Ship Time Zone

[jmak315]

I thought I read somewhere that the ship time zone (Freedom of the Seas from Port Canaveral) stays on EST...it does not change based on where you are going...is that correct?

[akcruz]

That seems to be the norm, however the captain does have choice to change if desired. The only RCI cruises where we have changed time has been in Europe and heading to Bermuda. All caribbean cruises have stayed on port time.

[jmak315]

Do they recognize DST?

[MADflyer]

RCI uses a 'ship's time' system. The Captain in the daily update and the Cruise Compass always make any time changes more than perfectly clear. If there is no notice, there is no time change. I would think they respect the time of the 'home' turnaround port to avoid confusion.

 

As Freedom shifts back and forth from GMT -5 and east to GMT -4 and then west to GMT -6. All masters of this vessel probably would choose to stay on the same ship's time every week. This does not cause confusion nor stress for the crew and passengers onboard the vessel.

 

http://www.timetemperature.com/caribbean/caribbean_time_zones.shtml

 

I had never experienced this in Europe until my last TA on Liberty. They chose to do daily time changes the first 4 days at sea and we were actually ahead of time for our actual position as we had to come into the Azores with a medical emergency and my phones and IPAD updated.

 

They made the change every day at 12 noon to reduce the effect on the crew and in my maybe 'cynical' view to maximize revenue. This way passengers would not end the evening early as they would be 'loosing' an hour.

 

We were then on the same time as Lisbon for our arrival there, but they chose not to change time for our next day in Cadiz, Spain, which is one hour later than Lisbon. They then changed that night for a day at sea and then we were on CET for our Barcelona disembarkation.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

I've been on Western Caribbean cruises on Royal Caribbean in which the captain tells everyone to turn their watches back an hour and I have been on the same cruises in which the captain tells everyone to stay on ship's time.

 

The advice I would give is to be sure to read the Cruise Compass. The front page will tell you whether to change your watch or to stay on ship's time.

 

It was asked above if the ship recognizes DST. My answer is yes, at least if you are leaving from a Florida port. Every ship I have been on follows the time of the home port. Whether they continue to follow that same time in other ports is something passengers should pay special attention.

[jmak315]

I've been on Western Caribbean cruises on Royal Caribbean in which the captain tells everyone to turn their watches back an hour and I have been on the same cruises in which the captain tells everyone to stay on ship's time.

 

The advice I would give is to be sure to read the Cruise Compass. The front page will tell you whether to change your watch or to stay on ship's time.

 

It was asked above if the ship recognizes DST. My answer is yes, at least if you are leaving from a Florida port. Every ship I have been on follows the time of the home port. Whether they continue to follow that same time in other ports is something passengers should pay special attention.

 

Thanks so much!

[TM38Rob]

The Freedom of the Seas stayed on Eastern Time for the Western Caribbean route. Best thing to do is check the time on your stateroom telephone and make sure it matches the time on your watch before leaving the ship in a port of call.

[celle]

I really don't think there's a "one-size-fits-all" answer to the question. You can't say "RCCL has this policy . . . " The best advice is to read the daily bulletin and be prepared for time changes, or not.

 

Either way, if there is going to be a discrepancy between ship's time and local time, be very sure which time you should follow, to be back on board prior to the ship leaving port - or you could be left on the dock, waving goodbye to the ship.

 

I've yet to cruise the Caribbean and I've yet to be on a crusie where the ship's time did not correspond to the local time. On our last cruise, we even had two days that were the 24th of April, because we crossed the International Date Line. It's probably gping to be the only time that, for us, April had 31 days.

[FLACRUISER99]

I've been on Western Caribbean cruises on Royal Caribbean in which the captain tells everyone to turn their watches back an hour and I have been on the same cruises in which the captain tells everyone to stay on ship's time.

 

The advice I would give is to be sure to read the Cruise Compass. The front page will tell you whether to change your watch or to stay on ship's time.

 

It was asked above if the ship recognizes DST. My answer is yes, at least if you are leaving from a Florida port. Every ship I have been on follows the time of the home port. Whether they continue to follow that same time in other ports is something passengers should pay special attention.

 

This is also true for Eastern Caribbean as I have experienced a time zone change this run.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Jimnbigd]

I thought I read somewhere that the ship time zone (Freedom of the Seas from Port Canaveral) stays on EST...it does not change based on where you are going...is that correct?

Technically on EDT during daylight saving time (starts 2nd Sunday in March and ends 1st Sunday in November).

On just about all of our cruise the ship stays on departure port time.

Hmmm...If the ship leaves on Saturday right before the switch from/to daylight saving time, does the ship switch times on Sunday? I would think so.