Time zone Question

[tiggerlgh]

I am sailing on the Voyager in Jan. and would like to do Captain Bryan's snorkling on Grand Cayman. But I don't know what time to book. His times are 9:30 (meet at 8:45) and 1:30 (meet at 12:15) according to RCCL we are supposed to be on the island from 8 AM to 5 PM. I have heard that the ships time doesn't always follow local time so ship time is say Central Time but the land time is Eastern. First is this correct? and Secondly which time would you book?

 

Thanks!

[VABeach]

Everything is referred to in SHIP'S TIME. Set your watch to it. That's what time it will be wherever you are, even if it's not. :rolleyes:

[tiggerlgh]

So Captain Bryan's is also set to Ship Time?

[VABeach]

If Captian Bryon is a RCCL Shore Excursion - yes. If Captain Bryon is a Grand Cayman local - no.

[RiverRev]

The shore excursion folks like Capt. Bryan and Capt Marvin operate on their own time, but know all about ship's time. Remember their bread and butter are those four to seven cruise ships in port each day, and they all leave at about the same time in the evening. I would recommend the morning session. That way there are no fears of missing your ship, you'll be back in time for lunch onboard and a dip in the pool.

[BobbieSu]

Where does the Voyager leave from?

 

We will be on the Explorer which leaves from Miami, so ship time will be on Eastern time. Grand cayman is also on eastern time so ship time and shore time there will be the same for us.

 

If you leave from a port on Central time then the ship time and shore time in GC will not be the same. (Ship time being 1 hour later than shore time).

 

Su

[tiggerlgh]

We are leaving from Miami so the ship time should be Eastern so we will be ok. Captain Bryans is a local, recommended by my TA.

 

Thanks!

[jwlane]

We found out the hard way last year. Well, almost hard. We ended up only a half hour or so late, but others were running behind as well. Capt. Bryan's folks were most accomodating, and I highly recommend them.

[SiestaSand]

We did this excursion in May 2004, take the 8:45am. We were told by the ship that the ship time was the same as Grand Cayman, WRONG! We hurried from the ship, only about a two or three block walk. Then sat and waited for an hour for our trip to begin because we were given the wrong information about the time. Did give us an opportunity to find the little English breakfast room next door. Great Food! And when we did begin our trip it was fantastic. Wasn't much time after trip to do much. Enjoy !!

[Guest nhrich]

We did this excursion in May 2004, take the 8:45am. We were told by the ship that the ship time was the same as Grand Cayman, WRONG! We hurried from the ship, only about a two or three block walk. Then sat and waited for an hour for our trip to begin because we were given the wrong information about the time. Did give us an opportunity to find the little English breakfast room next door. Great Food! And when we did begin our trip it was fantastic. Wasn't much time after trip to do much. Enjoy !!

What you were told, unfortunately, did not account for Daylight Savings Time. During standard time, Miami & Grand Cayman are the same time. During daylight savings, Miami is an hour ahead of Grand Cayman, since clocks are not changed in GC for DST.

 

For those of you interested, here's a good website for determining time zone differences, with info on whether or not a location operates under daylight savings:

 

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/full.html

 

Rich

Carefree Vacations

[BobbieSu]

Thanks Rich for mentioning daylight savings. We will be going in January and so will not be affected by it.

 

Su

[emilymad]

We did Captain Bryan's this past June. Definitely take the morning tour. We had a wonderful time. One thing to keep in mind though.... someone asked one of the tour guides what time it was when we were finishing the tour. He told us local time obviously so it was a while before any of us realized we were missing the hour. Luckily we realized it with plenty of time to get back to the ship.