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Ship Time


lollilb

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Hi

I've read about the ships not changing times when they move time zones and to be careful for sail away as they'll be on ship time not local time. For the Bahamas is there any difference in the time? I assume not as they're currently on the same time as Orlando but wanted to double check in case there's any clock changes due. We sail 2nd Oct? 

Thanks. 

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You are correct! If there is any question they have plenty of clocks around even on the tv monitors by the elevators, they typically have the time on them so you can ensure that you are on the correct time.  I always set my watch, and we strive to be back well before the time that we are supposed to be back, we have seen WAY too many videos of runners, and people getting left by the cruise ship. Enjoy your cruise and have fun! 

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10 minutes ago, bhageerah said:

You are correct! If there is any question they have plenty of clocks around even on the tv monitors by the elevators, they typically have the time on them so you can ensure that you are on the correct time.  I always set my watch, and we strive to be back well before the time that we are supposed to be back, we have seen WAY too many videos of runners, and people getting left by the cruise ship. Enjoy your cruise and have fun! 

So, the clocks are set to the time of the departing city and everything runs on that time? What about arrival and departure times at ports? All on "ship" time?

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6 minutes ago, rjac said:

Any changes to the time will be posted in the daily Cruise Compass. :27_sunglasses:

... and will usually also be noted on a slip they leave with your cruise compass in your stateroom alerting you to adjust your clocks! Where people usually get mixed up is when they go by the cell phones and use them in port where they sync to the local time rather than ship time. The most common place I know this happens is in Cozumel.

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When in doubt ask the crew just as you step off the ship in port and as @KLAconQueso  stated, watch your smartphone.  I disable automatic time zones in settings and fix it to ship time.

To the general question do they change ship time?  The answer is... it depends.  Ships most often stay on the time of the departure city.    While Nassau tracks the eastern time zone year round,  a lot of islands in the Eastern Caribbean do not observe daylight savings.  Half the year they align to eastern time, half the year they don't but many are actually in the Atlantic time zone.  When I had a contract on St Thomas this was very confusing for coworkers back home trying to schedule meetings.  This also causes confusion for cruisers.  They take a cruise in the summer and islands are aligned to ship time then someone else takes the same cruise six months later and the ship time is different for the same ports. 

On Grandeur out of Baltimore they changed the ship clock in the middle of the night as we approached Bermuda.  The day we left they changed the ship clock back that night.  That tends to be rare though and most of the time ship clock is fixed the whole cruise, unless you cruise the weekend that daylight savings starts or ends.  On the Grandeur they put a note on the bed as well as stating on the front page of the cruise compass.  They also mentioned in at all the shows and entertainment.  

Transatlantic and transpacific change ship time mid-cruise.  No sense arriving in the US and being 5 hours off or vice versa.  Most cruises though, do not change ship time mid cruise.  Confused yet?

Fortunately for you the Bahamas follows eastern time and they do observe daylight savings time so the Bahamas is the same time as Florida year round.

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1 minute ago, fonemanbob said:

Thanks for the tip going to Cozumel in February.   So very true about not depending on a cell phone.  I hate to admit it but the only time I wear a watch is on a cruise.  Otherwise its the cell phone.   

I have a white waterproof digital watch that I literally refer to as my 'cruise watch'. I tend to have my cell phone on me, but I'm too paranoid to rely on that for the time. I go off of my cruise watch.

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All right, so I thought I understood the whole "ship" time thing and the fact that they don't change the ships' clocks. On one of the most recent Cruise Compasses, it mentions in a couple of different places about the time changes to and from different time zones.

So do they change the clocks or not? 

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They should stay the same as the home port. The thing to remember is that if when you get off the ship and take your cell phone it will re-register to the time of the local time zone which might be different that the ship time. I always wear a watch that is set to ship time, then I don't worry.

In November you have to also consider day light savings time also.

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4 hours ago, tiny260 said:

They should stay the same as the home port. The thing to remember is that if when you get off the ship and take your cell phone it will re-register to the time of the local time zone which might be different that the ship time.

I plan on taking the phones off the function that auto corrects the time according to time zone, so that's not the issue.

But, I'm still confused because on a cruise with the same ports as ours, the Cruise Compass says on one page "move your clocks ahead one hour tonight" and "move your clocks back one hour tonight" a couple of days later to correspond with the time changes.

I agree that I might be dense, but I still don't get it. According to the Cruise Compass, the clocks on board are changed according to the correct time zone.

Am I over thinking this? It wouldn't be my first time!

 

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7 hours ago, FManke said:

Am I over thinking this? It wouldn't be my first time!

 

As long as the little "THE PLUMBING IS BACKED UP" box in the Cruise Compass doesn't have a a check in it, don't worry about how long it will take to the next port and their time zone.  I  guess I shouldn't break the news but the last lifeboat on the port side is a jury rigged outhouse. :3_grin:

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On 9/21/2017 at 8:18 PM, fonemanbob said:

Thanks for the tip going to Cozumel in February.   So very true about not depending on a cell phone.  I hate to admit it but the only time I wear a watch is on a cruise.  Otherwise its the cell phone.   

Same here with the watch/phone.  Phone goes in a drawer, and out comes the 'cruise watch' like @KLAconQueso.

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16 hours ago, FManke said:

I plan on taking the phones off the function that auto corrects the time according to time zone, so that's not the issue.

But, I'm still confused because on a cruise with the same ports as ours, the Cruise Compass says on one page "move your clocks ahead one hour tonight" and "move your clocks back one hour tonight" a couple of days later to correspond with the time changes.

I agree that I might be dense, but I still don't get it. According to the Cruise Compass, the clocks on board are changed according to the correct time zone.

Am I over thinking this? It wouldn't be my first time!

 

From what I've read, it is up to the Captain if the ship changes times (most Caribbean cruises stay on port of departure time). I haven't experienced it...in fact the ship really stressed to not rely on your cell phone as ship time was different. I didn't clarify that with my Roatan tour operator and we were there an hour early.  Lesson learned was at every port I double check the time before we get off the ship and have learned with private tours to check if meeting on local or ship time.

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18 minutes ago, FManke said:

I guess ultimately, we only have to worry about getting back to the ship on time. We have booked all of our shore excursions through RC, so I guess we will be guaranteed to get to the excursion on time.

FM,

You should not have any time issues since your excursions have been booked through RC. The only time issue you MAY have is if you oversleep!:27_sunglasses:

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3 hours ago, melski94 said:

From what I've read, it is up to the Captain if the ship changes times (most Caribbean cruises stay on port of departure time). I haven't experienced it...in fact the ship really stressed to not rely on your cell phone as ship time was different. I didn't clarify that with my Roatan tour operator and we were there an hour early.  Lesson learned was at every port I double check the time before we get off the ship and have learned with private tours to check if meeting on local or ship time.

I was on Liberty this summer, stopped in Roatan, which is where I was getting my answer from earlier and I remember the same as above, they kept stressing, stay on ship time, not island time. So Western Caribbean must be different than Eastern sea board...

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1 hour ago, tiny260 said:

I was on Liberty this summer, stopped in Roatan, which is where I was getting my answer from earlier and I remember the same as above, they kept stressing, stay on ship time, not island time. So Western Caribbean must be different than Eastern sea board...

I don't know. I have to stop thinking about it because my head is spinning! :62_dizzy_face:

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17 hours ago, tiny260 said:

I was on Liberty this summer, stopped in Roatan, which is where I was getting my answer from earlier and I remember the same as above, they kept stressing, stay on ship time, not island time. So Western Caribbean must be different than Eastern sea board...

I believe it depends on each ship's captain to make the decision to stay on departure port time or local time. I have had different experiences on different ships/cruises. Just pay attention to the Cruise Compass the night before. Also, there is generally a sign as you disembark, which time is being followed

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I like the idea of a "cruise watch". However, I don't own any regular watches and the closest I get is my FitBit.

If I sync up my FitBit to my phone after getting on board, then shut off the phone's Bluetooth connection, will that properly keep the FitBit locked to ship time regardless of what my phone says? If so, then "cruise watch" is a lock!

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52 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

I like the idea of a "cruise watch". However, I don't own any regular watches and the closest I get is my FitBit.

If I sync up my FitBit to my phone after getting on board, then shut off the phone's Bluetooth connection, will that properly keep the FitBit locked to ship time regardless of what my phone says? If so, then "cruise watch" is a lock!

That seems like a big hassle. I've just decided to bring a sun dial.

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