Ship Time vs Port Time

[shellhunter]

Hi

We're going on the Westerdam leaving Pt. Everglades 12/16 to the Eastern Caribbean.

Our itinerary states that we are in St. Thomas from 8 am to 5 pm. Is that "ship time" (i.e., Eastern Standard Time) or "port time" (i.e., Atlantic time)?

[RuthC]

HAL (with one exception) changes it's clocks when it changes time zones.

I, for one, can't imagine doing otherwise.

[ClevelandOhio]

HAL (with one exception) changes it's clocks when it changes time zones.

I, for one, can't imagine doing otherwise.

 

this is not always true. I just got off a rotterdam cruise from Lisbon to Rio. We changed times many times during the trip. however, when we were in our second port of cadiz, spain, we stayed on ship's time which was an hour different from port/shore time. no explanation was ever given as to why. it caused considerable confusion among the passengers because if you had followed shore/port time you would have missed the departure. but in the end everyone got back on the ship on time. the cruise director gave a large number of warnings to the passengers.

[RuthC]

Wow, thanks for that info. Other than the one instance in Puerto Valarta I've never heard of HAL not adjusting to local time. So, now we're up to two.

I've even switched 1/2 hour when in eastern Canada. There's other times it's been forward/back a couple of days in a row. That can happen in eastern Canada when you hit the French possessions, and in Norway when the ship goes to Lerwick, in the British Isles.

[djhsolara]

Hi

 

We're going on the Westerdam leaving Pt. Everglades 12/16 to the Eastern Caribbean.

Our itinerary states that we are in St. Thomas from 8 am to 5 pm. Is that "ship time" (i.e., Eastern Standard Time) or "port time" (i.e., Atlantic time)?

 

 

We were on this Eastern Caribbean sailing in October of 2006 and will be with you on this one. When we were on last year we were always changing time. It seemed like every few nights we were changing time because of the sailing and we were also on during the change from DST...so that added another time change.

 

Just a thought...my suggestion would be that if you aren't sure, just set a timer (if you have one on your cell, etc) for however many hours you have in port and you'll be sure to be back on time no matter what time the ship or port are on.

[shellhunter]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I should have given a little more information, because it is not just a matter of resetting our watches. We are wanting to book a sailing & snorkelling trip to Saint John with a local company that leaves at 9:15 from Sapphire Beach, so I am wondering if the time given by HAL for arrival in the port - 8 am - is port time (Atlantic), in which case we could get over to the sailboat in time. If HAL's "8 am" is Eastern Standard Time, this would be 9 am Atlantic time, and we would not be able to make it. The boat company wants a deposit which we would of course lose.

 

I think either way, we are possibly cutting it too close.

[RuthC]

I am wondering if the time given by HAL for arrival in the port - 8 am - is port time (Atlantic).

Yes, it is.

[Jen&Joe]

We were on ship time instead of local time in St. Maarten. In Belize we were told that it was rare for a ship to be on local time (but we were).

[shellhunter]

It seems like this time situation is a bit variable, probably because localities seem to be changing their local time standards, and I guess it is hard for the cruise companies to keep up with it all. Just this morning I heard that Venezuela is changing their time a half hour (like Newfoundland) to increase productivity or something.

 

Regarding this cruise, I think I'll refrain from booking any private excursions. There's a tropical storm brewing out there which could easily offset any careful planning.

 

Thanks everyone for all your input, this has definitely been helpful.

[shellhunter]

It seems like this time situation is a bit variable, probably because localities seem to be changing their local time standards, and I guess it is hard for the cruise companies to keep up with it all. Just this morning I heard that Venezuela is changing their time a half hour (like Newfoundland) to increase productivity or something.

 

Regarding this cruise, I think I'll refrain from booking any private excursions. There's a tropical storm brewing out there which could easily offset any careful planning.

 

Thanks everyone for all your input, this has definitely been helpful.

[terrydtx]

On our cruise last month we changed times zones 5 times in 10 days to match the local time in the ports, really messed with my internal clock. :eek:

 

FLL & HMC--- Eastern time zone

Aruba and Curacao ----Atlantic Time zone

Panama Canal---Eastern Time zone

Costa Rica--- Central Time zone

FLL---back to Eastern Time zone.

[Micmac]

Hopefully someone recently on one of the sailings can answer this quick question.

 

We have set up an accessible tour for Hannah in Costa Rica and the guide is wanting to meet us at 7am Costa Rica time which he said is 8am ship time. Can anyone confirm if this is the case or if 7am is 7am everywhere?

 

As you might imagine, trying to get her up, showered and dressed takes a considerable amount of time and the extra hour is absolutely necessary for this night owl!

 

Thanks in advance for any input-

 

Michelle

[Pete Jackson]

From what I can tell (see http://time_zone.tripod.com/timezones2.htm, all the Central American republics except Panama run on Central Time (-6), while Panama and eastern Mexico use Eastern Time (-5). So it seems as though the guide expects the ship to be on Eastern Time. He may be thinking of other cruise lines that don't keep port time as regularly as HAL does.

 

To be sure, keep track of what time the ship is on; if it is on Eastern Time, Costa Rica time will be an hour earlier; if it is Central Time, Costa Rica time will be the same as ship time.

[terrydtx]

Hopefully someone recently on one of the sailings can answer this quick question.

 

We have set up an accessible tour for Hannah in Costa Rica and the guide is wanting to meet us at 7am Costa Rica time which he said is 8am ship time. Can anyone confirm if this is the case or if 7am is 7am everywhere?

 

As you might imagine, trying to get her up, showered and dressed takes a considerable amount of time and the extra hour is absolutely necessary for this night owl!

 

Thanks in advance for any input-

 

Michelle

 

I was on the last Volendam cruise and the ship's time changed the nght we left Panama to Central time. I do not know how long the Hana tour is but here is a warning about tours in Costa Rica. The HAL sponsored tour to San Jose got delayed about an hour and a half on the return due to recent mud slides and construction on the highway and would have missed the ship if it had not been a HAL tour. The Volendam waited until they returned to sail.

 

Most of the tours in CR start early 7am (including the one we took) and the ship started serving breakfast at 5am. My DW and I ordered room service for 6am and it was in our room at 6am.

[Micmac]

I appreciate the information - that is exactly what I needed to know. Thanks for the information about the mudslides - we will definitely make sure that we add some extra time in there for the unexpected!

 

Michelle