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Confused about times...ship vs island

tizzmee

By tizzmee,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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tizzmee

tizzmee

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I am going on my first cruise in February (so excited!!). Trying to book excursions, but I am confused as to what times I need to set them up for.....we are traveling on Carnival Splendor.....we are going to be in Grand Cayman 7:00 am-4:00 pm (already book dolphin swim for 1:30 so I'm nervous), Cozumel 10:00am-6:00pm, Belize 8:00am-5:00pm and port mahogany 8:00am-3:00pm......if I'm booking excursions (not through carnival, but with tours that book for cruises) are the times going to be different once I'm on the island?? I've read that some observe DST and some don't, but doesn't help me because not sure what time will be in February.....I need a concrete time!!! Any help would be appreciated!!!!!

 

 

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peppergal

peppergal

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Yes, in many cases ship time and port time do not match. For the most part (there are a few exceptions but not many), the ship will stay in the timezone for your embarkation port.

 

Any good, reputable excursion vendor understands this, and is well aware of what the ship time is for your cruise once you tell them what ship you are arriving on. Some of them have even configured their web offerings such that once you tell them what ship/day, they only display excursions that will fit in your schedule.

 

You will need to contact your chosen vendor to determine if the times they are displaying are ship time or port time. They should also be able to recommend what will work with the ship's schedule.

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springs741

springs741

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I can't help you with concrete times. ......BUT

 

First suggestion is to buy a watch. Cell phones auto adjust to local time. Watch is set to ship time and stays on ship time.

 

 

Tour operators deal with this all the time. Most will ask you what ship you are sailing on to help with the planning.

 

 

Book the earliest time slot for activities after you arrive in port.

 

Be aware of travel time.

 

You also need to be aware that , for example in GC, that 4 PM is sail away. Back on board is 3:30 and it is a tender port. I would want to be back in the port area by 3 at the very latest. So if your dolphin swim meets at 1:30 you have only 90 minutes for transportation, event and return. Way to close for my comfort.

 

You have time to research and plan and ask questions. Welcome to Cruise Critic and the love of cruising.

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bumbles

bumbles

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I have used this link before http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html to figure out times. You can put in the ship time (what time you'll arrive at a specific port for example) and then the place you'll be at for a specific date. It should tell you the difference in times.

 

Please keep in mind that places can change their daylight savings hours (like the US did several years ago.)

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crewsweeper "Live from...." Rare

crewsweeper

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I have used this link before http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html to figure out times. You can put in the ship time (what time you'll arrive at a specific port for example) and then the place you'll be at for a specific date. It should tell you the difference in times.

 

Please keep in mind that places can change their daylight savings hours (like the US did several years ago.)

 

 

Grand Cayman and Cozumel both observe Eastern standard time all year round. So times will correspond with Carnival Splendor times.

 

Neither Belize nor Roatan observe daylight savings time. Both are on Central Standard time. So ship time will be 1 hour a head of local time in February. Port times on itineraries are ship time. You will be in Belize from 7AM- 4PM local Belize time (not that last tender is typically 1/2 hour to 1 hour prior to sailing time for ship. You will be in Roatan from 7 AM to 2 PM local time.

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luv2trvlnow

luv2trvlnow

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I have used this link before http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html to figure out times. You can put in the ship time (what time you'll arrive at a specific port for example) and then the place you'll be at for a specific date. It should tell you the difference in times.

 

Please keep in mind that places can change their daylight savings hours (like the US did several years ago.)

I also use this site. It makes it easy to determine the times. Carnival usually keeps to the home port time, so I use that and then find the port I am going to and put in the date and time I will be there and let it convert. The times on your itinerary arer ship time. You don't have to know if a port observes daylight savings time or not, it does it for you. This will just tell you if there is a time difference and how much difference there is on the date and time you are arriving.

You know what time your ship will be in port based on the ship time. So cross reference that with the time the port is expecting the ship.

 

Try using this link (http://ports.cruisett.com/). It will show you when your ship is expected to be there and what other ships are in port that day too.

 

I don't find that site to be very accurate. I use this site instead, it seems to be more accurate:

 

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/

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originalgeek

originalgeek

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I can tell you that Victor Bodden tours in Roatan and Butts-Up cave-tubing in Belize know exactly when your ship is coming in and when it leaves so if you are using either of them (and I highly recommend them) they will have it all figured out for you and will communicate that in their emails to you when setting up your excursions. I thought they went out of their way to make us comfortable with booking excursions outside of the Carnival and I truly appreciated it.

 

And then, on top of that, it turned out we couldn't do the VB tour we had set up in Roatan because we won a free excursion on the ship the first sea day. They congratulated us on our unexpected win and gave us no issues for cancelling on them and we will definitely get them next time we go to Roatan.

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crewsweeper "Live from...." Rare

crewsweeper

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We are in Cozumel October 27 ship time from 7 to 3 but the chart shows port time 8 to 4. Could someone tell me if we switch to Cozumel time?? Thanks!!

 

 

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Which ship are you on sailing out of where? Cozumel is on Eastern Standard. The US doesn't shift to Eastern Standard time until Sunday morning November 6th. If you are sailing out of NOLA or Galveston, you will be on the same time as Coz. If you are sailing out of Florida or other Eastern ports, you will be 1 hour ahead.

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luv2trvlnow

luv2trvlnow

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I can tell you that Victor Bodden tours in Roatan and Butts-Up cave-tubing in Belize know exactly when your ship is coming in and when it leaves so if you are using either of them (and I highly recommend them) they will have it all figured out for you and will communicate that in their emails to you when setting up your excursions. I thought they went out of their way to make us comfortable with booking excursions outside of the Carnival and I truly appreciated it.

 

And then, on top of that, it turned out we couldn't do the VB tour we had set up in Roatan because we won a free excursion on the ship the first sea day. They congratulated us on our unexpected win and gave us no issues for cancelling on them and we will definitely get them next time we go to Roatan.

 

I agree that most of the tour operators know when you are arriving and leaving. It is there reputation and livelihood.

 

People just need to make sure they know the times. We have seen people arriving for their tour early or worse late because they didn't understand the time differences. At least if they know the time differences they are more likely to be there on time and not keep others waiting. That is not a problem with Victor Bodden if you have your own driver.

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luv2trvlnow

luv2trvlnow

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some of you are way over thinking this. The tour operators know what time it is. The percentage of people missing a port is extremely rare.

 

Most of us are not talking about missing the ship, we are talking about getting to the independent tour operator at the right time to start a tour. Greatm the operator knows what time it is, it would be good as a passenger to also know what time it is. Show up an hour late and they will be gone.

 

Some tour operators only have people from one cruise ship. But we went on a tour to stingray city in Grand Cayman and they had cruise ship people from different ships and people staying at hotels on the island. They told you when to meet on island time. Had to know the time difference between them to show up at the correct time.

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luv2trvlnow

luv2trvlnow

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Problem was I wasn't booking with a tour, I was booking at a place (dolphin swim) and have to get my own transportation....needed to know if I needed to change it, turns out I don't

 

 

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We did the same thing several years ago in Cozumel, before Carnival entered into a contract with the dolphin swim place. You need to know the time difference and the dolphin place isn't going to take the time to find it out for each person.

 

Yours is a perfect example of why someone needs to know this information before getting to a port and shouldn't be told not to worry about it or over think it.

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fshstck

fshstck

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First suggestion is to buy a watch. Cell phones auto adjust to local time. Watch is set to ship time and stays on ship time.

 

 

 

Yes, great advice- buy an inexpensive wrist watch. Wal-Mart some waterproof ones for around $10. Cellphones tend to switch times, even with airplane mode on, or if you want to connect to WiFi.

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fshstck

fshstck

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Problem was I wasn't booking with a tour, I was booking at a place (dolphin swim) and have to get my own transportation....needed to know if I needed to change it, turns out I don't

 

 

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We did Dolphinaris at Cozumel a few years ago, believe me the time thing had me worried, but booked everything local time, but use ship time for departure (return to ship). There is plenty of taxis waiting a short walk from the Cruise Dock, the prices are pre-set so you don't have to worry about getting ripped off. We had a great time, afterwards we had time to head to "The Money Bar' for some outstanding snorkeling.

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