Celebrity arrive/depart/excursion times vs. local time on St. John USVI

[gryffin123]

Hello all:

 

I am trying to book some non-Celebrity excursions, but am confused about how to handle the time differences in the Caribbean.

 

When Celebrity lists the arrive and departure times for a port, is that the local time (which is an hour ahead of EST between November and March 2014) or is it EST?

 

I'm not sure what to expect when the ship arrives in st. Thomas at 8AM, the ship excursion, "Destination St. John" runs from 8:30AM-3PM, and a local snuba company runs a tour on St. Johns at 11AM. I'm trying to determine whether these are all compatible.

 

Can anyone help?

[Lsimon]

On every Celebrity cruise we've taken in the Eastern Caribbean they've changed the ship time after leaving Florida to match the local island time. So more likely than not you'll be on the same time as the Island you're visiting. But you should verify this after you are on board the ship. St. Thomas and the rest of the Islands in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean are all on Atlantic Standard Time and do not follow daylight savings time. Atlantic Standard time is one hour earlier than Eastern Standard Time and is the same as Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

 

If for any reason there is a difference then the times listed in the bulletin and published itinerary will be the "ship time". The only cruises we've been on where Celebrity did not adjust the ship time to be the same as the local port time were those that had an itinerary that went into one time zone for a single day and the returned to the prior time zone the next day. But I have read a couple posts here on Cruise Critic from people who said their ship did not adjust to the local time when they cruised so there might be exceptions.

 

In any event I'd recommend that you get the mobile phone number of your tour guide so that you have a way to contact them if you have a problem with the timing or can't make it for any reason. Since St. John and St. Thomas are US Territories they are included in the home plan on our AT&T mobile phones but I'm not sure about other companies.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Lsimon

[dodger1964]

I pretty sure they kept the ship on Florida time on one of our recent cruises. I remember it being confusing because of time difference and daylight savings time difference. If I remember correctly dst changed during trip also.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Edited September 9, 2013 by dodger1964

[wallie5446]

Hello all:

 

I am trying to book some non-Celebrity excursions, but am confused about how to handle the time differences in the Caribbean.

 

When Celebrity lists the arrive and departure times for a port, is that the local time (which is an hour ahead of EST between November and March 2014) or is it EST?

 

I'm not sure what to expect when the ship arrives in st. Thomas at 8AM, the ship excursion, "Destination St. John" runs from 8:30AM-3PM, and a local snuba company runs a tour on St. Johns at 11AM. I'm trying to determine whether these are all compatible.

 

Can anyone help?

 

We will be there in 70 days!;) I'll try and remember to come back and let ya know:D

[gdpups]

I've found that most of the companies that book independent excursions know what the different ships do and plan excursions for ship passengers accordingly, so check with them as well.

[Lsimon]

I pretty sure they kept the ship on Florida time (it might have been San Juan time. Can't remember which cruise we were on) on one of our recent cruises. I remember it being confusing because of time difference and daylight savings time difference.

San Juan is on Atlantic Standard time so there is no change in time zone between San Juan and St. Thomas or any other Eastern/Southern Caribbean islands all the way down to Aruba. Also, there is no time difference between all of these islands and Florida when daylight savings time is in effect. So if you sail from Florida to the Caribbean after the second Sunday in March or before the second Sunday in November there is no time change.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Lsimon

[Kate45]

Used to be a travel agent and all times are local times, so if your tour leaves at 8:30am it is local time for that island.

[Gonzo70]

Used to be a travel agent and all times are local times, so if your tour leaves at 8:30am it is local time for that island.

 

Not true; the listed arrival and departure times are ship time. While ship time and local time usually match, this is not always the case. It is up to the discretion of the Captain whether or not to adjust ship time to match port time when there would be a difference. I have seen it go both ways. Fortunately most respected private excursions are adept at knowing when the ship is due in and being ready for you. It is important for the passenger to have a watch set to ship time while in port, so that in case their is a difference one is sure to make it back on board in time.

[cruisestitch]

The OP is trying to book a non-Celebrity tour.

 

The time of that tour will be local time.

 

The question is, will that match the ship's clock, and 99% of the time it will, but occasionally the Master makes a decision that ship time and local time will not match.

[whataboutport]

This was a big question for me as well earlier this year and we didn't get a clear answer even after emailing the excursion company! We booked a tour with Bernard's on St Maartin and it was March, so the time change was confusing to me. Bernard's told me the time was local time, and what time it would be on ship time, so I listened to him. When I met up with their driver on the dock we had missed the first group who had left earlier. We ended up missing out on some of the tour bc I listened to whoever told me the wrong time, and of course we were not refunded anything. Not only that, but when I found the driver at the dock, he did not tell me there was another group that already left. He just said, let's wait and see if more people show up before we go, which made me think we were the first. It wasn't until later that day I realized what happened.

 

So my advice is, if it's a morning excursion you are interested in, get off the ship as soon as you can and go to the meeting point and find someone from that company and make sure. Better to be too early than too late.

[wallie5446]

Just off the Reflection with stops in St Thomas and St Marten. Everything stays on ship time and that is understood by the tour Co's. They wait till the ship comes in and the Pax get off. We were in both with over 20,000 people and never heard anything about any problems with tour times.

[Lsimon]

Just off the Reflection with stops in St Thomas and St Marten. Everything stays on ship time and that is understood by the tour Co's. They wait till the ship comes in and the Pax get off. We were in both with over 20,000 people and never heard anything about any problems with tour times.

 

So are you saying that the Reflection did not change time between Miami and it's first stop? And that the ship time was an hour earlier than port time at all your stops?

Edited November 23, 2013 by Lsimon

[wallie5446]

So are you saying that the Reflection did not change time between Miami and it's first stop? And that the ship time was an hour earlier than port time at all your stops?

We changed time once, after San Juan. and not twice. We were at Coconuts in St Thomas and their time was one hour different from ours. On Thursday evening while at sea, we were told to set our clocks back one hour, and that is where we were at when we docked today.

[Lsimon]

We changed time once, after San Juan. and not twice. We were at Coconuts in St Thomas and their time was one hour different from ours. On Thursday evening while at sea, we were told to set our clocks back one hour, and that is where we were at when we docked today.

 

I'm a little confused as Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St. Martin are all one the same time zone. They are on the Atlantic Time Zone which is one hour later than Florida's Eastern Standard Time. So if you moved the clocks forward before reaching St. Thomas then I would have thought there wouldn't have been any difference between the ship's time and island time.

Edited November 23, 2013 by Lsimon

[Bosjoe]

I'm a little confused as Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St. Martin are all one the same time zone. They are on the Atlantic Time Zone which is one hour later than Florida's Eastern Standard Time. So if you moved the clocks forward before reaching St. Thomas then I would have thought there wouldn't have been any difference between the ship's time and island time.

 

Don't mind wallie, he drank to much. Grin... We changed times on the second night, Sunday night before San Juan and changed back on Thursday night.

[wallie5446]

Don't mind wallie, he drank to much. Grin... We changed times on the second night, Sunday night before San Juan and changed back on Thursday night.

Was it really before :D anywho it was a wonderful week was it not? And there were no problems I heard about any tour times being a problem. But then as Joe said, I did have a "few" pages of zero's on the bill!:eek: