Advice on how to handle time change?

[rm1247]

Next month we are taking our 4 kids on a 7 day cruise to Alaska. We are coming from the east coast and I'm concerned about how to handle the time change, especially for my 8 mo baby and 6yo (the other 2 are older). I think for most of the cruise the time difference will be 4 hours. I'd love to hear from others who dealt with this type of time change. How did your kids adjust? Did you gradually change meal times/ bed times? I was considering trying to adjust by 2 hours to meet the time change in the middle, but I don't know if that will work. I'm especially concerned about the baby as she just started sleeping well through the night and such a big time change could really mess her up. :(

[elainemasey]

Can you fly out a day or 2 earlier? Then you can adjust to local time and be all set when you board. It also gave us 2 days to see Vancouver. As an adult that's what I did for me!!! I need my sleep.

[ladeeesquire]

Can you fly out a day or 2 earlier? Then you can adjust to local time and be all set when you board. It also gave us 2 days to see Vancouver. As an adult that's what I did for me!!! I need my sleep.

 

this is what I would recommend as well. I've always understood, and have experienced, that it takes about 1 day per 1 hr of time change to adjust. Therefore, 4 hrs time difference will take you 4 days to adjust. If you can tack 2 days onto the beginning, I think it will really help with the transition for the whole family.

 

good luck!

 

susan

[Kerry's Girls]

After trying it once, I don't bother anymore with trying to adjust to time changes during travel - which has the added benefit of not having to change back when we return home. We all end up adjusting naturally a bit as the days go by, but when we were in Hawaii (from Los Angeles), we were just up early and to bed early and when we go to the East Coast or Europe we wake late and stay up late.

 

Best,

Mia

[rm1247]

Our tickets are already purchased, and we'll have one day to adjust before boarding the ship. I guess I'll just do as Mia suggests and just go to bed early and get up early. Thanks everyone!!

[B_Mc]

We did a 3 hour time change and found DS needed an extra nap on our first full day there and then he was on the "new" time. Are your's little enough to take an extra nap to get through one long day? GL!

[AlanAllyn]

Flying into Seattle or Vancouver, there is only a three hour difference. Then you will go back another hour on the first or second night. That will happen in reverse at the end. That should help a little.

[graceinmelbourne]

We flew to Europe from Australia so our times were all over the place. I think the kids missed a whole nights sleep and we arrived in Barcelona in the morning. Surprisingly they were not that tired and we tried not to nap during the day. That night they were okay until 8.30pm when they started to feel tired. A good nights sleep and they were refreshed and ready to go on the cruise. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just have an early night the first night and they should be fine.

[ckekjhaze]

For me it's always been when in Rome-There is one exhausting day and then we are adjusted to the new time- being in natural light as much as possible helps. When we go east to visit family in Ireland the overnight flight has us arriving in their morning time and we just stay up all day-hopefully able to nap on the plane. Then a good night's sleep and all set the next day. 5 or 6 hours difference depending on time of year.

On the way home same thing- we leave in the morning Europe time and arrive in the morning New York time and stay up all day and then back to normal the following day.

Might not work for everyone but we manage.

When we went to Japan-13 hrs- I crashed hard and the kids had to roll me out of bed - never happened before but then again I'm not getting any younger:p

[Keith1010]

We always found it easier to fly from the East to the West Coast.

 

You could try to get the family adjusted to the change by waking up a little later at home and going to sleep a little later.

 

Keith

[Mom2B&Z]

We always found it easier to fly from the East to the West Coast.

 

You could try to get the family adjusted to the change by waking up a little later at home and going to sleep a little later.

 

Keith

I was going to suggest the same thing. This way you can work with your current schedule but make the whole time change thing a little easier.

The other thing to consider is that naps and bedtimes get messed up anyways when travelling by air, and sometimes I find it easier to just hit the proverbial "reset" button when we arrive and just adopt the new time zone all at once. Might not be so straight forward for the older kids, but it definitely works with my young boys.

[cruisinbanddirectors]

When we took our DS last year (he was 2 at the time), we started adjusting bedtime slightly later the week before at home and we tried to get him to take a little longer naps on the ship the first couple of days. He did great!