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Port arrival time? what time is that?

emelle

By emelle,
in Celebrity Cruises

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emelle

emelle

Posted
Posted

I am getting confused on a very basic question and cannot seem to find an answer when I search, though I seem to remember having read something about it….

 

When our itinerary on Celebrity says "arrive, san juan, PR---3:30pm" is that 3:30 local (San Juan) time or is it 3:30 FLL (port of departure) time? Of course I am assuming weather and all other variables work to support the posted itinerary.

 

I am trying to arrange a tour to include at least one of the forts, and since they close at 6pm, an hour can make a difference in what time we meet the local guide. Seems on our few other Celebrity cruises, the time listed in our paperwork itinerary was the local port time too…but it's been about a year so I may not be remembering correctly.

 

If anyone can share a link to a site that tells about arrive time for the Port of San Juan, that might help too. Thanks in advance, emelle

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Gonzo70

Gonzo70

Posted
Posted (edited)
Arrival time will be the local time.

 

Absolutely incorrect; arrival time is ALWAYS listed in ship time. If there is a discrepancy between ship time and local time it is at the discretion of the Captain whether or not to change ship time to match (this will clearly be announced); sometimes they do, sometimes they do not.

Edited by Gonzo70
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tinybabynurse

tinybabynurse

Posted
Posted

Stated arrival time will be local time.

 

TBN and I have been on many Celebrity Cruises and I do not remember any port where the ship's time differed from local time. Just be certain to refer to your daily program each evening and note if you are to change your clock before turning in.

 

I have been on other cruise lines where ships time did differ but not Celebrity.

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jan-n-john

jan-n-john

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Absolutely incorrect; arrival time is ALWAYS listed in ship time. If there is a discrepancy between ship time and local time it is at the discretion of the Captain whether or not to change ship time to match (this will clearly be announced); sometimes they do, sometimes they do not.

 

Ship's time is local time. That's why they are always having you reset your clocks etc. as the voyage goes along and crosses various time zone lines. I've never heard of any discrepancy.

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Gonzo70

Gonzo70

Posted
Posted
Ship's time is local time. That's why they are always having you reset your clocks etc. as the voyage goes along and crosses various time zone lines. I've never heard of any discrepancy.

 

You have only sailed on a tiny, tiny, minuscule portion of Celebrity sailings. I have had multiple sailings where ship time and local time were an hour discrepant. So have many others on Cruise Critic who have posted on similar threads over the years. It is doing people a grave disservice to tell them ship time and local time are always the same; that is factually wrong and potentially could lead to someone missing the ship. While it is more common for Celebrity Captain's to change ship time to match local time, there are plenty of instances where there is an hour discrepancy. This is always at the discretion of the Captain and cannot be known with certainty in advance what will transpire on any particular sailing.

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cruisestitch "Live from...." Rare

cruisestitch

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Posted

gonzo70 is correct.

 

The ship may or may not change to local time. It is up to the Captain and senior staff.

 

There have even been posts here on Cruise Critic with photographs from the daily showing the notice that the ship time will not match local time on particular itineraries.

 

Cporses, tinybabynurse, and others are not correct when they tell you that Celebrity always is matches ship time to local time.

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Charles4515

Charles4515

Posted
Posted (edited)
gonzo70 is correct.

 

 

 

The ship may or may not change to local time. It is up to the Captain and senior staff.

 

 

 

There have even been posts here on Cruise Critic with photographs from the daily showing the notice that the ship time will not match local time on particular itineraries.

 

 

 

Cporses, tinybabynurse, and others are not correct when they tell you that Celebrity always is matches ship time to local time.

 

 

 

As you say they don't always match up ship time with local time. But the time listed in the itinerary for arrival should be local time. Although I have had that not be true. The Captain wanted to have more time at Labadee, was having engine issues so they changed the clocks onboard even though Labadee was not in a different time zone. Easy to check though. I always do when booking an independent tour. I have used the below sites.

 

http://m.cruisett.com/

 

http://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/san-juan-port-39

 

http://www.cruisecal.com/portal/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited by Charles4515
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cruisestitch "Live from...." Rare

cruisestitch

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Might the discrepancy be related to the source of the information?

 

On Celebrity website, in the Celebrity Today, the time listed will be ship time.

 

Perhaps (and I'm just guessing here but it makes sense) if you are getting the information from the port authorities, they will give it as local time, since they really don't know or care ahead of time if the ship will change times there or not. As far as they are concerned, their local watches will be used when making arrangements for the port workers, the dock crews, etc. No matter what time Celebrity (or Carnival, which famously does not change the ship's time to local time) says it is on board.

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Charles4515

Charles4515

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You are entitled to your own opinion, not your own facts. Hopefully others realize you are spreading false information and will not be misled.

 

 

 

You are the one misleading. What is shown on the paperwork itinerary is the ship's arrival in local time. That does not mean that it is the same as ships time. Sometimes they don't change the time on the ship. That's where you have to be aware of that when booking independent tours or returning to the ship.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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cruisestitch "Live from...." Rare

cruisestitch

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"What is shown on the paperwork itinerary is the ship's arrival in local time."

 

I don't believe that is so. I just checked the paperwork for a cruise I was on where the ship did not change to local time.

 

The printed itinerary, on my booking form, said we would arrive in Cozumel at 8 a.m.

 

The itinerary on the front page of the embarkation day Daily, said we would arrive at 8 a.m.

 

We arrived at 8 a.m. ship's time.

 

But it was not 8 a.m. Cozumel time.

 

That's the point. All the printed matter tells us what the ship arrival and departure time will be, no matter what the local time is on that port day.

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Fish Lover

Fish Lover

Posted
Posted
I am getting confused on a very basic question and cannot seem to find an answer when I search, though I seem to remember having read something about it….

 

When our itinerary on Celebrity says "arrive, san juan, PR---3:30pm" is that 3:30 local (San Juan) time or is it 3:30 FLL (port of departure) time? Of course I am assuming weather and all other variables work to support the posted itinerary.

 

I am trying to arrange a tour to include at least one of the forts, and since they close at 6pm, an hour can make a difference in what time we meet the local guide. Seems on our few other Celebrity cruises, the time listed in our paperwork itinerary was the local port time too…but it's been about a year so I may not be remembering correctly.

 

If anyone can share a link to a site that tells about arrive time for the Port of San Juan, that might help too. Thanks in advance, emelle

 

So... I hope the prior posts have really cleared things up for you! ;)

Go to http://ports.cruisett.com/ look up the port/ship/date you are concerned about. It will tell you (local time) when the ship is scheduled to be in port. ALWAYS keep in mind that local conditions may impact your schedule during your sailing.

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bbappel

bbappel

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Posted

One thing that is important is that you know how long you have in port and communicate that to the tour provider. Reputable tour providers are most likely to know what time you arrive and leave and will do what they can to ensure you are onboard in time. Take your comfort zone into mind too. Some people are happy arriving a half-hour before on-board time, some need an hour, some like to slide in as the gangways are about to be pulled up.

 

Enjoy and don't let the bickering affect your fun.

 

Beth

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jan-n-john

jan-n-john

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I think the primary issue that may be causing confusion is daylight saving time. I believe Celebrity's policy is to adjust ship's time to whatever time zone the ship is in, as I said earlier, and AFAIK all or the vast majority of places in a particular time zone set their clocks accordingly. However, individual ports/islands/countries may or may not elect to use daylight saving time and this could be the source of the observations. Nevertheless, I find it odd that, in such a case, the ship would fail to take pains to be sure passengers are informed when leaving the ship.

 

This is an interesting issue. I will be on Reflection starting tomorrow and am going to corral ship's officers or whomever and do my best to get to the bottom of this. I will report whatever I learn.

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jan-n-john

jan-n-john

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Posted (edited)
You have only sailed on a tiny, tiny, minuscule portion of Celebrity sailings. I have had multiple sailings where ship time and local time were an hour discrepant. So have many others on Cruise Critic who have posted on similar threads over the years. It is doing people a grave disservice to tell them ship time and local time are always the same; that is factually wrong and potentially could lead to someone missing the ship. While it is more common for Celebrity Captain's to change ship time to match local time, there are plenty of instances where there is an hour discrepancy. This is always at the discretion of the Captain and cannot be known with certainty in advance what will transpire on any particular sailing.

 

See my post two posts up.

 

I suspect ship's time is a company policy matter and not subject to the whim of the captain. In spite of all the "captain is the ultimate authority" blather, in fact he has to follow company policy in most thing, and no captain with half a brain is going to go to the mats with Miami over something like this. I will also look into this next week.

 

Anybody who relies on anything he reads on this or any other internet bulletin board needs to have his head examined. He's doing his own disservice.

Edited by jan-n-john
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