Of Smart Phones and Time Zones...

[drgrinch]

I ran in to bizarre problem on two HAL cruises last summer. Overnight, my smartphone, which was relying on the ship's cellular network for time zone information, reset itself to GMT. This caused important wake-up alarms I had set to occur in the whee hours or later in the day (they were a New England and Alaska cruise respectively). It seems logical that to avoid this problem in the future I need to manually set the time zone if I want my alarm to go off at the correct time.

 

My question is: what causes this to happen with the ship's mobile network? I was using a Galaxy 3 phone on the Veendam and Westerdam. :confused:

[Kamloops50]

I ran in to bizarre problem on two HAL cruises last summer. Overnight, my smartphone, which was relying on the ship's cellular network for time zone information, reset itself to GMT. This caused important wake-up alarms I had set to occur in the whee hours or later in the day (they were a New England and Alaska cruise respectively). It seems logical that to avoid this problem in the future I need to manually set the time zone if I want my alarm to go off at the correct time.

 

My question is: what causes this to happen with the ship's mobile network? I was using a Galaxy 3 phone on the Veendam and Westerdam. :confused:

 

Not exactly sure . But would suspect that the Cellar at Sea system is based in Europe. They probably GMT or UTC for timing.

[0bnxshs]

It's not unusual for operational systems that use satellites to use Coordinated Univeral Time (UTC), thus avoiding local time variations such as daylight savings time. When all components in such world-wide systems are using the same time zone reference (UTC is less a zone than it is a standard) there is no confusion as to event times. Since you had your phone set to use the local time coordinate, it also got set to UTC/GMT.

[Jim Avery]

You can manually set time zone then set to airplane mode to prevent it "updating" to the signal time zone. Then the alarm should ring at the right time. It is always a thrill with cell phones overseas these days.:D:D

[rbp3072]

I generally set my phone to Airplane to avoid this same thing, and just swap to full wifi when I need to check anything, then back.

 

(Wifi GPS is also fun. Sometimes I'm still in FLL, other times (10 mins later) I'm somewhere in MX, rinse and repeat. haha).

 

Edit - beaten to the punch.

Edited March 6, 2015 by rbp3072

[drgrinch]

The info provided in your responses makes a lot of sense - thank you!

[take us away]

Have heard that the ship's bridge operates on GMT so that is what the network 'issues' while the clocks, not on the bridge, are set to local time.

Edited March 6, 2015 by take us away

[cb at sea]

You should NEVER use your cell phone for timekeeping on a cruise. Bring a watch! Set it to the ship's clocks....that way, there's no guessing..and no missing the ship because your phone showed the wrong time!

[POA1]

It's not unusual to have your time zone be off when you are outside your carrier's territory.

 

Look in your phone's settings for Date & Time. You can uncheck the automatic settings for Use of Network Time and Automatic Time Zone. That will keep the phone from picking up an errant time signal, or deciding to pick a time zone that you're not currently in.

 

Once you have unchecked automatic updates, you can either set the time manually or the time zone manually. It's probably easier for most people to just set the time.

 

Don't forget that you can set wake up calls for free on your stateroom phone.

[trident one]

Can not help you with your smart phone problem.

 

The old fashioned wind up travel alarms never let you down.

[Globaliser]

Overnight, my smartphone, which was relying on the ship's cellular network for time zone information, reset itself to GMT. ...

 

My question is: what causes this to happen with the ship's mobile network?

The network that the ship uses is satellite-based and covers many time zones, so it's unsurprising that it uses GMT/UTC as its time (although ISTR it's actually based either in the Bahamas or Bermuda). If your phone is set to automatically update date and time from the mobile network, it will update as soon as it loses the shore-based provider and logs on to the ship's provider. You'll probably also see this straight away on your phone itself.

 

As suggested by POA1, I have to switch off the auto update of date and time whenever I'm on a ship for exactly this reason.

 

Using flight mode, as suggested by others, might also stop the auto update, but it would also stop you receiving any messages or calls over the phone network.

[AlohaO]

Just use the timer on your smartphone. Before you go to bed set it for 6-8 hours.

[donaldsc]

You should NEVER use your cell phone for timekeeping on a cruise. Bring a watch! Set it to the ship's clocks....that way, there's no guessing..and no missing the ship because your phone showed the wrong time!

 

Why not? I do it all the time and it has never failed me. I also use my cell phone as an alarm.

 

You just put the phone in airplane mode and set the time manually. Really easy to do.

 

DON

[igraf]

For what the ship charges for air time, that might be a good thing! :-)

 

igraf

 

 

 

.....Using flight mode, as suggested by others, might also stop the auto update, but it would also stop you receiving any messages or calls over the phone network.

[take us away]

Why not? I do it all the time and it has never failed me. I also use my cell phone as an alarm.

 

You just put the phone in airplane mode and set the time manually. Really easy to do.

 

DON

 

Excellent advice - my sister did not do this and ended up with a huge bill for updates while cruising due to roaming charges!

[Illyria]

I always have a watch, but I usually use the alarm clock on my tablet (it's wifi only, and I don't ever pay for the ship's internet, so I just set the time manually). I did forget to turn the clock forward once, the last night on the ship before disembarking in Vancouver. So much for the leisurely breakfast in the MDR before we were supposed to leave the ship :)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

You should NEVER use your cell phone for timekeeping on a cruise. Bring a watch! Set it to the ship's clocks....that way, there's no guessing..and no missing the ship because your phone showed the wrong time!

I agree we us a battery clock only and we bring 3 of them ..

[sammygoose]

We used a travel clock set to ships time last week and my sister used her iphone.....she was only late for breakfast once ;)

Edited March 8, 2015 by sammygoose
spelling

[Boytjie]

I finally solved the mystery regarding my iphone and Cozumel/ship's time on February 12th. Once off the ship and walking around I realized the time on my phone was off by an hour (I had it on auto setting for time Zone New York) compared to the ship's clock and the clocks on the street. I could not figure out why we never had to change out clocks while on the ship. Apparently Cozumel switched to Eastern Standard Time (it used to be on Central Time) on February 1st and will not observing Daylight Savings Time for the foreseeable future.