Time difference, C.B. tour time, and tendering

[Marcys]

I wrote Paul at Coral Breeze and he confirmed that in August when I'm in Belize on the Explorer of the Seas, there will be a 2 hour time difference with Belize being 2 hours behind the ship.

Friends who recently got back said they were on line at 7:30 for tender tickets and got tickets for the 3rd tender. Tell me if I'm reading this right...my tour starts at 12 noon ship time, correct? That sounds like plenty of time to get a tender.

Thanks!
Marcy

[Coral Breeze]

Marcy and all,
Tour operators have to use Belize time as there are ships arriving from different time zones, hence, different ship time. If a ship leaves from the Eastern Time Zone it will be 2 hours ahead of Belize time. One leaving from the Central Time Zone, it will be 1 hour ahead of Belize time. So, a tour that is scheduled to start at 9am Belize time would either be 10am or 11am on the ship, depending on where you started. I get questions about this all the time. A ship is scheduled to arrive at 9am and we say the tour starts at 9am. If you use the formula I listed above, you actually have 2 hours to tender in (on an Eastern time ship). Plenty of time and it is done every day. I hope this helps clear things up.
Just a note, this formula is only during Daylight Savings time. Belize does not observe DST, so when the clocks change back in October, Belize will be on Central time instead of Mountain Time. It wasn't confusing enough as it is, so Belize thought it would be nice to throw that curve ball in there [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]
I would be happy to explain in more detail if anyone needs it.

Paul

[Marcys]

Paul,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I think what creates the anxiety is needing to tender. It sounds like even with getting on line first thing in the morning for a tender ticket (on Explorer, anyway) you are still not guaranteed the earliest tenders.

We look forward to seeing you on August 3...on the tour with calm seas and blue skies! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Marcy

[Gma&Gpa]

Paul, I'm still confused. I read your message about the time.... which is telling me there is 2 hours difference from the ship and Belize. But I received the email listed below and it is stating that there will be ONE hour difference because of the "time change" next week. I'm really trying to figure out how much time we're going to have and if we will be rushed with these tours or if we're safer taking the ship tour...

EMAIL I RECEIVED:
Thank you for your e-mail and thank you for contacting Ecological Tours "WET N' WILD CAVETUBING".
Certainly we do have space for your party of 4 departure time ideed is at 9:00am local time some ships time vary so we set the time on local time if the Inspiration is on eastern time that would be 10:00am ships time because time will change this coming Sunday, to confirm your space we do require a 20% deposit you can fill out the credit card form on our website [url="http://www.belizecavetubing.com/"][color=#0000ff]http://www.belizecavetubing.com/[/color][/url] then we will send you a confirmation letter.

Thank You,
Marvin Deras

[jean-lynd]

Marcy, What ship were your friends on? When we were on the Voyager they did not have tender tickets. They were using two gangways for tenders. One gangway was for people who had booked excursions through RCI and the other gangway was for everyone else. We did not hurry to get off of the ship and we were there in plenty of time to meet the Coral Breeze group. Unless things have changed, you should be fine. I hope this helps!

[Layditx]

IN the capers on Weds night, they tell you "set your clocks BACK 1hr" for Belize. Then, Thurs night, set them forward...it was very simple.

[Marcys]

jean-lynd, our friends were on Navigator (but could have been Explorer, not sure). They went the first week on May. All too much stresswhen you're supposed to be relaxing!:eek:

But we leave on Explorer Sunday, so I'll let you know when we get back!

Marcy

[Shaken_Bake]

Belize does not set their clocks ahead when most of the U.S. goes to Daylight Savings Time. Therefore, their time is equivalent to Mountain Time, two hours behind Eastern time (until the last Sunday in October). When it is noon on the East Coast, it is 10:00 am in Belize.

How that compares to ship time depends on what your ship does as it moves west. My ship (Enchantment) moved the clocks back when we went to Cozumel, but did not change time for Belize, therefore making ship time one hour ahead of Belize time. The statement that Coral Breeze will be TWO hours behind ship's time may not be correct. My advice would be to find out what LOCAL time you're supposed to meet them, and figure it out from there.

[Coral Breeze]

Gma&Gpa,
I'm not sure the reference to the email you received (when it was received), so it is difficult to answer to it.

BUT, I can help solve your confusion regarding the time issue. Actually, "Shaken_Bake" nailed it. Don't get caught up on getting confused by turning your watch this way or that way. Just remember that Belize is currently on Mountain Time. The difficulty is that some ships change and others don't. So the only consistent time we have is Belize Time (Mountain Time). So, if the ship's staff tells you to change your watch, just know what time zone you are changing it to. If it is Central Time, you are 1 hour ahead of Belize. If it is Eastern Time, you are 2 hours ahead of Belize.

Belize hosts cruise ships 4 days a week. All come from different time zones and all have different policies for changing their time. The bottom line is, the tours in Belize operate for cruise ship passengers every day they are in port. The tour times match up with the ship's port times. We fully understand the concern but operate within time boundaries. Hope this helps.

[belle42118]

I was in Belize on the Explorer in May. I too was very confused about the time zone differences. But rest assure, the tour guides are very much aware of the time the ship will dock and what time zone they will be on. As a matter of fact, two days before we left, I got an email from X-treme changing the time of our cave tubing to better accomodate the ships time. The Explorer left from Miami and therefore stayed on eastern time for the whole cruise. It did not change at any of the ports. My only suggestion would be to get in line to tender ASAP. That way, your excursion will start on time and you won't have to hurry.