Miracle - Ship time, Local Time, Tender Time, Real Time - HELP!

[WorkingMomNeedsaVacation]

We're cruising on the Miracle next February and for some reason, Carnival isn't offering scuba excursions on any of our ports except Costa Maya. We chose this itinerary to get some diving in, and I was planning to do it through the ship due to all the tendering. Now it looks like I'll need to book independently so I am trying to understand what all the times mean.

 

CCL's website shows the following arrival/departure times:

 

Grand Cayman - 7:00/4:00

Cozumel - 9:00/6:00

Belize - 8:00/5:00

Costa Maya - 8:00/5:00

 

I need some help understanding the following:

 

1. Are those times Tampa times or local?

2. Assuming we are tendering in GC, Coz and Belize, what is a realistic time one can expect to be on land? What time do the tenders stop running?

 

I know most tour operators will refund if you are late, miss your port, etc., but I still want to get an idea of which tours we can expect to be able to make. For example, one tour operator I found for Cozumel has 2 dives 8 -1 and 12:30 - 5. Neither of those seem doable. Can that be right?

 

Someone please help! Thanks.

[PaddleAddict]

I was on the Miracle last week. The times are ALL ship time, which varies from local time for each stop. I can't remember offhand what they all are, but I am pretty sure that ship time was ahead of local time in Belize. I do know that some people on my cruise did diving in Belize, so you might want to post on the Ports of Call boards for Belize and ask what people did as far as diving.

 

The last tender is 30 mintues before the ship sails--SHIP time. So, if the ship sails at 5:00 ship time, you need to catch tender at 4:30.

 

We always brought a watch ashore and kept it set to ship time so we wouldn't get confused.

[HUNNY BUN]

The ship's time is usually the same as it's home port and doesn't change. The excursion times they give you on the ones booked thru Carnival are on ship's time.

 

Have fun!

[sunkey1]

From what I understand, they don't observe daylight savings time in those ports. So after October, when we put our clocks back, the time on the ship and the local time in the islands will be the same. This will be in effect until next spring when we in the states move our clocks forward. Then if we get into some of the ports at 8 am our time, it will only be 7 am island time. If you're going in Feb. you should be fine as we'll all be on the same time. Does that help?

[vacruizer]

From what I understand, they don't observe daylight savings time in those ports. So after October, when we put our clocks back, the time on the ship and the local time in the islands will be the same. This will be in effect until next spring when we in the states move our clocks forward. Then if we get into some of the ports at 8 am our time, it will only be 7 am island time. If you're going in Feb. you should be fine as we'll all be on the same time. Does that help?

 

That is true for the Cayman Islands, but I believe Costa Maya and Belize are on Central time which would still put them an hour behind, even in February.

 

We stayed on Eastern Daylight Time a few weeks ago (Tampa time) for the whole week. Most tour operators know the schedules and will quote their times by ship time.