Cruise ship time zones?

[buzecruze]

I am a first time cruiser sailing the Star Princess in April. We are stoppping in Jamaica,Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Are the arrival and departure times given by the cruise line for each port in Eastern Standard Time, Eastern Daylight Savings Time, or are they given relative to the time zone in each port?

[Pam in CA]

I am a first time cruiser sailing the Star Princess in April. We are stoppping in Jamaica,Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Are the arrival and departure times given by the cruise line for each port in Eastern Standard Time, Eastern Daylight Savings Time, or are they given relative to the time zone in each port?

The ship's time is local time, whatever that may be so that the arrival and departure times always coincide with the local port time. There will be a notice in the Princess Patter the night before, and you will receive a separate notice on your pillow from your cabin steward so that there will be plenty of notice if there is a time change. Also, pay attention to the embarkation times while in port... there is a difference between you must be back on the ship and the time the ship sails. The Patter will give you those times, between 30-60 minutes before sail time to allow the ship to confirm passengers are onboard, remove the gangway or tender facilities, raise the anchor, etc.

 

You can and will be left behind if you are late. On our recent Golden Princess cruise, several passengers were late as we were leaving Montevideo. We were delayed because another ship had to sail first for us to leave port. As the Captain said, "They are lucky, even if they can't tell time." He was fully prepared to leave them behind. About 20 - 30 minutes after we were supposed to sail, and just before we sailed away, two taxis came screaming up to the dock and disgorged the missing pax.