Help PLEASE ship time/island time March 14 for Joyce Prince

[laceyjane]

Hi,

We are sailing on RCL Empress of the Seas out of San Juan. On Tuesday, March 14, we have a tour with Joyce Prince booked. We dock at 10:00 am and depart the island at 5:00 pm. Joyce Prince has asked me if our 10:00 am docking time is ship time or island time. On March 14 will our 10:00 am ship time be the same as their local island time??

Thanks

[kal]

During Eastern Standard Time in the US, St. Maarten is one hour ahead as they are on Atlantic Standard Time. When time shifts to "Savings (Daylite) Time", St. Maarten does not shift; then, they are the same time as EDT.

[jeffyd]

LaceyJane,

 

To be on the safe side, I would call RCL and ask them if the times on your cruise documents are Island time or not. We were just there last week on the HAL Maasdam and while our ship did change times to be in sync with Island time, other passengers from one of the Carnival ships (can't remember which one) said their ship did not change times and they were not on Island time. It made it very confusing because they were on a different time than what the Island was on. I had never heard of a ship doing that before. Again, to be safe, I'd call RCL and ask. Good luck with it. We just toured with Joyce Prince last week and LOVED her!

[thatbloominplace]

i just spoke on the phone with joyce prince last night. we are doing a tour with her in feb. she said that rccl is on island time. to be totally sure, check with rccl, but it sounds like you should be all set.

[txadmin2]

Hi,

We are sailing on RCL Empress of the Seas out of San Juan. On Tuesday, March 14, we have a tour with Joyce Prince booked. We dock at 10:00 am and depart the island at 5:00 pm. Joyce Prince has asked me if our 10:00 am docking time is ship time or island time. On March 14 will our 10:00 am ship time be the same as their local island time??

Thanks

 

We just returned from a wonderful trip on Mariner or the Seas. RCCL does indeed change to go with local time.

 

We really enjoyed our time with Joyce. Make sure she takes you to Reemers if you want souvenirs. This place is like a Sam's Club here in the states.

[sharon j]

I was on RCL Explorer of the Sea last Feb and they stayed on ship time for the entire cruise. As a result, we were 1 hour late in meeting up with Joyce and felt very bad having her wait for us. I suggest you set up a time with Joyce based on "island time" which is her time and adjust accordingly depending on what RCL does after you sail. Enjoy your cruise.

 

Sharon

[novellaherman]

We are having this exact same problem, we are aboard the Glory.........which is supposed to remain on eastern standard time the entire cruise. This means that right now......through April 2, it is 5:00 in FL and 6:00 in st. marteen and St. Thomas. But after daylight savings they will be on the same time table. It seems to me there should be some nautical standard. Where all ships are observing the same time. But as I have researched it, it seems to vary by cruise line. Weird.

[alabama_cruisin]

http://www.cruisecal.com/dnn/default.aspx

This website shows all the ships, and what time the go into port.

I also booked with Joyce, and Carnival said we were in port from 8:00 am - 6:00 pm. When I asked, they said it was "Eastern" time, which would be from 9:00 am - 7:00 pm Joyce's island time.

[underwayatlast]

http://www.cruisecal.com/dnn/default.aspx

This website shows all the ships, and what time the go into port.

I also booked with Joyce, and Carnival said we were in port from 8:00 am - 6:00 pm. When I asked, they said it was "Eastern" time, which would be from 9:00 am - 7:00 pm Joyce's island time.

 

Thanks for the web site. I assume that the departing times are based on local time. Flying vs. cruising, it should be the same, once you've arrived in New York from Chicago you set your watch ahead one hour. The same from New York to St. Thomas, set your watch ahead an hour, hopefully the ship does the same. Set your watches!

[thebets]

Make sure you call the cruise line ahead of time - this is a simple question for them, and you should get a quick answer. Some lines switch times to be on track with the islands, and some don't. We just got off the Carnival, and they stayed at daylight savings time - one hour ahead of the island. You also should ask when you call if you dock, or tender, as they do both in St. Martin, and this will affect where you meet Joyce. We just toured with her last week, and had a wonderful day!! She is just great! Have fun...

[Jeanette1]

We were on Navigator of the Seas in December and they specifically told us to stay on ship's time, even though our ports were one hour ahead. We didn't do any tours, so I don't know how that works with local tours.

[miss meow]

I just called Carnival and was told that they don't change their clocks on the ship to match the port time. So....need to keep that in mind when we leave the ship.....San Juan, St Thomas and St Maarten will be one hour ahead of our watches....ohhhh, it's gonna make my head spin!!!

[surfmom]

Regarding the cruise port time question. Ship time goes by whatever port they depart from. In your case, you are departing from San Juan. Many other ships are departing from Florida etc and therefore their time is est or if you depart from Texas, I believe they are on Central time. San Juan is on Atlantic time, as well as most all other eastern carribean islands. Hope this helps others when cruising from around the world.

[miss meow]

Ok, just so I understand this...since Carnival says that they don't change their clocks, we leave from Miami, so they are set on EST the whole trip...we stop in St. Juan, St. Thomas and St Maarten....so, if our itinerary says that we dock in St. Thomas at 8:00 am - island time is really going to be 9:00? This is in late March, so daylight savings time hasn't happened yet for us. That kind of messes up the day sail that we booked in St. Thomas because I was assuming that we'd be on the island by 8 and the daysail leaves @ 9:30 - and it's a good 25 minute taxi ride from the dock. Any insight on this that I don't see, am I misunderstanding?

[alabama_cruisin]

I talked to Joyce, and I am certain that her time is 1 hour ahead of ours.

http://www.myworldclock.com/timezones/countries/St%20Maarten%20and%20St%20Martin << current St. Maarten time

 

But...

 

If you booked one of the ship's excursions, they might give you ship's time, not Island time.

 

 

 

 

 

Unless ...

 

You are ariving from the East on a Tuesday, and have crossed the International Time Zone within the last three hours. Then you would have to set your watch 3 hours behind, and then 2 hours ahead, but only if you live in the Central time zone. (just kidding about that last part)

[suzepoo]

We have booked a day sail in St. Maarten that leaves Simpson Bay at 9:00 a.m. island time, which is a 25 minute taxi ride away from where we dock. If the Glory stays on Eastern time, we won't even be able to disembark until 9:00 a.m. island time, which will totally screw up our day! How can we find out for sure?? You would think the tour companies would KNOW this as they deal with it EVERY day, unlike us who only have to worry about this when we cruise......at least with the airlines here, if your ticket says you depart at 6:00, it's 6:00 at THAT airport, not where you flew from, haha. How confusing! Any confirmation of all this would be wonderful??!!:D

[miss meow]

Well, since I was getting mixed answers between this thread, my travel agent and a couple of calls to Carnival....the consensus was/is that we will arrive on the island @ 9:00 island time, 8:00 ship time...which indeed threw us off on our daysail....so, rather than risk it, I found a different daysail that left at 10:00 instead of 9:00....might be worth looking into doing it that way. Our travel dates are just prior to daylight savings time, so had we sailed a week later, this would have all been a non-issue...

Oh well, we're looking forward to the trip, to the daysail - CANNOT WAIT!! Thanks to everyone for their input on this....it was just soooo confusing.

[suzepoo]

Just curious as to which day sail you found that leaves at 10:00...and I agree, we sail on March 18...a few weeks later and NONE of this would have been an issue....but I, too, found out yesterday from Carnival and frm other posters who have just come back from the exact same cruise that the Glory does NOT change ship time to match port times....which is very confusing for everyone! Have a GREAT cruise!:D

[miss meow]

We are on the Triumph leaving Miami on March 25....our ship will NOT change times to match Port times. We've had to call Carnival 4 times to get a final answer on that one....we kept getting different answers - which seems kinda crazy. Anyway...the ship will remain on Miami time the whole trip and the port times in the itinerary are ship times, so add an hour to get island times. We are actually doing the day sail in St. Thomas. The first one we booked was for 9:00, which obviously we wouldn't make it to. In St. Maarten, we are just renting a jeep and driving around the island for the day, but there again, had to change our reservations in regards to pick up time because I was "assuming" that we were arriving at 7:00 island time, not ship time. Ohhh silly me. The cruise lines really really need to make that more clear.

Have a GREAT cruise....it's almost here!!!