7 Day Western Caribbean Port Times (Ship Time or Local Time?)

[Lilsleepyme]

Hi Everyone!

 

First time poster and I apologize for inquiring about this. I searched the forum and even reached out to Princess directly but could find no exact answers.

 

Princess has cancelled all our pre-booked scuba diving excursions through them and we are now scrambling to find external shore excursion operators for each port. One of the things operators have been asking us to confirm is if the times listed on our Booking Itinerary are Ship time or Local time. 

Trying to find anyone that has been lately on the 7 Day Western Caribbean cruises for what time you guys arrived and departed the ports? Wanted to see if it matched the times on the booking itinerary or if there was a time difference. 
 

Thanks so much in advance!

 

Suzanne & Marco

[Thrak]

We have always arrived in ports at the time listed on the itinerary and it has always been local time. As far as I know, Princess always adjusts to local time in ports unless specifically stated. We always find a note on our bed in the evening telling us to change our clocks for the next day whenever a time change occurs whether there is a port involved or not.

 

Edit: Welcome to Cruise Critic!

Edited October 27, 2022 by Thrak

[DavidsNana]

@Lilsleepyme  Did Princess give a reason for cancelling your scuba excursions booked with them?  When is your cruise?  I'm asking as I have a Western Caribbean cruise scheduled with my grandson and his wife for 4/1/23 and he is planning on diving in at least one of the ports.  I would hate to book a Princess excursion and then be in the position of trying to find an alternative at the last minute.  There are some private operators listed on the Caribbean Ports board here so guess I will make note of them.  Would appreciate it if you would come back and let me know who you finally booked with and how they were.  Thank you and good luck.

 

[Lilsleepyme]

@Thrak Thanks so much for your input & the warm welcome! Really appreciate it! Good to know that the listed booking itinerary times have been the local port times. Frustrating that Princess themselves could not answer this when confirming with them.

 

@DavidsNana Thanks for the suggestion to check out the operators on the Caribbean board! We will definitely look there to see who we can find as we are finding out not all local dive shops are willing to work with cruise passengers.

Our cruise is from November 19th to November 26th, 2022. They have been sending the cancellation about 20-30 days out from our cruise stating that the excursion has been cancelled due to operational reasons. Very frustrating for us as we had booked this cruise with the intent of checking out a lot of the scuba spots on the itinerary. Would’ve rather they not offer the excursions if they didn’t intent to fulfill so we could have booked all these excursions separately with outside operators.
Will be more than happy to share who we dive with in the end and our recommendations. So will keep you posted!

[Thrak]

20 minutes ago, Lilsleepyme said:

@Thrak Thanks so much for your input & the warm welcome! Really appreciate it! Good to know that the listed booking itinerary times have been the local port times. Frustrating that Princess themselves could not answer this when confirming with them.

 

 

I think you will find that very few (if any!) of the Princess reps you will get on the phone have ever even been aboard a cruise ship let alone have actually sailed on one.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Thrak

[DavidsNana]

40 minutes ago, Lilsleepyme said:

@Thrak Thanks so much for your input & the warm welcome! Really appreciate it! Good to know that the listed booking itinerary times have been the local port times. Frustrating that Princess themselves could not answer this when confirming with them.

 

@DavidsNana Thanks for the suggestion to check out the operators on the Caribbean board! We will definitely look there to see who we can find as we are finding out not all local dive shops are willing to work with cruise passengers.

Our cruise is from November 19th to November 26th, 2022. They have been sending the cancellation about 20-30 days out from our cruise stating that the excursion has been cancelled due to operational reasons. Very frustrating for us as we had booked this cruise with the intent of checking out a lot of the scuba spots on the itinerary. Would’ve rather they not offer the excursions if they didn’t intent to fulfill so we could have booked all these excursions separately with outside operators.
Will be more than happy to share who we dive with in the end and our recommendations. So will keep you posted!

@LilsleepymeYou are quite welcome for the suggestion of checking out the Caribbean Ports board.  Since our cruise is not until April 1, I haven't checked in several weeks but rather did one day when I did not have much to do.  I did find a couple of recommendations.  Also, on the board where the special groups are listed such as Seniors etc. there is a scuba section if I remember correctly.  I might have gotten some recommendations on there.

I will make a note of your cruise dates to read if you do have recommendations.  My grandson is a trained rescue/search and recovery diver but he is in rural TN and his training and dives have been in lakes, rivers (murky most of the time) and quarries.  He just recently was able to make an ocean dive down off Panama City, FL and loved it.  So I am anxious to get him at least one more ocean dive down in the Caribbean.

Take care and I hope you find someone to your satisfaction and have a wonderful time.

[DavidsNana]

@LilsleepymeOK I just checked and where I found the scuba and snorkeling info is under "Cruise Discussions and Topics" then Scuba and Snorkeling.  There are some people there who have made dives in the Western Caribbean and they have operator recommendations.  Also there is one post about Carnival Corp and Royal Caribbean not having diving excursions and that this person was told it was an insurance/liability issue.  So check there and see if there is anything that appeals to you.  Good luck.  Also, I searched the Caribbean board for several ports and did not find anything useful about scuba.  I remember now it was in the scuba section of the Cruise Discussions and Topics" section that I was browsing that day.

[Arizona Wildcat]

To the OP.  Ships time is almost always local time.  If it deviates you will be told several times.  In 20+ cruises only happened involving Newfoundland which has its own time zone.

[Essiesmom]

The only cruise line I have sailed that did not follow local time is Carnival.  EM

[Thrak]

Just a FYI... Don't ever trust any of the clocks you may see on the outside decks. They are rarely correct.

[Lilsleepyme]

@DavidsNana

Hope you & your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We just got back from our 7 day cruise aboard the Sky Princess and had a wonderful time onboard. We ended up being able to find replacements operators for all our original dive excursions that were cancelled by Princess. We did a 2 tank dive at each port and had plenty of time to make it back to the ship before departure. Can confirm that the times printed on the itineraries are in local time for planning purposes, but do take away an hour from departure time listed for last call for boarding.

Of the four ports we visited, we highly recommend the diving in Roatan, Honduras with Roatan Divers (Website: https://roatandivers.com). Best dive sites all trip long and most outstanding service of all the dive excursions we did. Vibrant coral and large varieties sea life from fish to invertebrates. They pick you up right from the cruise terminal straight to the dive shop 45 minutes away and take excellent care of you while you dive. They took care of all the gear setup/clean up and really allowed us to relax and just enjoy the dives. Dive boats were very spacious and comfortable. Dive guides are very thorough on diver safety and knowledgeable. Top notch group and cannot recommend enough.

Also below is a list of the other operators we used if your son would like to dive in the other ports:

1. Cozumel, Mexico
   • Operator: Barefoot Dive Center Cozumel
   • Website: https://www.barefootcozumel.com
   • Review: Not a bad dive shop. Great dive guides & dive sites but the dive boat is a bit cramp and a bit older than the boats we were on from other providers. You are responsible for your own setup and take down of gear but guides will help if you ask. Long boat rides to dive sites, but they do provide you a light lunch onboard. Have to take a taxi from Cruise Terminal by yourself about 15 minutes into downtown to find them. Definitely the second prettiest dive location of the four ports and would definitely recommend diving here if possible.
2. Belize City, Belize
   • Operator: Jaguar Adventures Tour & Dive Shop
   • Website: https://www.jaguarbelize.com
   • Review: Excellent group to dive with. Service with this group was top notch. One of the few and only dive shops that will run a tour with a minimum of two divers. Very responsive compared to other operators during initial booking. Tour picks you up straight from outside the cruise terminal and dock is a short five minute walk away with them. Dive boat is spacious and comfortable. They handle all gear setup and takedown for you. Light lunch was provided between dives. Dive master was extremely knowledgeable and fun. Dive sites were a 30 minute boat ride away and were beautiful.
3. Costa Maya, Mexico
   • Operator: Doctor Dive Costa Maya
   • Website: https://www.doctordive.com
   • Review: Overall was ok but would probably look at another dive shop or skip diving at this port all together. We felt it was a bit chaotic and the service level of the dive shop was not at the same level as the other providers we experienced. Very rushed and not a lot of direction on what was going on when trying to get ready for the boat. They almost took off on the boat without us while we were still getting ready in the shop. They do take care of all your gear setup and takedown, which was nice. Had to catch a taxi to get to dive shop 15 minutes away from cruise terminal which was a very frustrating experience itself. The cruise terminal is designed as an elaborate maze as it seems they do not want people to leave and stay there. Dive sites were alright and a short boat ride away from the beach, but cannot compete with the beauty of the other three dive locations.

Hope this is helpful for planning your cruise! Reach out with any question if you have any.

[DavidsNana]

@LilsleepymeOh man the info that you have provided is above and beyond anything that I could have hoped for.  Thank you so much. I am printing this off for my grandson who is the one who will be diving and I'm pretty sure that he will select Roatan Divers since you say it was the best of the sites and operators.  He says that he is only going to dive at one port this cruise as he wants to spend more time with me.  I live in CA and he lives in TN and we don't get to see each other very often as he works long hours plus his volunteer time with the fire department.  But if he does decide to do more than the one port, then based on your firsthand experience, I'm guessing he will choose the operator in Belize.  We will be doing these ports aboard the Caribbean Princess April 1st.

 

Also, glad that you had a wonderful time aboard the Sky Princess.  My son, his lady and I will be sailing the same itinerary aboard the Sky Princess on Feb 25th.  While this will be my 27th cruise with Princess, I have never been aboard the Sky nor any other of the ships in it' class.  So, I am very excited to see my son after a year and meet his lady for the first time in addition to being able to sail on a new ship.

 

The cruise April 1st with my grandson and his wife will be her first ever cruise but will be my 5th time on the Caribbean Princess.  In fact, it is the same ship that my late husband and I took my grandson on when he was a little kid in 2005.

 

Thank you again for all this wonderfully detailed information.  My grandson will be thrilled when I read it to him on the phone today.