Question regarding port times listed in itenerary

[racetech]

New cruiser here. Im just curious as to the times listed at the various ports during my cruise. For example if my port time is 9am-1pm does that mean the ship is docked and ready to let passengers off at 9am, returning to ship by 1pm or are the times the actual arrival and departure times of the ship? Im trying to figure this out in regards to excursion planning!!

[KeithJenner]

You can usually get off the ship pretty well at the time stated. There may be some delays due to queues if the docking time is later in the day (as more people will be keep to get off straight away) and if it is a tender port then this can cause some delays (you usually need to reserve a time slot in advance, first come first served).

 

As for returning to the ship, all aboard time is usually 30 minutes before departure. It is worth checking this every day, just in case. Times are in the freestyle daily and posted at the gangplank. Again, tender ports can affect this.

Edited June 12, 2019 by KeithJenner

[smplybcause]

If it's a tender port add at least 30 minutes to the arrival time to get the time when the first tenders actually make it to land. Most tenders hold a couple hundred people so it takes time to fill and then you have to get to the land. It also might be hard to get on one of the first few tenders if you don't have a NCL excursion or are staying in the Haven. I'm not sure about the smaller ships, but the Away class has tender tickets you can reserve once you're on board. I think the were available the day before to reserve - just go to the self-serve screens you see around the ship (mostly by the elevators). I have been on a cruise where they got started early so everyone with the early tender tickets wasn't prepared so they just kept calling numbers since the lines weren't long. 

[KeithJenner]

Tender ports vary significantly, sometimes between different sailings on the same itinerary.

 

I have seen tender tickets allocated on the morning of arrival, or days in advance. They have been available from different places and the system itself can vary, for example sometimes there are separate tenders used for NCL tours and other times the tours jump to the front of the queue.

 

If there is a tender port then don't rely on previous experience. When you are onboard find out then what the procedure is for getting tickets and if you need to be off early make sure you are near the front of whatever queue there is.

[racetech]

As far as I know none of my ports will require a tender.

[zqvol]

5 hours ago, racetech said:

New cruiser here. Im just curious as to the times listed at the various ports during my cruise. For example if my port time is 9am-1pm does that mean the ship is docked and ready to let passengers off at 9am, returning to ship by 1pm or are the times the actual arrival and departure times of the ship? Im trying to figure this out in regards to excursion planning!!

 

What that means on a docked port is that normally you are able to get off the ship within a few minutes of 9:00. You uhave to be back on board 30 minutes prior to sailaway time, which would be 12:30 in your example.

 

Tender ports take a bit longer to get ashore. You have to be in the tender line to  return to the ship at the stated time for the last tender (usually 430 - 45 minutes before sailaway).

[bonvoyagie]

It is also highly suggested that you set your timepiece to ships time as that is what the ship will use to determine when to leave. Also take the daily with you, or program the number for the port agent and let them know if you are going to be late. Perhaps the ship will wait for you as chances are whatever is delaying you is also affecting a ship's excursion too.

[Sauer-kraut]

Here's a BIG TIP  -- don't use your phone as a clock.  Don't use one of those FitBit type things as your timepiece.  You will experience (perhaps) a discrepancy for local and ship's time.  Use an old fashioned watch.  (You can get cheap ones for less than $8 at at large stores such as Walmart.

[KeithJenner]

17 minutes ago, Sauer-kraut said:

Here's a BIG TIP  -- don't use your phone as a clock.  Don't use one of those FitBit type things as your timepiece.  You will experience (perhaps) a discrepancy for local and ship's time.  Use an old fashioned watch.  (You can get cheap ones for less than $8 at at large stores such as Walmart.

This is good advice, but I would add that you can use your phone (and any linked watch) as long as you set it so that you manually change the time..

 

I use my phone/apple watch, and I manually enter the time zones that we are in when there is a time change. That way I can continue to use them as I normally do.

 

If you aren't willing to do that bit of work then I would agree with you totally.

[BirdTravels]

The vast majority of time, the ship time is the local time in your port of call. We cruise multiple times a year and have never had the ship's time differ from local time (on one 6-day cruise, we changed times 5 times,,, which was annoying). Other's have reported that ship time was different that port time, so I will not say that it is "always" the same, but I have never seen this. So watch your Freestyle Daily. 

[Shoppie124]

On 6/12/2019 at 6:06 PM, Sauer-kraut said:

Here's a BIG TIP  -- don't use your phone as a clock.  Don't use one of those FitBit type things as your timepiece.  You will experience (perhaps) a discrepancy for local and ship's time.  Use an old fashioned watch.  (You can get cheap ones for less than $8 at at large stores such as Walmart.

If you have the internet package does your cellphone update the time?

[BirdTravels]

19 minutes ago, Shoppie124 said:

If you have the internet package does your cellphone update the time?

The internet has no idea where you are. 

 

And the ship decides when they are going to change the ship's time (not necessarily when you geographically change time zones). So you ALWAYS want to turn off automatic updates to your date and time and manually change it as the ship changes. 

[KeithJenner]

It can be even worse than that. I have seen situations where automatic update causes things to go to totally incorrect time zones.

 

For example, Miami when you are in Europe, things like that.

 

If you ever take a photo when you are on a ship then it takes its location tag from where the ship thinks you are. Some are way out, and your phone would change to that time if you were automatically updating.

 

As above, joining the internet doesn't help. It is where the ship network is set to that matters.

[Homosassa]

And above all, remember that the times listed for arrival and departure  in the itinerary might be changed and you may not be told until the day of the port.

 

The port may also be cancelled without any warning. I have been on cruises where the ship was in the channel and approaching the pier only to have the captain decide that conditions were such that the ship could not be docked.

[casofilia]

The times you quote are what NCL anticipates will be the arrival and departure times.   

The arrival time is based on the expected time the pilot will board and the time to get to the wharf from that.  Then you have to factor in any hold-up caused by the local authorities.  But, in my experience the quoted arrival time is the latest the ship is alongside and the latter point is the clincher.

Similarly the departure time is often dependent on the tide, both strength and clearance above ocean floor, and the availability of the pilot.  While NCL states that it will wait for those on an NCL shore excursion the above would override that.

 

But make sure that you are on board 30 minutes before the time shown in the Freestyle Daily or at the gangway.  They are correct and may well be different to that shown on any itinerary.

Make sure that "watch time" is the same as "ship time"