RCCL IOS Ship Time vs Local Time on Western Caribbean Itinerary

[Pen1993]

Hi, this is my first post here on CC and my second cruise. We are heading out on a March 22nd sailing with IOS and visiting George Town, Falmouth and Coco Cay. I wanted some clarification on the itinerary schedule, if in fact, the Caymans and Jamaica will be an hour behind by the time we sail since they don't use DST which starts on March 8th this year. So if RCCL's itinerary shows an 8am arrival in George Town, is that ship time or local time? TIA!

 

Edited February 23, 2015 by Pen1993
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[taglovestocruise]

Everything is done in ship time. Never assume your cell phone is correct, many times your cell phone will reset to local time and be at odds with ship time. happy cruising.

[BillB48]

Everything is in ship time as the previous poster said... the only question will be if the ship adjusts to match local time. Whether or not the ship adjusts to local time, you will arrive at the 8AM time as indicated in the published itinerary. Generally when ship time and local time don't match there will be a notice in the Cruise Compass reminding you of the time difference and to stay on ship's time while you are ashore. When there is a time change, a notice of the change will be placed in your cabin the night before.

[Pen1993]

So just to be clear, the scheduled time on the itinerary posted on RCCL is SHIP TIME and if there is a time difference in the Caymans and Jamaica, it is actually 7am local time that we arrive into George Town or 6am local time in Falmouth when we get there since they do not use daylight savings time and we switch from eastern standard to daylight savings by March 8th, correct?

[BillB48]

You've got it:)!

[Pen1993]

Thank you for the clarification, much appreciated from this newbie! :)

[dsrdsrdsr]

So just to be clear, the scheduled time on the itinerary posted on RCCL is SHIP TIME and if there is a time difference in the Caymans and Jamaica, it is actually 7am local time that we arrive into George Town or 6am local time in Falmouth when we get there since they do not use daylight savings time and we switch from eastern standard to daylight savings by March 8th, correct?

Does this mean that if they visit Southampton on a transatlantic they'll claim to arrive at 3 am, and if they get to the eastern Med they'll be docking at midnight? How far east do they have to travel before they start using local time instead of Florida time?

Edited February 24, 2015 by dsrdsrdsr

[BillB48]

On a trans Atlantic such as the one the Brilliance will be doing in May... leaving Tampa and arriving in Harwich, the ship will gradually adjust ship time as they travel through the time zones. When the ship reaches Harwich, ship time will have been adjusted so the ship time will be the same as local time in this case. The ship will not stay on Florida time for the entire cruise. The departure time at the original port of embarkation and the arrival time at final embarkation are given in local time which will also be ship time. The only time you can have differences between local time and ship time is at the port of calls during your cruise. Some cruise lines almost always match ship time with local time and others don't.

[RSLeesburg]

So just to be clear, the scheduled time on the itinerary posted on RCCL is SHIP TIME and if there is a time difference in the Caymans and Jamaica, it is actually 7am local time that we arrive into George Town or 6am local time in Falmouth when we get there since they do not use daylight savings time and we switch from eastern standard to daylight savings by March 8th, correct?

 

More than likely, the ship will adjust time to match your ports. If this happens, there will be a note along with your Cruise Compass telling you that the ship is advancing/turning back its clocks by 1 hour to match the ports you will be visiting. So, the times listed in port may be correct. RCCL did this for us when we went to Bermuda.

[BillB48]

So they change on transatlantic, but not on not on others.. isnt that confusing?

 

It is not confusing to me at all. I don't think you are suggesting sailing from Tampa, going across 4 time zones and not changing would be an option? If you hop in the old F-150 in California and wind up in DC, kinda think you would change times at the appropriate intervals.

 

The OP was on a closed loop cruise and times can be handled differently on that cruise than on a trans Atlantic or other repositioning cruise. How time changes are handled on closed loop cruises can vary... some cruise lines routinely match ship time to island time and other cruise lines do not have a set policy. Time changes or non time changes can be even be handled differently among ships of the same cruise line. Whichever way they go the cruise lines will keep you informed.