On-Board Time vs. Departure Time at Ports

[DavidNYC]

Just realized the "on-board" time for our port stops is an hour prior to the departure time listed on the itinerary.  For all our ports we were going to be back well before but we did have one stop (Barcelona) where the plans we made would only get us back to the ship about 15 minutes prior to the 5pm on-board time (6pm departure listed).  We're ending a walking tour at 4:30 and should be a 10-15 minute cab back. 

Just for my peace of mind - hopefully - do they build a little leeway into those times?  So if, for example, every street to port gets blocked to vehicles and we end up having to walk and get there at 5:15 should we have any issues?  I would assume they set the on-board time a hour prior to make sure there's a little buffer for late people but just wanted to make sure that gangplanks don't get pulled up right at the on-board time.  As I said, our plans do get us back prior but want to also anticipate worst case scenario and make sure we'd still be fine.

[mk-ultra]

ALWAYS use the Royal Caribbean app to see what "ship time" is.  That's what your boarding time in port is based on.  In the app, even across time changes, it will show you what ship time is.  To add some extra confusion to this -- ship time is up to the master's choice.  It's not standardized all the time crossing international time zones (so your phone/watch may fake you out).  Your daily planner (paper or app) will note time changes, usually.  To keep in sync with ship time you can turn off the auto function on your phone and manually set it.

If you booked the shore excursion through Royal, they'll (to the best of their ability) hold the ship --and failing that, try to get you to the next port.  If you booked the excursion on your own, you're on your own.

 

[HeWhoWaits]

In the "every street blocked" scenario you propose, there is a good chance that Royal excursions will also be delayed getting back by the same situation. If that happens, you'd be good to go. Your plan to arrive back 15 minutes before the posted all aboard time is reasonable.

[DavidNYC]

2 hours ago, HeWhoWaits said:

In the "every street blocked" scenario you propose, there is a good chance that Royal excursions will also be delayed getting back by the same situation. If that happens, you'd be good to go. Your plan to arrive back 15 minutes before the posted all aboard time is reasonable.

LOL - that's a good point - the only reason I'd have an issue would be major road jams in which case as you noted many of the other tours will be late as well and we can always do the 30 minute walk and skip the taxi

 And like I said - we'll be on a walking tour in the Gothic Quarter at the end so will always be able to cut out a few minutes early if we think there are issues.

[Traveling Mike]

This is your future...

 

[DavidNYC]

2 hours ago, Traveling Mike said:

This is your future...

 

Nah - that will never be me.   I'm way too out of shape to run like that!

But on a serious note - I've taken about 4 cruises so far (Carribean and Alaska) and have never encountered a port where the ship time was different than the local time.  Is this something I'm likely to encounter on a RCCL cruise in Barcelona port?  I'm planning tours that end at 4:30 local time (a 10 minute cab from port) as the departure time listed in the itinerary is 6:00 pm.  Obviously - if the ship time is off by an hour that makes a huge difference.  Any insights??  Not sure why a ship would use a different time than what it is locally - seems like would just be confusing for everyone!

[ZBrady]

In short, using a standardized ship time actually makes things less confusing, as all staff and passengers can maintain consistency and not require frequent adjustments to local time every time the ship enters a new time zone. Operationally, it makes things a lot more efficient and makes communication easier.

With that being said, you will find cases where ships do change their ship time. A particular ship may prefer to make adjustments to local time at certain ports. Or especially on something like a Transatlantic, the time is changed each day to match the adjustment. 

[Traveling Mike]

20 hours ago, DavidNYC said:

Obviously - if the ship time is off by an hour that makes a huge difference.  Any insights??  Not sure why a ship would use a different time than what it is locally - seems like would just be confusing for everyone!

I have been on several cruises that have had different ship and port times.  The problem is there is no standard; the ship captain makes the decision.  On my Transatlantic cruise they changed the ship time at noon every day.  That was so confusing to wake up to one time zone and in the afternoon have a different one.  I missed so many of my afternoon and evening events.  I was told most of the time decisions that mess cruisers up are for the ease of the ship staff time schedules.  I just wish the cruise industry would just make a rule that ship time matches the time zone (local time) they are in.

[ZBrady]

18 minutes ago, Traveling Mike said:

On my Transatlantic cruise they changed the ship time at noon every day.  That was so confusing to wake up to one time zone and in the afternoon have a different one. 

On westbound TAs it is no problem to change the time at night because everyone gains an hour of sleep. However, doing the same on an eastbound TA would result in everyone losing an hour every night. Not so bad for passengers who can just sleep in, but doesn't work as easily for staff that have specific duties.

[Traveler]

Take into account two things. In Barcelona, the security check is in the terminal. Second,  the taxi apps is very problematic,  it will take you allot of time to get any taxi using one of the common apps. Better to catch a cab in one of the street corners or at an hotel.