Ship time vs Island time? - Non-ship tours

[rasta]

I am still very confused about ships time (i.e. Eastern Time) and island time which can be either 1 or 2 hours behind depending on the time of year? For a March 15 arrival what is the time difference and are all of the non-ship tours using island time?

[Coral Breeze]

Hi rasta,

 

This is a confusing point but let me see if I can help clear things up.

 

In March, everyone is on Standard Time....NOT Daylight Savings Time. Therefore, Belize is on Central Time, one hour behind Eastern Time. All "non-ship" tour operators use local Belize Time (Central Time) because we are working with guests from different ships so their ship time could all be different. The common ground is Belize time.

 

The easiest thing to do is just know that Belize is on Central Time. On the ship, they will tell you what time zone the ship is in. If they tell you Eastern time, you know you are 1 hour ahead of Belize. If they tell you Central Time, then you know you are on the same time as Belize.

 

In April when Daylight Savings Time is upon us, Belize does not change their clocks. Therefore, Belize is 2 hours behind Eastern Time and 1 hour behind Central Time. But again, this only needs to be compared to what the ship's crew tells you the ship time is (Eastern or Central).

 

If you keep these rules in mind, it is much easier to understand the time when in Belize.

 

I hope this helps.

[rasta]

Awesome. Since I am March 15 arrival Belize will be on Central TIme. Now I get it. That really helps. I'm getting close to booking with your company Paul but the catamaran with Belize Rays sounds intersting also. I'll have children 4 and 8 with me and can't quite decide if the catamaran will be extra exciting to them and make the boat ride to the isalnd a little more bearable. I'm sure I'll figure it out in the next few days. Thanks again.

[pookie9922]

Coral Breeze, can you help me figure out my port times too? I'm on the Sun coming into Belize on April 6th, so after daylight saving time. We're supposed to port at 8:00am but my itinerary doesn't give a time zone. Is there any way to verify time zone information before we leave for our cruise?

Thanks!!

[mnsawyer]

You know your ship's time based on the home port. For example, Miami and all east coast ports would be eastern time zone. Galveston, Texas would be central, etc.