Caribbean Princess Itinerary Times

[Repeates]

Sorry if this has been asked multiple times, but I did a search and couldn't find the answer.  We are on Caribbean Princess next month and are wondering if the times listed at each port are the ship time, or local time?  In Belize it says we arrive at 7 am, but is that ship time, which is East coast time...in Belize that would actually be 5am ( CST with no daylight savings) ?  We are doing a private excursion and the tour guide asked if we wanted a 8am pick up.  Also doing a private excursion in Cozumel and it is listed as 10 am arrival and wondering if that would be 9am (CST) local time? Thank you!

[satxdiver]

Always ship time listed in the patter and posted on the gangplank to leave the ship so coming from PE it will be ET at first.  Now to confuse the subject, Princess will have pax change their clocks the night before if the next port's time is different.  The time change will be in the patter and they will leave a note on your bed to change time (+ or -) before retiring for the night.  So in answer to your question the time posted will be both the port's time and the ship's time in almost all cases.  I have never seen it different so far. 

[KCsealegs]

In my experience the ships time will be the same as the port time. 

[skynight]

Ship time and port time will be the same. Princess always changes their ship time to match port time. There will be notices in the Princess Patter and notices placed on your bed in the evening. If your itinerary says you are arriving at 7am that will be 7am local time.

Note: If you use a phone for your time the phone may may not have the correct times. Best to use a watch and move the hands forward or back according to information provided.

[fishywood]

I have been on various Princess cruises where ship's time did not match local time in Limon, Cozumel, Huatulco, and Princess Cays.

 

In the case of Limon it was because Costa Rica was two hours behind Ft Lauderdale during DST (it was in October just before the US "falls back"). For a seven night cruise it is certainly possible the ship will only move the clock back one hour [likely the first night] and then forward one hour again [the night departing the final port]. Very hard on the crew and on onboard scheduling to have four time changes in seven nights just to be in sync with the one port not observing DST.

 

If you confirm with the guide that he will be meeting you at 8AM local time, it is possible that you will not know until after you board if that hour is 8AM or 9AM ship's time. But if he is experienced with Princess passengers he should know.

[AF-1]

I was on Caribbean Princess in Feb;  my patters says ship tendered in Belize at 7AM with last tender leaving at 5PM

Edited May 26, 2019 by AF-1

[paul929207]

Princess adjusts the time on the ship to keep it the same as local or port time.

[skynight]

7 hours ago, Repeates said:

Sorry if this has been asked multiple times, but I did a search and couldn't find the answer.  We are on Caribbean Princess next month and are wondering if the times listed at each port are the ship time, or local time?  In Belize it says we arrive at 7 am, but is that ship time, which is East coast time...in Belize that would actually be 5am ( CST with no daylight savings) ?  We are doing a private excursion and the tour guide asked if we wanted a 8am pick up.  Also doing a private excursion in Cozumel and it is listed as 10 am arrival and wondering if that would be 9am (CST) local time? Thank you!

Just a note: Belize is a tender port. The ship anchors and the tender ride is about 20 minutes. Allowing for embarking and disembarking the tender maybe a total 30/35 minutes. Passengers will have to pick up a tender ticket in order to go to the pontoon for boarding. Tickets are on a first come basis and only one ticket per person. One can not pick up tickets for an entire party. Princess booked tours receive priority tender access. If you are Elite you already know you get that service. Full suite passengers also get priority tender service. The Princess Patter will have information on tendering. Since Grand Cayman is your first tender stop you will see how it works before you get to Belize. FYI, Grand Cayman tender service is shorter and quicker.

[Steelers36]

I have found that most ports have a website of ship arrivals/departures and Mr Google is your friend to find these.  Also, local guides are aware of when ships arrive and normally know when to schedule to meet passengers.  They may also be a little aggressive in setting the time shortly after arrival to make sure their clients hustle off the ship ready to tour.

[Ombud]

I think it's great that you asked for clarification.  It is ALWAYS ship time and you will be notified if you need to change your phone / watch / whatever to match that time so that you won't be left on the dock. 

 

Does the Medallion automatically update time? That would be helpful 

[JF - retired RRT]

6 hours ago, fishywood said:

If you confirm with the guide that he will be meeting you at 8AM local time, it is possible that you will not know until after you board if that hour is 8AM or 9AM ship's time. But if he is experienced with Princess passengers he should know.

My thought exactly.

[JF - retired RRT]

34 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Does the Medallion automatically update time? That would be helpful 

I don't think the Medallion does anything with "time".

[Ombud]

Wishful thinking. Has the Patter gone digital?

[AF-1]

Yes you can get the patter with one of the ocean apps;  I believe it is ocean concierge or ocean compass that has the patters

[skynight]

13 hours ago, Ombud said:

Wishful thinking. Has the Patter gone digital?

It's on Princess@Sea. My 2019 experience is that the digital version & the paper version are not always the same. I guess in time that issue will be worked out.

[MauiLvrs]

On 5/26/2019 at 1:26 PM, paul929207 said:

Princess adjusts the time on the ship to keep it the same as local or port time.

 

On 5/26/2019 at 8:35 AM, skynight said:

Ship time and port time will be the same. Princess always changes their ship time to match port time. 

 

On 5/26/2019 at 8:00 AM, KCsealegs said:

In my experience the ships time will be the same as the port time. 

Good luck with that 😂🤣

[HLNFan]

On 5/26/2019 at 4:35 PM, skynight said:

Princess booked tours receive priority tender access. If you are Elite you already know you get that service. Full suite passengers also get priority tender service.

 

Grand Cayman tender service is shorter and quicker.

 

Not always that quick, this is why our tour left without us in Grand Cayman.  Not on Princess, but Royal Caribbean, we booked an independent tour, set the meeting time, and apparently they included another family with us.  The other party posted on Cruise Critic about the "great" excursion they had because the other family didn't show.  According to the tour guide, they were on the first tender and refused to wait. It was our first cruise with Royal Caribbean and had NO perks.  We were in line for tender tickets 15 minutes before they were to start giving them out, it took us over an hour to get off the ship.  If you are booking a private tour, I would 1) check if you are the only people on the tour as the guide will be more likely to wait 2) be sure that you let them know that tendering could take a while because of ship sponsored tours, high loyalty passengers, etc. 3) have a back up plan in case they don't wait.

 

There were four ships in port that day, so that does make the tenders spread pretty thin.

[MauiLvrs]

8 hours ago, HLNFan said:

 

... It was our first cruise with Royal Caribbean and had NO perks.  ...

RCCL does not handle excursions nearly as well as Princess. And if you are used to how well Princess excursions are manages, RCCL could be a surprise and problematic ...