Ship time vs Port time

[mcdeane]

We are cruising out of Pt Canaveral, which is now on Eastern Daylight Savings Time.  It's been a few years since we have cruised but I recall the ships always saying to stay on ship time (time zone you departed from).  We are going to Roatan, which is Central time, but does not recognize daylight savings, so they are 2 hours behind.  If the dock time in Roatan shows 8am, is that ship time or the port time (which would be 6am with the time difference)?  

We are doing a private excursion and trying to get clarity on the time the ship is actually docking.

[hurricane0226]

You stay on ships time at every port.

[shof515]

Tour operators knows the quirkiness of the ship time and local time difference. do be aware that the tour operator time will be local port time and not ship time. make sure you are aware of the time difference and always have a watch or a device with ship time

[EngIceDave]

DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THE TIME ON YOUR PHONE

 

 

[Caps_Shield]

It may seem odd, but I wear a digital, non smart watch, just for this issue and only on cruises.  I set it to the ship's time and I will always be right.  I suggest it to anyone worried about missing  the ship.  

Edited March 30, 2023 by Caps_Shield

[Out of Iowa]

I purchased a water-tolerant, cheap watch with clock hands on its face that is easy to change the time with one button twisting. I use it for travel on cruises, beach days and travel to Europe. It is convenient and more valuable (to me) than any fancy watch for these uses.

[MayorDrafty]

On iPhone, go into the Clock app, tap World Clock, and add your ports and Orlando.  Then you'll be able to see both the local port times and the ship's time.

[BlerkOne]

6 hours ago, shof515 said:

Tour operators knows the quirkiness of the ship time and local time difference. do be aware that the tour operator time will be local port time and not ship time. make sure you are aware of the time difference and always have a watch or a device with ship time

Usually, especially if the ship is on a regular itinerary, but not always.

[Bostwick girl]

3 hours ago, MayorDrafty said:

On iPhone, go into the Clock app, tap World Clock, and add your ports and Orlando.  Then you'll be able to see both the local port times and the ship's time.

Now that would really be confusing!

[jsglow]

Not to wade into the argument other than to say nothing beats having a cheap Timex cruise watch and to pay attention to what the CD tells you.  It is problematic in modern times that your phone can re-set when you go ashore and impact any device that's tied to it.  Also note that your Carnival Hub app always shows ship time.  And BoB (back onboard) is always expressed in ship time.  Now some cruises sometimes adjust their ship clocks depending on the cruise. Sometimes they don't. It's always thoroughly explained and it's sometimes useful to visit the Excursions Desk to re-confirm any port v. ship differential for a particular port in case you need to confirm w/ a private excursion company. 

[kona_wahine]

Get an old fashioned watch. My hubby can’t be without one, luckily, so always rely on it. 

[ChuckF]

All I know is that I booked a private golf excursion in Cabo last March based on the itinerary information, only to find out the day before we got to Cabo that they were 2 hours ahead of ship time.  I could not reschedule my tee time because the course had a tournament, yada, yada, yada. So, if you're doing something on your own, note that the rest of the world is not concerned with your ship's time. 

[jsglow]

22 minutes ago, ChuckF said:

All I know is that I booked a private golf excursion in Cabo last March based on the itinerary information, only to find out the day before we got to Cabo that they were 2 hours ahead of ship time.  I could not reschedule my tee time because the course had a tournament, yada, yada, yada. So, if you're doing something on your own, note that the rest of the world is not concerned with your ship's time. 

And exactly why in that situation one needs to check with the Excursions desk to establish local v. ship time.  We faced the same situation when planning to meet a friend in San Juan this past winter.  One inquiry took care of it. Unfortunately that can make it challenging if those arrangements are made long in advance (like golf) and you don't have an ability to contact the shoreside party while aboard.

 

Actually it was super interesting how they handled the clocks on a Journeys going all the way to St. Maarten from Galveston.  Our first stop was Key West.  We remained on Central when Key West is obviously on Eastern, thus beginning a 'one hour behind' pattern. The next day we moved our ship clock one hour forward (Eastern) and remained on that time all the way through the islands which are all on Atlantic.  Thus we in essence matched the normal ship clock lag used all the vessels out of Florida that never clock change. Easy for everyone involved.  We switched back to Central only after leaving our last port on the return leg.

Edited April 1, 2023 by jsglow

[WaukeeHawk]

So we are leaving from New Orleans (central time) and going to Key West, Freeport, and Nassau which are eastern time.  If I am on the Carnival website and in my cruise planner it say our time in ports is 8-4, 8-5, and 7-5.  Would those times be port times, so eastern time?

[BlerkOne]

5 hours ago, jsglow said:

Actually it was super interesting how they handled the clocks on a Journeys going all the way to St. Maarten from Galveston.  Our first stop was Key West.  We remained on Central when Key West is obviously on Eastern, thus beginning a 'one hour behind' pattern. The next day we moved our ship clock one hour forward (Eastern) and remained on that time all the way through the islands which are all on Atlantic.  Thus we in essence matched the normal ship clock lag used all the vessels out of Florida that never clock change. Easy for everyone involved.  We switched back to Central only after leaving our last port on the return leg.

I thought it was nerve wracking. I wanted an excursion in St Martin, but if the ship didn't change time, it would leave before we got there. The operator didn't know since it was a one off cruise and the ship wasn't sure what the captain was going to do. The captain did decide to switch 1 hour, so the ship time was neither the home port time nor St Martin time. Once the ship did switch 1 hour there would be barely enough time for me to make the tour and when we arrived early in St Martin there was plenty of time. I think we arrived early, anyway, and I hustled to the marina where the tour left from.

[staceyglow]

1 hour ago, WaukeeHawk said:

So we are leaving from New Orleans (central time) and going to Key West, Freeport, and Nassau which are eastern time.  If I am on the Carnival website and in my cruise planner it say our time in ports is 8-4, 8-5, and 7-5.  Would those times be port times, so eastern time?

The time in ports is based on ship time, not the local time.