Time Zones in Mexican Riviera

[ikajus]

How does time work in Mexico? Is there more than one time zone? Is Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta in the same time zone?

 

For those who have sailed on the Star before, I'm assuming the 4:00 departure from LA is Pacific Time. Does the time change when you get on the ship? How does the ship's time relate to the time in the ports? And will Daylight Savings Time affect that?

 

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm interested to find out.

[johnql]

Your best bet is to always stay on ship's time. On the second day, we were told to turn our clocks one hour ahead that night (losing one hour's sleep). Then, on the last night of the cruise, we were told to turn our clocks one hour back (gaining one hour's sleep).

 

Yes, the departure time is Pacific time. I am not certain what effect Daylight Savings Time will have. But if I had to guess (and I do), I would say the ship will continue to follow the same procedure as indicated above.

[professor]

There is a "time-zone problem" on the Star's Mexican Riviera cruises that would be lessened of it were made clear that the ship moves through three (3) time zones during its 8-day itinerary. It begins, of course, in Pacific-time-zone Los Angeles, and on the first day at sea the ship's time shifts forward one hour (Mountain time zone) and passengers are informed that this will remain "ship's time" for the duration of the cruise, until the last day when returning to L.A.

Some confusion is caused by the fact that the first port of call, Acapulco, is in the Central time zone - one hour ahead of ship's time. The fact that ship's time is an hour ahead of L.A. is easily understood and well publicized.

Consequently, those passengers who have not undertaken a detailed study of North American time zones assume, reasonably enough, that the ship's first port of call is in the time zone which the ship adopted as "ship's time" the day after departing L.A. But they would be wrong. Acapulco is in the Central time zone, two hours ahead of L.A. and one hour ahead of ship's time. Since everyone changes their watches to ship's time when instructed to do so, many passengers wander around Acapulco unaware of the fact that the local time is not what they assume.

This causes problems for folks who go into the city on their own (not on a shore excursion) and rely on clocks in Acapulco. I had arranged to be picked up at the pier by a friend who lives in Acapulco, and arrived at the pier entrance 15 minutes early (I thought), but my friend told me he had been waiting for 45 minutes. That was my first realization that local time in Acapulco is an hour ahead of ship's time. I also heard unsettling stories of passengers who barely made it back to the ship before its departure because of the same confusion. (Puerto Vallarta is in the same time zone as Acapulco.)

When the Star arrives in Cabo San Lucas, it is in the Mountain time zone - the same as ship's time - so, at least in Cabo, there is no potential for confusion.

It's useful to be aware of the fact that most of the ports (all but Cabo San Lucas) are one hour ahead of ship's time.

Mexico changes to-&-from Daylight Savings Time concurrently with the U.S.