Why 11:59 pm departure time from San Francisco port call?

[kidz_rn]

The itinerary for my Oct. 15th round-trip LA Pacific Coastal cruise on Celebrity Eclipse says that the ship is scheduled to depart San Francisco at 11:59 pm on Day 4. I have never seen that as a departure time in 20 years of cruising. If that's correct, why that strange and specific time?

[CruiserBruce]

I can't explain what they are using that time, but it allows for eating at a nice restaurant, or going to a show or baseball game, or a few other options.

 

We have had a couple of ate night departures in our cruising experience. San Juan leaps to mind. Some cruise lines sail out of Puerto Vallarta at 11pm.

[LynnSD]

Maybe to avoid confusion re 12:00 am or pm?🤷‍♀️

[phoenix_dream]

On 3/2/2023 at 10:30 AM, kidz_rn said:

The itinerary for my Oct. 15th round-trip LA Pacific Coastal cruise on Celebrity Eclipse says that the ship is scheduled to depart San Francisco at 11:59 pm on Day 4. I have never seen that as a departure time in 20 years of cruising. If that's correct, why that strange and specific time?

I believe our Solstice cruise has an arrival time at 11:59 am.  I've never seen times like that either, in more than 70 Celebrity cruises.  

[princeton123211]

On 3/5/2023 at 5:21 PM, LynnSD said:

Maybe to avoid confusion re 12:00 am or pm?🤷‍♀️

Its like seeing those speed limit signs that say "7 mph"-- you pay more attention to them. We're talking about it aren't we?

[BruceMuzz]

In over 40 years of managing Cruise Ships, I see this all the time.

Many cruise ports charge ships for a set number of hours.

Often, cruise ships will advertise a 7am arrival. If they arrive a few minutes early, the ship will just sit in the harbor until 07:00, then move to the pier. If they arrived even one minute early at the pier, the port could charge them huge additional fees for overtime.

The same thing often happens at midnight. If the ship leaves the pier just one or two minutes after midnight, the port could charge them for several hours more pier time.

[sfpd3000]

On 3/2/2023 at 8:30 AM, kidz_rn said:

The itinerary for my Oct. 15th round-trip LA Pacific Coastal cruise on Celebrity Eclipse says that the ship is scheduled to depart San Francisco at 11:59 pm on Day 4. I have never seen that as a departure time in 20 years of cruising. If that's correct, why that strange and specific time?

If you're asking why specifically it's 11:59pm, then I agree with LynnSD.   It's to avoid confusion over noon or midnight.  Some of our STREET CLEANING signs are like that too.

[sfpd3000]

Actually now that I slept on it, it's to avoid confusion.  The cruise line is saying, "we are departing Tuesday NIGHT at midnight, not Wednesday night at midnight."  The best way to avoid confusion is to put 11:59pm on the night of departure.