Time Change Western Itinerary

[lmmn]

We just got back from the Explorer...The time change in Cozumel and Costa Maya was two hours earlier. I'm not sure on Belize, since the excursion we took was ship time. Grand Cayman was one hour earlier. So if your ship gets in at 7:30 am....it's 5:30 am at some of these ports, which also makes for a short day in port. We booked an all inclusive day pass...it opened at 9:00, which was 11:00 ship time....so it only left us a couple hours at the resort.

[fozziscooter]

I'm confused......:confused: So Belize is on ship time right? If our cave-tubing.com exursion meets at 10:30 then that is at 10:30 both ship and port time? In Cozumel our dolphin discovery royal swim is at 11am Cozumel time, what time is that ship time?

[fozziscooter]

Now I am more confused....this is the text from an email that I got from Dolphin Discovery in Cozumel on Saturday March 10th. Doesn't this mean that they switched their clocks forward as well? How could they be two hours ahead of us then?

 

Dear Customer:

We would like to inform you that due to the change of summer time schedule, our watches have to be adjusted forward one hour.

We strongly suggest you to verify with your cruise line your arrival time to Cozumel in order to double check if this change may affect your itinerary, since we will not be able to refund if you do not show up to your program.

We will really appreciate if you can let me know at your earliest convenience.

[lmmn]

You're ok with ship excursions....it's the excursions you book on your own. Read their instructions carefully...some excursions say ship time, some say local time. Cavetubing.com was on ship time...but be sure you get tender tickets for the first tender. It is a long, slow tendering process into Belize.

 

Don't rely on cruise crew to know correct port time. Best way to know for sure is to get off the ship and ask a local what time it is. This past week Cozumel and Costa Maya were two hours earlier than ship time....Grand Cayman one hour earlier. Shops are not open at 5:30 am local time, but many were opening by 6:30.

[lmmn]

I'm confused......:confused: So Belize is on ship time right? If our cave-tubing.com exursion meets at 10:30 then that is at 10:30 both ship and port time? In Cozumel our dolphin discovery royal swim is at 11am Cozumel time, what time is that ship time?

 

It would be at 1 PM...you will probably want to go to Chan. Park anyway....just double check local time when you get there....cavetubing.com in Belize went by ship time. Get tickets for first tender.

[RBOrrell]

We just returned from the Enchantment of the Seas (Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Cozumel and Belize). We changed the ship's time to Central Daylight Savings enroute to Cozumel (1 hour back change). Local time in Cozumel and Belize is Central Standard time (until April 1). So, when we arrived in Cozumel at 10:00am ship's time, it was 9:00am local. We did the Dophin swim at Chankanaab with a 1:00pm appointment - this was 2:00pm ship's time.

 

It's not that difficult to deal with.

[fozziscooter]

We just returned from the Enchantment of the Seas (Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Cozumel and Belize). We changed the ship's time to Central Daylight Savings enroute to Cozumel (1 hour back change). Local time in Cozumel and Belize is Central Standard time (until April 1). So, when we arrived in Cozumel at 10:00am ship's time, it was 9:00am local. We did the Dophin swim at Chankanaab with a 1:00pm appointment - this was 2:00pm ship's time.

 

It's not that difficult to deal with.

 

Why wouldn't the Enchantment and the Explorer do the same thing?

[RBOrrell]

Why wouldn't the Enchantment and the Explorer do the same thing?

 

Not sure about that but don't sweat it. You will be informed numerous times as to what the ship's time is and how to synchronize your watch. The only thing you need to do is to make sure that your watch is ship's time. Once you've done that, remember that local time may or may not be the same (daylight saving time comes into play on April 1 for those that observe it at the traditional time). Your excursions may be ship time or local time - just need to find out.

[scschnur]

We were just on FOS and experienced this unfortunate time change too. Many of the tour operators were surprised at the two hour difference - and somewhat caught off guard.

 

RCL ships run on the time zone of the port of departure. They remain solid on that time zone throughout the cruise.

 

Cozumel has not changed yet for daylight savings time. Had they changed the way we did in most parts of the US, we would have only been one hour different from them. Because we changed, though, and they did not, it is a current two hour time difference from EST. If you depart from Galveston, there will only be a one hour difference. I think the FOS was support to be in port at 7:00 AM ship time (or 7:30 AM - I don't recall exactly), which was 5:00 AM local time. If I recall, we needed to be back on the ship at 3:30 PM ship time, which was 1:30 PM local time. We took a private snorkeling tour that was to bring us back by 12:30 PM local time. We cut that a little too close, considering it was 2:30 PM ship time, and we still needed to catch a cab back to the pier.

 

Grand Cayman stays at Central time, and does not adjust for daylight savings. For ships that stay on EST, that was only a one hour difference.

 

I hope that helps....

[DC2OC]

On our Feb 24 cruise on the Legend b4 daylight savings time we turned back an hour b4 Costa Maya and ahead an hour after Cozumel.I can see where daylight savings time could make it 2 hrs.Just set your watch to ships time.I found it interesting though that another cruise line in port with us stayed on Eastern time the entire trip...................Frank:)

[lmmn]

You get funny looks drinking cocktails at 9:00 AM.....

[fozziscooter]

I wrote Royal Caribbean an email the other day regarding this issue, and this is what they told me.

 

Dear Ms. Dunbar,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

The ships time will change to reflect the time in the port of call we

are visiting. Please make sure you are aware what time that is prior to

departing the ship to ensure you return on time. Please be aware that

all guests must be back onboard at least one hour prior to departure

time.

 

Thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International.

 

Pamela Jackson

Customer Service Representative

[lmmn]

Don't trust RCCL crew or employees....about time changes....they did not know. This happened with the most recent time change anyway. The time change is not difficult....because you go by ship time. But it's annoying when you get off the ship and find out it's 5:00 AM. If you book an excursion on your own that starts at 9:00 local time....then it's 11:00 ship time. Makes for a short day, especially if you have to allow extra time to tender back to the ship.

[BethCarp]

RCL ships run on the time zone of the port of departure. They remain solid on that time zone throughout the cruise.

That's not completely true. The ship changed thier clocks to local time on our Alaska cruise.

 

Does anyone know when DST *ends* in Mexico? Our November cruise will depart the weekend that it ends here in the US.

[RBOrrell]

That's not completely true. The ship changed thier clocks to local time on our Alaska cruise.

 

Does anyone know when DST *ends* in Mexico? Our November cruise will depart the weekend that it ends here in the US.

 

I believe Mexico is following the old DST rules. That means that DST will end on the last Sunday of October.

[TennisLover]

You really just have to pay attention to what it says in your daily Cruise Compass. We were on NOS, Western Carib, in February and expected to stay on ship time (ET) throughout. Heard an announcement on Wed night that on Thurs, in Cozumel, we would turn the clocks back an hour to give us extra time in that port (departure time stayed the same as listed in our itinerary).

 

Also - be aware of if your private excursion is local time or ship time. We had booked the dolphin swim too and I was brainwashing myself to remember what ship time and local time would be that day. Do I change my watch or not? Turns out that the ship time was local time too, so it was easy.

[RBOrrell]

I wrote Royal Caribbean an email the other day regarding this issue, and this is what they told me.

 

Dear Ms. Dunbar,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

The ships time will change to reflect the time in the port of call we

are visiting. Please make sure you are aware what time that is prior to

departing the ship to ensure you return on time. Please be aware that

all guests must be back onboard at least one hour prior to departure

time.

 

Thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International.

 

Pamela Jackson

Customer Service Representative

 

That may not be entirely true. They made a very specific annoucement about the time change on Enchantment last week. They said, we will be changing to Central Daylight Time the night we left for Cozumel. This means we need to change our clocks 1 hour back. However, they did say that local time was still Central Standard Time and we would not be changing the clocks two hours to accomodate that. So be aware that this is still a 1 hour gap between the two times.

 

Once other countries move to Daylight Saving Time, things will be back to normal (until late October/early November).