Question on port time vs ship time

[kristinn1218]

I have taken a few cruises and I am drawing the biggest blank!

 

So we have an excursion we want to book in Grand Cayman and check in time is 9:40am. On our itinerary, it says we are in Grand Cayman 10am-6pm that day. That is ship time correct? Meaning we should be able to book it since Grand Cayman time is an hour behind? When I emailed the company she responded by saying we are in GC 9-5pm which I am assuming is their time.

 

Thank you in advance!! :)

[Jana60]

I have taken a few cruises and I am drawing the biggest blank!

 

So we have an excursion we want to book in Grand Cayman and check in time is 9:40am. On our itinerary, it says we are in Grand Cayman 10am-6pm that day. That is ship time correct? Meaning we should be able to book it since Grand Cayman time is an hour behind? When I emailed the company she responded by saying we are in GC 9-5pm which I am assuming is their time.

 

Thank you in advance!! :)

 

Whether the time is different in grand Cayman depends on where you started. The ship keeps the time of the home port so for instance Cozumel is on Central Standard Time so if you leave for a cruise to Cozumel from Florida the time will be different on shore as compared to the ship but if the cruise leaves from Galveston the ship time will be the same as Cozumel time.

Edited July 16, 2015 by Jana60

[oceanmom62]

Also remember that Grand Cayman s a tender port and Carnival excursions and FTTF get first dibs on tender boarding.

[mousey]

And...You've probably heard this before...Always make sure your watch is set to whatever time the ship is set...especially if it isn't the same time as whatever port you're in. You never want to get back late to the ship!:eek:

 

Also, sometimes the ship does change it's time to that of the port. They will tell you in the cabin flyer the night before if they plan to do that. So always read the Fun Times!

Edited July 16, 2015 by mousey

[YumYumSweetiePie]

I was on a cruise two weeks ago and the ship time was always the local time. Even during sea day, we crossed into a different time zone so the ship notified us of the time change and that was the official time on the ship. Looks like it may vary by ship and/or captain though because others who recently traveled are reporting a different ship time than local time. Best bet may be input from travelers from your exact ship and recent itinerary.

[kristinn1218]

Whether the time is different in grand Cayman depends on where you started. The ship keeps the time of the home port so for instance Cozumel is on Central Standard Time so if you leave for a cruise to Cozumel from Florida the time will be different on shore as compared to the ship but if the cruise leaves from Galveston the ship time will be the same as Cozumel time.

 

ok thank you! we are leaving out of miami

[skrufy]

The excursions are set up to coincide with the time the ships are in port. Just stay on ships time and you will be fine.

[Jana60]

I was on a cruise two weeks ago and the ship time was always the local time. Even during sea day, we crossed into a different time zone so the ship notified us of the time change and that was the official time on the ship. Looks like it may vary by ship and/or captain though because others who recently traveled are reporting a different ship time than local time. Best bet may be input from travelers from your exact ship and recent itinerary.

 

What ship was that? I've been on 29 cruises on 4 different cruise lines and they have never ever changed the time while the ship was away from its home port except if the cruise took place during the change in daylight savings time and under those circumstances the home port was also changing time. This rule was followed even in Europe when we were on a Mediterranean cruise through Royal Caribbean cruise line. We were on Rome time the whole trip.

[love my grandkids]

What ship was that? I've been on 29 cruises on 4 different cruise lines and they have never ever changed the time while the ship was away from its home port except if the cruise took place during the change in daylight savings time and under those circumstances the home port was also changing time. This rule was followed even in Europe when we were on a Mediterranean cruise through Royal Caribbean cruise line. We were on Rome time the whole trip.

 

We did the pride relocation cruise a few months ago and ships time did change during the cruise.

 

Bottom line follow the fun times and they will tell you if it will change

[lizardhowson]

In regards to shore excursions, the vendors make their living doing these. So they use times that they "know" will give the ship time to dock and cruisers to grab a tender to shore. The excursion will wait until all the participants arrive at the meeting spot. Unless your group intentionally stalls, you will be waiting for someone else to arrive.

 

And the tour operator will get you back to ship on time. Their references and future bookings depend on it. A single mistake can kill their livelihood.

 

Nothing to worry about, enjoy Grand Cayman.

[near the beach]

Carnival excursion in Grand Cayman are ship time. Some local excursion vendors use local time. One hour difference. We missed the excursion. However we did make the next one.

 

We did a Carnival excursion in Isla Roatan Honduras. There was three different times at the same beach location.

 

One for our ship the Valor out of Port Canaveral. One for the Dream out of New Orleans and the local time.

 

Instead of asking what time the next shuttle for the port left we asked how many minuets. It was much easier to figure out.

[CruiseReg]

What ship was that? I've been on 29 cruises on 4 different cruise lines and they have never ever changed the time while the ship was away from its home port except if the cruise took place during the change in daylight savings time and under those circumstances the home port was also changing time. This rule was followed even in Europe when we were on a Mediterranean cruise through Royal Caribbean cruise line. We were on Rome time the whole trip.

 

We've also had the ship change times on multiple cruises, the last that I remember was on an MSC cruise this past October from the port of Miami. It wasn't a daylight savings time thing for us.

[skittl1321]

What ship was that? I've been on 29 cruises on 4 different cruise lines and they have never ever changed the time while the ship was away from its home port except if the cruise took place during the change in daylight savings time and under those circumstances the home port was also changing time.

 

Our Carnival Spirit out of San Diego to Mexico changed time zones once. It was weird though, because the ship actually moved two time zones- so we were neither their time NOR the departure port time. They split the difference.