Transatlantic questions

[ed01106]

On 6/23/2019 at 9:16 PM, evandbob said:

We just did our 1st ever TA from Cape Canaveral to Barcelona, 15 days at sea in early May.  The crossing was as smooth as glass, hardly any waves, perhaps 1 to 2', I was amazed at the ocean's calm.  Probably helped we weren't on a northern route like NY to London.

 

What we didn't anticipate were the 5 days at sea when the clocks on NCL fell back one hour each day.  After 5 days of losing time I was thinking breakfast yet it was lunchtime on the ship.

 

If we ever do another TA, we'll most likely do one from Europe to the US, and gain an hour every day with a time change.  I think our minds' clocks will adjust to the extra time easier than how we got spacey from losing those hours.

I would think it would be easier to deal with 5 hours of boat lag spread out over a week than 5 hours of jet lag all at once, assuming you adjust your clock daily (set alarm clock, go to bed at new time) every day.

[kazu]

8 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Our first TA was an eastbound.  We knew we'd have all those 23-hour days, but did not realize how much of an effect losing only an hour a day several days in a row would have.  It didn't help that we had joined a trivia team; trivia was at 10am every day -- which soon became much earlier body time.   Since then, we've done five more TAs, all westbound.  (We love TAs.)   I wouldn't rule out another eastbound TA, but it would probably have to be a special itinerary, and we'd be sure not to be over-scheduled on board!

 

Good point on the Eastbounds but on my last couple, they no longer change the clocks at night.  They changed them at 2 pm.  So 2 pm became 3 pm.  

 

I’ll take a TA to get to Europe over flying any day of the week 😉 

6 hours ago, ed01106 said:

I would think it would be easier to deal with 5 hours of boat lag spread out over a week than 5 hours of jet lag all at once, assuming you adjust your clock daily (set alarm clock, go to bed at new time) every day.

 

Totally agree.  Travelling across the ocean, it is a lot easier to adjust to the time than flying.

[navybankerteacher]

18 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Good point on the Eastbounds but on my last couple, they no longer change the clocks at night.  They changed them at 2 pm.  So 2 pm became 3 pm.  

 

...

 

You still need to adjust body clock to comply with ships clock.  If you normally go to bed at midnight, then every day when they advance the clock an hour, you split the difference by going to bed at 11:30 new ship’s time.

[fishywood]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

You still need to adjust body clock to comply with ships clock.  If you normally go to bed at midnight, then every day when they advance the clock an hour, you split the difference by going to bed at 11:30 new ship’s time.

But if the clocks are advanced midday rather than when you are sleeping, if you then go to bed a half hour earlier than normal you have lopped 90 minutes off your day. If you wanted to split the difference (lose 30 min sleep and 30 min wake time) you would go to bed at 12:30 rather than midnight and get up at your normal hour. Hopefully with a normal appetite for breakfast each morning. The one eastbound TA I sailed took eight days to get from Miami to Ponta Delgada, losing an hour's sleep on nights 1, 4, 5, and 6. But I still was up in time for breakfast in the MDR each day. So I sure hope if I ever take another one they advance the clocks during the day.

[kazu]

7 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

You still need to adjust body clock to comply with ships clock.  If you normally go to bed at midnight, then every day when they advance the clock an hour, you split the difference by going to bed at 11:30 new ship’s time.

 

There was no need for that with the time being adjusted during the day.

You were already on the ‘new’ time and there was no loss of sleep 😉 

 

5 hours ago, fishywood said:

But if the clocks are advanced midday rather than when you are sleeping, if you then go to bed a half hour earlier than normal you have lopped 90 minutes off your day. If you wanted to split the difference (lose 30 min sleep and 30 min wake time) you would go to bed at 12:30 rather than midnight and get up at your normal hour. Hopefully with a normal appetite for breakfast each morning. The one eastbound TA I sailed took eight days to get from Miami to Ponta Delgada, losing an hour's sleep on nights 1, 4, 5, and 6. But I still was up in time for breakfast in the MDR each day. So I sure hope if I ever take another one they advance the clocks during the day.

 

I really liked the clock change during the day.  We felt no effects at all and it was an easy adjustment.

 

Hoping they do the same thing on our next TA 😄 

[MBP&O2/O]

Back in the day, I did a transpacific trip and we were flogging the clocks an hour a day. Unfortunately we also crossed the date line and lost a day ... not so bad on the face of it but the day we should have lost was Christmas Day ... that got banned and we lost Boxing Day instead ...  this meant from a navigational point of view our ‘nautical noon’ ended up at 2pm ... very confusing 😀

[Markanddonna]

On our 2016 TA on the RCL Vision of the Seas, the dashing Polish and best captain ever, Marek Slabey, adjusted the clocks at noon each day. His motivation was for his crew's well being. His wisdom was reflected in his great crew's attitude. So, you can't generalize about when the time change will occur.  It is up to the captain.

[ed01106]

Regardless if they change the clocks midday or at night focus on when you wake up (set an alarm clock, or meditate for an hour if you wake up to early.)   Obviously you want to get bed time in alignment as well but that will happen more naturally if force yourself to get yourself out of bed at the correct time.  

 

Also if you are someone who prefers a night time clock change to a day time clock change, (or vice versa) there is nothing catastrophic about changing your clock (from a routine stand point) 12 hours sooner or 12 hours later than the rest of the ship (particularly if you have anytime dining)