Are port arrival/departure times in the local time zone?

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sally77

Guest
Here is a question I cannot get a consistent answer to. I have asked my TA, talked to 2 Carnival reps, and even asked a local tour operator, and all gave me different answers.

We are leaving on the Glory on 9/27. Itinerary says we arrive in Belize at 8am. My simple question is this: What time zone is Carnival referring to when they say 8am? Is it 8am EDT (Eastern Daylight Time), 8am CDT (Central Daylight Time), or 8am local (Belize) time? I know Belize is in Central Time Zone, but since they do not follow Daylight Saving Time, they are actually 2 hours behind EDT. I am trying to determine what time (Belize time) we will be able to tender to the shore so that I can book a private tour, and a 2 hour window makes a big difference!

Also, anyone who has been on the Glory, does the ship stay on Eastern Time (since it leaves from Port Canaveral) during the whole cruise? I can't imagine it would change times as it crosses time zones - this would be too confusing for passengers.

Any help is appreciated!
 
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lainie

Guest
Any time changes will be announced by the crew and will be found in your Carnival Capers -- it will tell you how to reset your clock before going to bed to be on the correct time in the morning. Try asking the tour operators when the ship usually get into port.
 
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Cruzman

Guest
On Carnival cruises that I have been on, all times were ship's time, and it never changed during the entire cruise. So when we arrived in Belize, ship's time was two hours ahead of local time. Many of the tour operators were confused as to what time we had to be back to the ship.
 
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jedgar

Guest
The reason you get different answers from different people is that it is up to the Captain of the ship whether or not he wants to stay on ships time (the time of the port it leaves from) or change the ships time to correspond to port times. I have not been on the Glory so can not answer your time change question for that ship.
 
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SMASHROX`

Guest
I think to avoid confusion, most ships stick with the time of the port they originated from (i.e. if you leave from Miami, you are on EDT). At least this is how it has been for every single cruise I have been on (eastern and western caribbean).
 
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ljeanbrown

Guest
I have been on cruises that stay on ships time and others like the Grand Princess that changed to a port time. I'm sorry I have not sailed Glory, I hope someone out there has and can help you. But my answer is both, as this has been the case for us depending on the ship.




Laurie :wave
 
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Cactuscruise

Guest
The Carnival cruises I've been on leaving from Florida remained on the ship's time "Eastern" throughout the cruise.
 
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PEB

Guest
I think the person who said it is up to the Captain may be right. In Jan we did the Victory both east and west Caribbean and the we stayed on Miami time. We just got off the Paradise Sunday and did east and west Caribbean again and on west Caribbean we went to Belize but we did change to CST.

Another thing to be aware of is that it is a long tender ride in Belize. It took 25 minutes by the ships tender. People coming back on private tours seemed to come across faster however sometimes they had to sit out in the water until the ship signaled them in.
 
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Shelley S.

Guest
Ok, so IF the ship stays on Eastern time, then is the time of port arrival listed by Carnival also Eastern time? Sally77, are you any less confused?

I too have gotten different answers from Carnival and from my TA.

Not knowing in advance makes it difficult to arrange an independent excursion!
 
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sally77

Guest
Shelley, I still don't have a definite answer to this question.

My best source of info has been from 3 other cruisers who were on the Carnival Glory recently (2 different sailing dates, all were the same itinerary as mine) and here's what all 3 said: The ship stayed on Eastern time throughout the whole cruise and that the port arrival times were in Eastern time. I'm particularly concerned about Belize because it's currently 2 hours behind EDT (Eastern Daylight Time). All 3 cruisers said the local arrival time in Belize was 6am, which is 8am Eastern time, and 8am is the arrival time listed by the ship.

However, I also talked with my local tour operator in Belize, and he said that just last week (not one of the weeks the 3 cruisers sailed) the Glory anchored at 7am Belize time, which translates to 9am Eastern time. What does this mean? Heck, I don't know! Was the ship late an hour? Or does it mean that for this particular trip the captain of the Glory decided to change the ship time to Central time while he was in the Central Time Zone. So the ship time in this case was 8am Central time (I'm still assuming the ship arrives at the port when it says it will on the itinerary, which says "8am"!), which translates to 7am Belize time.

This means that for the same ship, same itinerary, for the last 3 consecutive sailings, twice the Glory arrived in Belize at 6am local time, and once it arrived in Belize 7am local time!

Am I still confused? You bet. What makes me angry is why don't the cruise lines do what the airlines do, which is list the arrival and departure times in the local time zone in which the ship is currently docked? That way I wouldn't care whether the captain decides to change the ship time or not, and I could confidently arrange my independent excursions and let my tour operators know when I will be arriving at the port.

I haven't given up. I'm still trying to get the answer from Carnival and from other cruise experts, and I will post any further info I receive. I will also let you know what my particular experience has been, but as I've explained above, even my experience might not be true for the next cruiser on the same ship and itinerary as mine!

I've been emailing back and forth with my local tour operator in Belize about this problem, and he has been absolutely great about promptly responding to me with his experiences. Bottom line is, let your tour operator know about it and give him a time range of when you will arrive in port. If they are interested in keeping you happy, as mine has been, they will work with you and be flexible with times.

I hope this has helped!
 
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Shelley S.

Guest
Thanks for trying to clear that up!

I agree that it would be much clearer if the ship would do as the airlines do- use local time for arrivals & departures. Seems like a no-brainer to me!
 
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