Ship time vs. St. Maarten?

[alliecatn1]

We're headed on the Breeze in two weeks :eek: :D and I'm trying to book our rental car in St. Maarten but want to verify ships time vs. local time. We are in port from 8-5 but that's ship time. Any idea what that is in local time?

[KenMo]

If it's 8am ship time, it will be 9am local.

 

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converted.html?iso=20151209T08&p1=156&p2=1315

[breckbird]

we were just there 2 times on a b2b and ship time was the same as local time

[jacmo24]

It depends on where your ship is sailing from. Breeze should stay on Miami time, right? We're about to sail from San Juan and the ship time should be the same as St. Martin. But from Miami, it should be an hour different.

[iheartmarshall]

I just went through this today after noticing that my tour is booked in local time, not ship time. I sent an email to the tour company and went on and on about how if our tour is 9:30am local time, that's really 8:30am ship time and we won't be docked yet and can we change it to 10:30am local time (9:30am ship time) and on and on and on. They replied and told me to pay attention to ship time; if we dock at 9:00am ship time, our tour will start at 9:30am. So, I guess they have it figured out with the ships. We leave from FLL and I was wondering if maybe we will be setting our clocks forward an hour to where it matches up with local time? I honestly don't know, but the tour company told me not to fret and to just meet with them at 9:30am, once the ship docks.

 

Reading that will probably just confuse someone, but I'm going to do what they said and hope that all goes well haha

[A&Jfamily]

St. Martin is currently 1 hour ahead of Miami/East Coast time. It is 3:48 pm here and 4:48 pm there.

[cessnabmw]

Always use ship time.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

we were just there 2 times on a b2b and ship time was the same as local time

 

Its the same in the summer but in the fall its an hour difference.

[ricruise1962]

I like ships time but I like to drink a beer and loss time fast after that ha ha . I really only have two a day but act like a big shot lol :)

[coevan]

The tour companies know what time it is. Many of the companies rely solely on the cruise ships, it's there job to know your ships time, your job is to worry.

[Miller_KC]

Its the same in the summer but in the fall its an hour difference.

 

Miami observes Daylight Savings time, the Caribbean in general doesn't so it's the same time in 2 time zones most of the year. In October I thought we would gain another hour flying from Orlando to San Juan but because of DST we didn't.

[cb at sea]

Do NOT worry about local time.....ship's time is ALL that matters! The ships sometimes change time to match local time....sometimes, they don't. Doesn't matter...whatever time it is on the ship, is the time you must abide by. Set your WATCH...not your cell phone...to ship's time!

[Jenhem31]

Always ship time! I'm not sure if you've rented a car in St. Maarten before, but Coastal Car rental is amazing. We've rented from them twice and they're great.

[alliecatn1]

These varying responses are my concern! lol. We will stay on ship time but to set up the car rental online. I don't want to be charged for saying we want the car from x-z but we end up being there at a different time because local is different from ship. Yup, we're looking at Costal to do the rental :)

[loubetti]

Daylight savings time: "Spring ahead one hour, Fall back one hour" in the United States. However, the islands in that eastern time zone time do not practice it, and that includes Puerto Rico. The time syncs up again in the Spring when we set our clocks ahead one hour.

 

Obviously the tour companies have this figured out, but you should always consult the daily program should there be a change to ship's time.

[loubetti]

we were just there 2 times on a b2b and ship time was the same as local time

 

That was because you were there in the Spring to Fall, after WE set clocks ahead one hour in the USA and the time was in sync. Right now we are -1 hour from their time.