When will ship time < > phone time on Westerdam Alaska southbound?

[SempreMare]

When (on which stops) will ship time not equal  phone time on the Westerdam Alaska southbound cruise? 

 

Where the get-off-the-ship ports are: 

 

- Haines

- Juneau

-  Ketchikan

 

Do you have any tricks to help you remember when (which days) the ship time is different so that you don't miss the departure? 

Edited July 14, 2019 by SempreMare

[oakridger]

The TV will display the current ships time. I check this each morning.  Going south from Alaska only has a one hour time change.  The steward leaves a reminder in your cabin during turn down service to set forward your clock/phone/watch on the evening it occurs.

 

~Nancy

[Krazy Kruizers]

Besides the little card under your pillow chocolate, the time change will be listed in the Where and When daily program.

 

You will see it on the TV and on the cabin telephone.

[catl331]

All three of those ports are on AK time, which will be the same as ship time. You cross into the Pacific time zone just after leaving Ketchikan, and ship time will change that night.

 

Edited July 14, 2019 by catl331

[CruiserBruce]

HAL ship time matches local time 99.99% of the time...so the exceptions are very, very rare, and none are in Alaska. Ship time and "cell phone" time will be the same.

 

Was just on the 14 day cruise in Alaska on Amsterdam last month. Ship time matched local time 100% of the time.

[TAD2005]

HAL has no control over the time displayed on your cell phone.  That is supplied by the local cell service that you were last connected to.   It is much better to rely on the cabin TV for the correct time and set your watch accordingly.   The ship will depart based on the time you see on the TV, not your cell phone.   

[Coram]

All the ports in Alaska have cell service.  Your phone should update automatically.

[przyk]

I'm confused by some of the responses.  My only experiences cruising were Caribbean cruises out of Florida.  My recollection is ship time was Eastern time based on our embarkation port and stayed on Eastern time throughout the cruise .  So, when we stopped at Cozumel, which is in the Central time zone shore time was an hour off.

 

We will be sailing from Vancouver on the Westerdam.  Will the ship time change when we go from Western time zone to Alaska time?  Some of the replies make me think so.

[CruiserBruce]

51 minutes ago, przyk said:

I'm confused by some of the responses.  My only experiences cruising were Caribbean cruises out of Florida.  My recollection is ship time was Eastern time based on our embarkation port and stayed on Eastern time throughout the cruise .  So, when we stopped at Cozumel, which is in the Central time zone shore time was an hour off.

 

We will be sailing from Vancouver on the Westerdam.  Will the ship time change when we go from Western time zone to Alaska time?  Some of the replies make me think so.

Have been on 12 cruises with HAL, including the Caribbean (several times) and Alaska (last month). HAL has always changed clocks to match local time. Yes, in Alaska last month we changed from Western to Alaska. We have even done 30 minute changes (for Tunisia), to the surprise of our tour guide.

 

The tricky one is Puerto Vallarta...several cruise lines don't change there as it is right on a time zone border, and if they change, it may be the only time change required (on a Mexican Rivera cruise, for example).

[catl331]

1 hour ago, przyk said:

I'm confused by some of the responses.  My only experiences cruising were Caribbean cruises out of Florida.  My recollection is ship time was Eastern time based on our embarkation port and stayed on Eastern time throughout the cruise .  So, when we stopped at Cozumel, which is in the Central time zone shore time was an hour off. Including Cozumel twice.

 

 

Was this on HAL or another line?  I've been on 20 HAL cruises on 5 continents and have never had one instance where ship time was not changed to shore time. Including Cozumel twice.

 

1 hour ago, przyk said:

We will be sailing from Vancouver on the Westerdam.  Will the ship time change when we go from Western time zone to Alaska time?  Some of the replies make me think so.

 

Yes

Edited July 15, 2019 by catl331

[catl331]

34 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

We have even done 30 minute changes (for Tunisia), to the surprise of our tour guide.

We  did a 30 min change for Newfoundland, but I don't recall doing one for Tunisia on Noordam. Right now Tunisia is GMT +1,  and currently observes CET all year.

Edited July 15, 2019 by catl331

[przyk]

23 minutes ago, catl331 said:

 

Was this on HAL or another line?  I've been on 20 HAL cruises on 5 continents and have never had one instance where ship time was not changed to shore time. Including Cozumel twice.

 

 

Yes

I have never sailed on HAL before. Most of my cruises were on Carnival.  

 

Thanks to everyone for replying so quickly. 

[rafinmd]

This may be a bit of a function of your cell phone carrier but in ports your cell phone time should be correct.  For your first day on the inside passage the nearest cell towers will be in Canada and your phone should be on Vancouver time.  If they move the clocks back the first night your time would be wrong until you get to Ketchikan; if you move the clocks the second day there should be very little time where your phone would be wrong.  There might also be an issue in Galcier Bay as you would be very near the Canadian Border.

 

Do be SURE you know what your provider will do about possible roaming charges as your bill when you get home could be a shock.

 

Roy

[TAD2005]

Some cruise lines like Carnival feel that time changes confuse their passengers.   I guess they don't give much credit to their passenger's intelligence.   So, you are right, they stay on Florida time for the whole cruise, even into the Central time zone.   That works OK if all you do is take ship's tours.  But if you take a taxi or private tour, or just hit Carlos & Charlie's in Cozumel,  the driver will be working on local time and you very easily miss the ship.   If the All-Aboard time is 4:00 PM, on a Carnival ship that stays on Eastern time, but your taxi driver in Cozumel says "no problem, it's only 3:00 pm", you will be paying a huge amount of money to catch up with the ship in the next port.   One consolation though.... you will have some fantastic pictures of your ship sailing away from the dock.

HAL does it right, by coordinating ship time with local time.   No chance for error.

[catl331]

2 hours ago, TAD2005 said:

Some cruise lines like Carnival feel that time changes confuse their passengers.   I guess they don't give much credit to their passenger's intelligence.

I've  always thought they did it simply because it's easier for the crew to not have to switch back and forth.

[CruiserBruce]

4 hours ago, przyk said:

I have never sailed on HAL before. Most of my cruises were on Carnival.  

 

Thanks to everyone for replying so quickly. 

As mentioned, Carnival is known for not changing their clocks. HAL is NOT Carnival. In any way, shape or form. 

[john2003]

I think that the phone time is the unpredictable part. We normally set it manually as one has no idea what time the ships cell service will use.  

[CruiserBruce]

5 hours ago, john2003 said:

I think that the phone time is the unpredictable part. We normally set it manually as one has no idea what time the ships cell service will use.  

I would not recommend using the ship's tower to set your time. Use a land based cell when docked. Once set to Alaska time, it will be good for correct time almost until disembarking.

[SempreMare]

On 7/14/2019 at 8:35 AM, catl331 said:

All three of those ports are on AK time, which will be the same as ship time. You cross into the Pacific time zone just after leaving Ketchikan, and ship time will change that night.

 

Thank you @catl331, that was exactly what I needed to know! 

[0bnxshs]

On 7/14/2019 at 3:02 AM, SempreMare said:

When (on which stops) will ship time not equal  phone time on the Westerdam Alaska southbound cruise? 

 

Where the get-off-the-ship ports are: 

 

- Haines

- Juneau

-  Ketchikan

 

Do you have any tricks to help you remember when (which days) the ship time is different so that you don't miss the departure? 

 

I was just on the Noordam the week of 4 July doing the same itinerary (ports) as you've listed.  In Anchorage/Seward, we were on AKDT (GMT -8 hrs).  You will stay on this timezone until you have left Ketchikan, heading to Vancouver.  The night you leave Ketchikan you should (Noordam did) lose 1 hour and will be on PDT (GMT -7 hrs) and spend your day before disembarkation day on this time.  Ship's time and port times were always synchronized.

 

The time on your phone may differ for several reasons as mentioned by others above.  You can always go into setting and set the time to manual time update and then set it yourself, but you'll want to remember to return it to the original settings once off the ship.  I always have a simple watch to set to ship's time as I leave the ship and take a photo at the gangway so that I can verify all aboard times.

 

Hope you have a great cruise.  It was VERY smoggy in Anchorage/Seward from fires, somewhat smoggy in Glacier Bay and Haines when we were there.  Juneau and Ketchikan were clear though.  Hopefully it's all cleared up when you are there.

Edited July 17, 2019 by 0bnxshs

[SilvertoGold]

May I, also, suggest everyone just wear watches set to ship time?

 

Re: not changing ship time to port time:  I remember maybe 15 years ago, on the Zaandam docked in Huatulco.  For some reason the time onboard was not changed to port time.  What a disaster.  75 pax not on board for departure.  Captain started blowing the whistle every 5 minutes to try to alert them to come back to the ship.   It made for a unique HAL departure for us watching all the confused pax running along the dock.

Edited July 17, 2019 by SilvertoGold

[TAD2005]

On 7/15/2019 at 9:24 PM, catl331 said:

I've  always thought they did it simply because it's easier for the crew to not have to switch back and forth.

The ship's crew (even Carnival) are well conditioned world travelers.  Their job demands it.   For some crazy reason, Carnival feels that changing time zones is too confusing for their clientele.   But as Silver to Gold mentioned above, by not requiring passengers to adhere to local time, they open themselves up to a disaster at departure time.