's weird. So it is a ship by ship thing and not a company thing.

[PINEVIEW01]

It seems to be up to the Captain of the ship and not by line.

[Stoneyard]

So....is this going to get weird again, when we sail from Vancouver to Hawaii? I'm sure there will be several time zones difference between the two.

 

If the itinerary says we are in port at 8 a.m....does that mean we're REALLY in port at 11 a.m. (local time)?

 

 

Don't believe what they are saying. I have never been on a cruise where the ship didn't change the time except in the caribbean (same time zone). We just finished the Vancouver to Hawaii last Sept. and they change the ship rime several times.