For recent cruisers who have had a stop in St Maarten....

[Teachlady]

I have never been on a ship that stays on "ship" time. Ive never heard of it, period. We always use our cell phones as watches/clocks/alarms etc.. They automaticly adjust to local time when you travel.

 

We have been from Boston to Bermuda, Boston to Canada, Miami to Eastern Carib. Miami to Western Carib, NY to UK on NCL, RCI, Princess and Cunard. I have never once heard of "Ship time" If it were something different, we would have missed the ship plenty of times. Maybe its a Carnival thing??

 

Never on any one of our cruises have we NOT stayed on ship's time. It's printed on the compass and announced prior to docking.

[lanabanana]

Thanks everyone, for your input. I will have him get on the phone to Disney in the am. He is flying to Orlando to begin his training to be the Scheduling Officer on the Disney Wonder out of Miami, and Disney made the travel arrangements. Disney ships always go to "local time" and the time they post for arriving in ports is actually the time they plan for guests to be able to get off the ship. Sounds like things are not quite the same on Carnival and the Disney travel people made some wrong assumptions.

[dbcruzin]

Time in SMX will be one hour later. And, just because you arrive @ 8am local time, it could be a while before he can get off the ship. Also, one other thing that might slow him down is the drawbridge on the way to the airport. We were held up for almost an hour one time by it. I'm thinking the Vegas line for him not making the plane will be heavily bet.:eek:

[LUPY48]

I just checked the port schedule. There will be 6 ships in port that day, Wed. Feb.27. One of them being Oasis of the Seas.

 

He def. needs to get on the phone with Disney asap. I wish him luck in his new job!!

[DISNEY1975]

Thanks everyone, for your input. I will have him get on the phone to Disney in the am. He is flying to Orlando to begin his training to be the Scheduling Officer on the Disney Wonder out of Miami, and Disney made the travel arrangements. Disney ships always go to "local time" and the time they post for arriving in ports is actually the time they plan for guests to be able to get off the ship. Sounds like things are not quite the same on Carnival and the Disney travel people made some wrong assumptions.

 

Congratulations on the new job! Best of luck! Either with plan A or plan B, in the end, it will all work out!

[kiminey65]

Yes, your son is automatically an hour behind time. Dream's time is set at Eastern savings time, so if the ship is scheduled to be in port at 7:00 a.m. it is already 8:00 a.m. in St. Maarten. It seems to me we were in port on schedule, but did not get off the ship until well after 8:30. Of course your son can arrange to have consideration in leaving ahead of the crowds.

 

I don't know anything about leaving the ship from that port to fly somewhere else, but I can say that getting to the Maho Beach (where I went that day), in other words the airport, took all of 25 minutes. There were quite a few ships there, also on a Wednesday. And made for a lot of traffic. Good luck!!!

[broberts]

Your cell phones adjust automatically but that is why Carnival states in the Fun Times...do not go by your cell phone. Cruised for 21 days in Dec. and times did not change...stayed on ship time.

 

Android cell phones can be set to ignore the local carriers time and stay with the time set in the phone, see Settings | Date & Time. I expect other phones can be configured likewise.

 

I learned about this a few years ago while in the Caribbean when my phone picked up a passing cell antenna set to GMT (the ship I was on didn't recognize my phone).

[floatingaway2525]

Ive never heard of such a thing. Thank goodness for this thread!

 

So, Im going (first time on Carnival) to Southern Carib. in May. Even though my itinerary states I will be in (example) Barbados from 8am to 5pm, it could really mean 9 - 6? Or is it 8 - 5 ship, time, 7 - 4 local time?

 

Well, that's when it gets even more fun...once daylight savings starts here in the US, we move ahead and are then on the same time as AST so then ship time IS island time, from March to Nov...drives me bonkers still, I suck at time changes :o:rolleyes::p

[bguppies]

How can one find out definitively whether the Dream changes time or not? Any recent Dream cruisers want to weigh in?!!!

 

Dream did not change time in mid December when we were there.

Stayed on eastern standard time the whole cruise.

 

The airport is a decent distance from the pier also.

 

Our last stop on our speedboat tour was just offshore from the airport (watching the planes land over our heads and take off straight at the mountains)

and it took us about 15 minutes, by speedboat, directly back to the pier.

I can't imagine how long that trip would be by car, through the island.

 

Bill

[jimboridesmtb]

Just sailed on Carnival in Jan. and we stayed on ships time. Guess that's why we had all the pier runners in Cozumel :)

[Rottweiler Puppy]

Maybe its a Carnival thing??

 

Seems to be. Its kind of stupid if you ask me.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

OP

 

I was there in November on a Princess cruise and we were 45 minutes last due to sailing into high winds. As long as winds and such are not too bad, he should be ok.

[glentally]

Although I haven't cruised into SXM in a couple of years, I do a land vacay there every year. I would be very concerned about making that flight, due to the fact that it's international and they insist that you're there 2 hours prior.

What day of the week is SXM port?

 

Hello LUPY 48,

 

I loved St Marteen when we would go there cruising. I also want to go back to do a land trip. What hotel do you recommend for mid range cost ? Do you think 5 days is too short of a time? I was thinking of taking one of the boats for a daily ferry to another island, have you ever done that?

 

Glen

[kingoftheicedragons]

I learned about this a few years ago while in the Caribbean when my phone picked up a passing cell antenna set to GMT (the ship I was on didn't recognize my phone).

 

Ah.....I was wondering why my wife's nook showed the time according to GMT (whereas mine did not).

[gatour]

I was just on the Freedom of the Seas and the ship did not adjust the clocks. When, we were in Cozumel, I turned my phone to time sync and it adjusted to Central time. When I got back on the ship I had to manually turn it back to "Ship's time (Eastern).

 

I have never been on a ship that stays on "ship" time. Ive never heard of it, period. We always use our cell phones as watches/clocks/alarms etc.. They automaticly adjust to local time when you travel.

 

We have been from Boston to Bermuda, Boston to Canada, Miami to Eastern Carib. Miami to Western Carib, NY to UK on NCL, RCI, Princess and Cunard. I have never once heard of "Ship time" If it were something different, we would have missed the ship plenty of times. Maybe its a Carnival thing??

[LUPY48]

Hello LUPY 48,

 

I loved St Marteen when we would go there cruising. I also want to go back to do a land trip. What hotel do you recommend for mid range cost ? Do you think 5 days is too short of a time? I was thinking of taking one of the boats for a daily ferry to another island, have you ever done that?

 

Glen

 

Hi Glen, I always stay at the Royal Palm in Simpson Bay. It's a time share complex (no, I don't own one). 90% of the units are 2 bed/2 bath, full kitchen and living room. They average about $1200 weekly, depending on the season. I see that you're in Fla. so your flight would be relatively short. So 5 days would prob. be ok, but not for me! lol

I have not gone to other islands, but have heard good things about Pinel Island, which is basically just a beach day.

[SHICHIDAN]

They stay on ship time - which is the time zone of the embarkation port.

 

Anytime you post something as factual could you please cite a source or post a link. This was suggested for us all to adhere to in another thread.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

I just checked the port schedule. There will be 6 ships in port that day, Wed. Feb.27. One of them being Oasis of the Seas.

 

He def. needs to get on the phone with Disney asap. I wish him luck in his new job!!

 

6 ships? Its going to be crowded. Traffic will absolutely SUCK.

[HeidiHo]

Even if you are on a Carnival ship, always, always, ALWAYS check the Fun Times to be sure they aren't changing the time to match the ports. All of my cruises on Carnival in the Caribbean we have stayed on ship time (EST) but the one time we sailed on the Carnival Spirit on the West coast (San Diego to Acapulco, Ixtapa/Zihuantanejo and Manzanillo the ship DID adjust to port time so never assume that the ship will not make time adjustments. Perhaps only ships on the west coast do this, I don't know but I will never assume anything.