Jet Lag and Time Zones

[Redsky5292]

For those of you who have done the Baltic Sea cruise how did you deal with the jet lag and the time changes on ship?  We cannot fly in a day or two early due to work constraints. We are embarking in Copenhagen and flying in from Boston, MA.

[mskaufman]

We left from Amsterdam and flew in the day before.  What we generally do is spend the first day as a regular day, that is if we arrive at 8 am we put in a full day until about 10pm and wake up at a normal wake up time the next morning.  The fact that out of Amsterdam our first day was a sea day helped.

[CCWineLover]

10 hours ago, Redsky5292 said:

For those of you who have done the Baltic Sea cruise how did you deal with the jet lag and the time changes on ship?  We cannot fly in a day or two early due to work constraints. We are embarking in Copenhagen and flying in from Boston, MA.

 

At least you are coming from the East Coast so not too many time zones.  We took a Baltic Cruise our of Stockholm last year - flew from SFO and got in via connection in Amsterdam around 2 PM.  The key is the make sure to keep moving and stay up until it gets dark, to help reset the body clock.   We also try to get some sunlight on the plane when it gets closer to Europe and the sun comes up.  Then the excitement of the upcoming cruise takes over on day 1 and we are fine after that!  We don't try to do much that first evening.

[kaisatsu]

Not Baltic cruise specific, but I fly back and forth between Scandinavia and the US quite often. Sometimes with just 3-4 days’ turnaround (which I don’t recommend 😝)!

 

My advice is to start operating on “destination” time as soon as possible. Change your watch or phone time zone to your destination as soon as you board the plane. If you have an overnight flight to Europe, bring an eye mask and earplugs and try to sleep (or at least “tune out”) as early as possible. Depending on the schedule, this often means eating dinner early at the airport and then skipping the in-flight meal service, because it’s in the middle of your new night.

 

Once you get to Europe, stay up as long as possible. It’s okay to go to bed a bit early, but avoid the temptation to nap. It’s too hard to get back up, and it will set back the adjustment a lot. Try to make it at least beyond an early dinner (e.g. try to avoid bed before 7pm) if you can.

 

The next morning you’ll probably wake up early, but stay in bed and try to rest even if you can’t sleep. If you really need to do something, do something calm in bed like reading a book. Avoid screens as the light will trigger alertness and make you feel even more awake.

[dogs4fun]

56 minutes ago, kaisatsu said:

My advice is to start operating on “destination” time as soon as possible. Change your watch or phone time zone to your destination as soon as you board the plane. If you have an overnight flight to Europe, bring an eye mask and earplugs and try to sleep (or at least “tune out”) as early as possible. Depending on the schedule, this often means eating dinner early at the airport and then skipping the in-flight meal service, because it’s in the middle of your new night.

 

Once you get to Europe, stay up as long as possible. It’s okay to go to bed a bit early, but avoid the temptation to nap. It’s too hard to get back up, and it will set back the adjustment a lot. Try to make it at least beyond an early dinner (e.g. try to avoid bed before 7pm) if you can.

Agree as this has also worked for me  - I never nap or go to bed earlier than my normal time upon arrival in Europe. I cannot sleep on planes but I do bring noise cancelling headphones and try to relax. I also avoid the in-flight meal (I find them tasteless anyway). When I finally head to bed at my destination I always take an ambien - this allows me to get some sleep and adjust more quickly to the new time zone.

[fabnfortysomething]

assume you are also referring to the time zones you pass through on the cruise

it seems on Baltic cruises there is a card on your bed more nights than not reminding to put clocks forward or back an hour

 

however it is only an hour unlike the several hours at a go involved in airplane flight across the Atlantic which leads to jet lag

 

the Baltics also tends to be a port intensive itinerary so if possible pace yourself so you don't end the cruise exhausted!

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, fabnfortysomething said:

assume you are also referring to the time zones you pass through on the cruise

it seems on Baltic cruises there is a card on your bed more nights than not reminding to put clocks forward or back an hour

 

however it is only an hour unlike the several hours at a go involved in airplane flight across the Atlantic which leads to jet lag

 

the Baltics also tends to be a port intensive itinerary so if possible pace yourself so you don't end the cruise exhausted!

 

Agree with you regarding port intensive itineraries in the Baltics!  On our recent cruise there, interestingly enough, many people really pushed it the first week of the cruise, going out and seeing everything possible - sort of like kids in a candy store!  Then the 2nd half of the cruise, things slowed down quite a bit 🙂 - as evidenced by people cancelling reservations for dinner and hanging out by the pool in the afternoon!  

So pacing yourself is definitely a good idea!!

[nicoleinwi]

We start adjusting our home schedule to reflect the country we are visiting sometimes up to a week beforehand.  So each day we just adjust our time by a day to reflect the destination country. Which sometimes means on one of our last nights at home we are going to bed around 6 or 7pm to reflect Europe.  

[gnome12]

27 minutes ago, nicoleinwi said:

We start adjusting our home schedule to reflect the country we are visiting sometimes up to a week beforehand.  So each day we just adjust our time by a day to reflect the destination country. Which sometimes means on one of our last nights at home we are going to bed around 6 or 7pm to reflect Europe.  

Probably not doable for the OP, who was worried about jet lag because he/she couldn’t come in early (I assume because still working).