Ziggles

We are cruising on Carnival out of Civitavecchia (Rome) port. I am assuming the ship's time stays on Italy's time, is that correct? When we port in Greece, the time is an hour different, one hour ahead of Italy time. Therefore, when we book a private excursion thru an outside company, we book it with a Greece pickup time that is really an hour earlier based on our ship's time, is that correct?

RoamsAround

No, you assumption is not correct. The ship’s time will change at it passes from time zone to time zone so, in your case, when the ship docks in Civitavecchia you’ll be on “Rome” time. When you dock in Greece you’ll be on Greek time.

For what it is worth, each evening you’ll get a “newsletter” in you cabin with the next day’s activities, port times, etc. and an notification of any time changes, if any, that will occur in the following 24 hours.

Ziggles

Ok thank you RoamsAround. Whenever we cruise out of a U.S. port, we are always told by Carnival to stay on "Ship time" even if there is a time change. When we have cruised out of the U.S. ports, the ship's time has never changed, even if they enter into a different time zone. We have been on 30 cruises, this is our first out of Europe, so I wanted to confirm.

janisj

That doesn't seen logical. I've only been on one cruise that straddled different time zones so you have more experience and may be right. But on that cruise -- Inside Passage Vancouver to Alaska -- they definitely told us when the time changed.

Sassafrass

We have done trans-Atlantic cruises from the US and several European cruises. Ship time always changed as we entered different time zones. I think the warning about staying on ship’s time means to keep up with the changes of time on the ship, to make people aware that changes would occur. Ship time is not static, and people should double check if they are looking at clocks or watches that have not re-set.

janisj

Thank you I was trying to figure out how on earth a ship could keep in its own times zone no matter where it sailed. Just didn't make any sense to me.

Ziggles

If you take a cruise to the Caribbean, from the East Coast of the US, Carnival Cruise Lines absolutely does this. They even have a sign as you leave the ship, reminding you to stay on "Ship's Time" (the time of our home port). So, for example, if you port in Jamaica and they tell you to be back on board at 5:00 and you go by 5:00 Jamaica time which is an hour earlier, you will miss the ship. We have been on 30 cruises, trust me when I tell you. Early on in our cruising we almost missed an excursion because of it. As far as outside of the Caribbean, I have no idea and that is why I was asking. I am very relieved to hear that this is not the case with the Mediterranean cruises or the TransAtlantic and TransPacific cruises.

Sassafrass

You are right. It doesn’t make sense because it doesn’t happen. Wonder if anybody might think planes keep their own time zones🙀. How crazy would it be if planes, trains, ships, etc all maintained their own time zone.
Actually I maintained my own zone for several years, just never reset clocks one Fall or Spring and never bothered to to do it again, adjusted my thinking instead. I once secretly set all the clocks in the house 10/15 minutes fast for a few years, got my family ready on time for school and for bed without me nagging. They became responsible for getting themselves up when they got their own clocks for the start of middle school. They were hilarious. They set their clocks 10 minutes fast. Stayed on Mama’s time.

Ziggles

Carnival does it when sailing to the Caribbean, this is from an article on Cruise Critic explaining it:

"The Caribbean would get particularly confusing if ships changed to local time at each port of call. Even though time zones are fairly straightforward, the waters get a bit muddied when it comes to daylight saving time. Most Caribbean cruise ports do not set clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall, but a few do. Because of that, some Caribbean itineraries would cause passengers to reset their watches back and forth several times during a short cruise. Many ships in the Caribbean simply advise passengers to stay on cruise ship time when going ashore."

janisj

Ziggles -- maybe Caribbean cruises are 'different'' Have you cruised anywhere else?

Ziggles

No, that is why I was asking the question.

jacketwatch

https://whichtimezone.com/caribbean/caribbean-map/
The Caribbean has basically two time zones.
We have cruised it 3-4 times including twice on Carnival and the 2nd one was out of FL. (Tampa) I don't recall having to stay of ships or FL time but this was 8 years ago.
In all of our 18 cruises we have always had to change our watches to the time zone we are in and follow it and like others have said you are given reminders to observe a time change. There has always been a note in our cabin the evening before to change and if you put in for a wake up call its always on the current time zone you are in. So if you are on Carnival and put in a wake up call and if they stay on ships time which means the home port, say Florida, then the call comes in off from the port you are in which really makes no sense.

The ship will adjust to the current ports time so just follow it.

Can you imagine if you booked a flight from say Chicago to Tokyo and your arrival time was not on Japans time and date too but Chicagos?

Do you have a link to that article? BTW for our Baltic cruise port times changed often and sometimes day to day but we always stayed on the time it was in the port of arrival.

"According to our good friends at CLIA, time zone changes are required every 0.8 days at sea. As cruise ships pass through the different zones, their systems must be changed regularly to align with that in which the ship is currently sailing. As things stand, there are two completely manual ways to make these changes."

Found this.

fmpden

Another good reason to avoid Carnival. We have done a dozen cruises (mostly Holland Am) in the Caribbean and our ship's time always matches the port time. And same for our European cruises.

Ziggles

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I am happy to hear that our Europe cruise will stay on Port Time. I am in no way dissing Carnival, we love them and will continue to cruise with them. However, I felt a need to show proof since most everyone told me I was mistaken and that would mean that my husband, friends, family and myself all dreamed this up. So here is the sign that they post when you leave the ship in addition to numerous announcements about staying on “Ship time”. This, of course, is only on certain cruises at certain times.

jacketwatch

Ok. Never saw that before so thank you for this information. Learn something new every day

fmpden

We have been taking two to three Caribbean cruses each winter for the past twelve years. Cheaper than renting a condo in Florida. And have never encountered this. Mostly we are on Holland Am. Only once on Carnival -- never again. Most of our cruises are 15 to 25 days as we like to be in the Caribbean for Jan and Feb so maybe our trips are bouncing through lots of time zone. We frequently change time while on board but not daily.

Sassafrass

https://www.timetemperature.com/cari...me_zones.shtml

It appears there are basically only three time zones in the Caribbean. Some islands, however, observe daylight savings time and some islands, even in the same time zone, do not. The ship will likely align with the appropriate time zone, but not change to local time for only a few hours of DST in a specific port. There is the confusion. The ship has not changed times zones, the island or port is in that time zone, but local time may still differ from ship time, thus the need to note and remain on ship time. Interesting. There is always discussion going on about keeping DST or not.