Caribbean Island ports - time difference?

[Duranee]

I am cruising on Princess, in December, to the Caribbean and have hired a private tour company in a couple ports - specifically in Dominican Republic and St. Kitts and am wondering if the scheduled arrival time posted by Princess will be the same time as the Island time.  I saw several random posts on Cruise Critic re: tour guides which said, when booking private tours, be sure you are going by Island time, which can differ from the ship's time.  I always thought if the ship said we would be docking in Amber Cove, Dominican Republic at 9 a.m., that would be the exact time in D.R.  Same with St. Kitts - we are scheduled to dock at 9 a.m. - and have booked a guided tour @ 9:45 .  Am I correct in assuming that the ship time for docking in these ports is the same as Island time??  tyia 

[LHT28]

Most  ships  I have been on change the time to the local  time 

but some lines  just like to keep you on your toes

 

either way the local guides know when the ship will dock  & how long it may take you to reach the meeting place

[CruiserBruce]

Agree on both points. And, if you have a private guide or tour, they are dedicated to you. They aren't going to leave if you are 5 minutes late.

[Essiesmom]

The only line I have sailed that did not change to local time is Carnival.  EM

[ldubs]

We were on an RCI cruise in the Caribbean last week.  The ship stayed on EST.  I think there was one port we visited that was in anther time zone.   We received a note in the room reminding us to stay on ship's time for that port.   Maybe because it was only one port they didn't want to bother changing the clocks, IDK.  

 

For your concern, does it really matter?  If you have a 9:45 (local time) tour and the ship docks at 9 (eastern time zone), you will have an extra hour to make your tour.  I think.  Or am I doing this backwards.    

[Essiesmom]

It depends on whether you are doing the eastern Caribbean, or Mexican Caribbean. The eastern is on Atlantic Standard Time.  Eastern Daylight Time = AST.  But when we drop back to EST, the eastern Caribbean is one hour ahead, but we are on the same time as Mexican ports .EM