Help! Confused~Dolphin Excursions

[buckeyemommy16]

My husband has always wanted to do a dolphin excursion but it has never worked out on our previous cruises. This year I thought I would book the encounter for him and our daughter as a Father's Day gift. I searched the forum and did not see these specific questions answered so I apologize if this is repetitive.

 

1. Went to book directly from Dolphin Discovery, their program seemed longer for a little bit cheaper and they only offer times of 1pm and 3pm. Since GC is on CST and the ship is on EST the earlier one is actually at 2pm and the ship leaves at 4pm. Don't want to cut it that close since the excursion says it is an hour. Has anyone encountered this and am I correct?

 

2. Who has done the Carnival excursion and what did you think? Was it at Dolphin Discovery or Dolphin Cove?

 

3. How do observers participate in the Carnival excursion? I want to go and take pictures.

 

Any other info about Carnival's Dolphin Encounter would be helpful. Looks like we're going to have to do this one because of my daughter's height/age and the timing of the ship.

 

Thanks! :)

[drew sailbum]

...Since GC is on CST and the ship is on EST... and am I correct?

 

:confused:

Uh... you are not correct.

 

Grand Cayman stays on EST year round. We do not do the whole daylight-savings-time thing.

 

What time your ship will be on is a WHOLE different question. It depends upon port of departure, time of year, and even policy of the individual ship or cruise line.

 

Most commonly the ship stays on the same time as the port of departure. If your ship is departing from the east coast of the States during the winter months then it would most likely be on the same time as Cayman.

[buckeyemommy16]

Ok what am I missing? I just googled "Grand Cayman time zone" as I did yesterday and several websites say it is CST, or Central Standard Time. Since my ship is leaving from an EST, or Eastern Standard Time zone, I still believe it will be one hour ahead of GC local time.

 

This doesn't have anything to do with the daylight savings time.

[bookbabe]

Ok what am I missing? I just googled "Grand Cayman time zone" as I did yesterday and several websites say it is CST, or Central Standard Time. Since my ship is leaving from an EST, or Eastern Standard Time zone, I still believe it will be one hour ahead of GC local time.

 

I can second Drew's info. He knows what he's talking about, since he actually lives there. I don't know why the websites you've found say otherwise, but Cayman is definitely on EST all year.

 

If your ship leaves from an EST zone, and stays on EST for the voyage, then it will be the same time in Cayman as on your ship.

 

(As Drew mentioned, this changes entirely if you travel during Daylight Savings Time...then, Cayman will be one hour behind since they're still EST and not EDT.)

[drew sailbum]

It has everything to do with Daylight Savings Time.

 

Cayman is in the Eastern Time Zone. Cayman observes Eastern Standard Time all year. We do not adjust our clocks. I haven't sprung ahead or fallen back since I moved to Cayman nine years ago.

 

Most of the United States does observe Daylight Savings Time during summer months. Clocks are moved ahead one hour in the spring, and thus Miami is on Eastern Daylight Time for the summer. During the summer Miami is one hour ahead of Cayman, or put another way Cayman will be on Chicago time.

 

In the summer:

Cayman time(EST) = Chicago time (EDT)

 

In the fall most of the United states set their clocks back to standard time.

 

In the winter:

Cayman time (still EST) = Miami time (EST)

[buckeyemommy16]

 

In the summer:

Cayman time(EST) = Chicago time (EDT)

 

In the fall most of the United states set their clocks back to standard time.

 

In the winter:

Cayman time (still EST) = Miami time (EST)

 

Now we get to the bottom of it, I think. Chicago time is indeed CST or Central Standard Time which is one hour behind Eastern Standard Time (my version of EST). Since I am cruising in the summer Grand Cayman will be on CST, or your version EST. It was just a matter of understanding each other's terminology. To you EST is not the same EST to me except in the fall. I live in the EST and have a full understanding of the dalight savings time change.

 

Therefore, I believe I'm correct that I would not have time to do a 1pm local time dolphin excursion because it is actually 2pm on the ship and the ship leaves at 4pm.

 

I hope I am understanding this correctly now because it does make a huge difference. Right now it is 10:30am in Miami and 9:30am in Chicago and per your explanation, that makes it 9:30am in GC.

 

Thanks for your help!

[MissRabbit]

sorry i can't offer any assistance. I just had to laugh at the Subject line. If you don't notice the ~ in it, the subject line reads like

 

Help! Confused Dolphin Excursions

 

Of course, now my mind is picturing dolphins swimming around in circles, not knowing which way to go or what to do next.