Don't use your cell phone as a watch!

[montlee]

My son set the alarm on his cell to allow himself two hours to get back to the ship in Cozumel. When it went off, he started back, stopping periodically for pictures. He said he has no idea what made him look at the time again, but when he did, he realized the phone had set itself to Cozumel time. He was downtown and only had half an hour to get back.

 

He got back at 6:30; we were due at 6:15. To be honest, I Think the gangway would have been closed had it not been for a late RCI excursion. We all learned that when they say "Stay on ship time", they mean it! Next time, use your watch.

[setsail]

That's a close call. Will the smart phones reset time if data roaming is off?

[Retired LEO]

On my recent Freedom cruise the Captain specifically stated during his announcement to not go by the time on your phone as they automatically change time zones. I'm sure its happened to lots of others and I'm sure many have missed the ship for that reason.

[lv2bcruzin]

It's called Airplane Mode. Or, manually change the clock settings to not allow automatic time changes. Have used my phone for a clock and alarm for years while on cruises. No issues, but you do have to be aware of how a phone works.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

[hallasm]

... or you phone does have a setting 'Set Automatically' on/off where you can control the time setting at you phone.

[mollyeilis]

That's a close call. Will the smart phones reset time if data roaming is off?

 

They shouldn't, and they shouldn't if you turn off the setting to automatically change, etc etc, but sometimes stuff happens. DS managed to turn ON airplane mode the other day in something like 5 seconds of having my phone, and he wasn't meaning to do that at all. With the first generation iphone DH had it in airplane mode and whatever else mode to keep from incurring charges in the country he was going to, but all through his flight *something* kept pinging his phone, and he ended up with a HUGE charge from our cell company. Becaue it should not have done that, it was all credited back with aphone call, but it just shows that stuff happens.

 

It's one thing to let AT&T credit you back. It's another thing to miss the phone because stuff happened.

 

Dh and I got caught up in January on our Freedom cruise and bought Invicta watches (two of the smallest ones Invicta seems to make, LOL, we realized later that DH's is actually a ladies watch which is why the face is so small, which means it's the size of a normal brand of watch for a man), and we wear those, set to the time we were told to stay on.

 

Just don't change your watches on the day you see the time change notice in the Compass! That's for the following day, so do it at bedtime. Met more than a few people who set it the day they got the Compass because they were already jet-lagged and a bit confused. :)

[ehfl]

It's very easy to adjust the settings on your phone so that they do not use the time signal from the cellular network. It's on our checklist of things to do after boarding. Just remember to return the setting to its default after the cruise.

 

The ship's cell tower is usually not on ship's time, so be sure to turn off the automatic time setting before your ship departs.

[hellsop]

That's a close call. Will the smart phones reset time if data roaming is off?

 

Often. There's usually a separate setting that defaults to allowing cellphones to update themselves based on the time signals broadcast by the cell network towers.

 

There's a work-around though: if you set reminders using the phone's calendaring function (like a 1-hour "meeting" that says "Get back to ship") that meeting will remember the timezone it was made in, and move around on the day's schedule to be correct. If you set, while on the ship that "be back aboard" to 5:00 to allow an hour, then when the phone picks up the cell tower time, the calendar will move the "be back at ship" to 4:00 on the phone's displayed time, which gets the traveller heading back at 5:00 ship time.

[SC_Floaters]

The oritinal Title Says it all...

 

Use Ur Timex (Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin)

[cb at sea]

A watch is sooooo much easier than messing with your phone settings! You can get CHEAP watches....a good investment when there are multiple time zones!

[Pony Player]

Often. There's usually a separate setting that defaults to allowing cellphones to update themselves based on the time signals broadcast by the cell network towers.

 

There's a work-around though: if you set reminders using the phone's calendaring function (like a 1-hour "meeting" that says "Get back to ship") that meeting will remember the timezone it was made in, and move around on the day's schedule to be correct. If you set, while on the ship that "be back aboard" to 5:00 to allow an hour, then when the phone picks up the cell tower time, the calendar will move the "be back at ship" to 4:00 on the phone's displayed time, which gets the traveller heading back at 5:00 ship time.

 

Set up the meeting and then use this as the alarm:

[Zach1213]

I travel outside of the country monthly, at least, and spend a good amount of my time outside of the US. I travel with my iPhone. I do not own a watch and use my iPhone as watch and alarm clock.

 

I have never once had a problem. Yes, it sets automatically to where it picks up a signal, but you can turn that off.

 

My data roaming is always turned off and it still adjusts to the local time when I fire it up off of a plane in god knows what country.

 

If you know what to do (and it's simple), there's no problems using it as a watch or alarm clock whatsoever. And do be aware of what the time really is versus the fake time that cruise lines create.

[Zach1213]

A watch is sooooo much easier than messing with your phone settings! You can get CHEAP watches....a good investment when there are multiple time zones!

 

To each their own. I hate wearing watches. Many people in my generation (I am 30) prefer just having a phone to a watch. And done correctly (as I mention), the phone works great.

 

But like I said, to each their own.