Changing Time on Cruise?

[Xalthon]

DW and I have been on many, many cruises before, but only on RCCL, Celebrity, and Princess (once; this was our first one a long time ago, so memory is a bit fuzzy on the Princess one). We have our first DCL cruise in a couple weeks. While doing some research, I saw references to changing time while on board. Is this right? On all of our other cruises, we stayed on "ship time" the whole time. In other words, we did not change our time regardless of the local time. This to me makes a lot more sense, as why mess around with people's internal clocks twice in a week?

So, is this indeed true, and can someone offer a rational reason as to why this is a good thing? The only thing I can think of is that it alleviates the "problem" of people not making it back to the ship on time while on shore because they look at local clocks. But that "benefit" does not come close to outweighing the negatives associated with two time changes in a week's period.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Looks like you answered your own question, so cruisers are not confused by the local time and getting to the ship late.
Never had a problem with changing time zones on a cruise. Your natural clock is totally bonkers by the location of the port, eating at different times than at home, staying up later to enjoy the shows, and getting up earlier to get to your excursions.

 

[CamColt]

I have to say changing the time on the cruise doesn't really bother me as much as changing it at home. Being on the cruise I don't have a usual set bed time/wake up time so it's sort of a sleep when you want type thing. The only issue I had with it was one morning I went to the gym, and for some reason I wasn't sure if my phone updated, or something was off, but I thought I had an extra hour before Palo Brunch and then I somehow realized I didn't. I had to jump off the treadmill and rush to get ready. But regarding my body clock its not bad.

 

[kiford]

I would personally find it confusing to have a different time than the locals when in port plus the issue of making sure to get back on time. It's rarely more than an hour at a time so it's fairly easy to adjust to.

 

[Xalthon]

I would personally find it confusing to have a different time than the locals when in port plus the issue of making sure to get back on time. It's rarely more than an hour at a time so it's fairly easy to adjust to.

Having done this many times before on other cruise lines, it's not really confusing to be aware of your own time. The ship stresses it ad nauseam. But I guess we will see how this works. Maybe it won't be a big deal, but it is extremely well-documented that people do not adjust well to time changes. Heck, there's been talk about some states abolishing standard time and just sticking with Daylight Savings to avoid the time change for this very reason.

On our cruise, we have the early dining at 5:45 (I think), so some of those days, we will need to be ready by 4:45 (according to our bodies). Seems silly, but as I said, I am willing to see how it plays out. Hopefully, it is not a big deal. I just find it strange this DCL is the only cruise line that we have been on that does this. (Full disclosure, our last cruise was more than 4-5 years ago, so can't speak if the industry standard has changed since then. Can other people chime in with how it works on other cruises?)

 

[lilsonicfan]

I mean I think both ways have some advantages. In reality some adjusting is needed regardless. If ship time is 9am but the city is an hour ahead, you may find yourself eating lunch a little ahead of when your body says to do so. I have never been too bothered by one way or other. I do dislike early dining though.

 

[tutumomickey]

Recently ( January 2019) sailed Holland America. They also change time according to ports.We did back to back Western/Eastern Caribbean. It seemed like we changed times almost every night! However, it did not seem to affect us like at home.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have been on lots of cruises on Disney and other lines. We have never been on one that doesn’t change to local time. I would hate it because it would be so confusing to me. I always change my watch to local times but my husband always leaves his on the time at home. It drives me nuts! I’m always looking at my phone to confirm time. In September we did the Disney transatlantic and changed time every night when crossing the Atlantic. It was great because there was no jet lag at all when hitting NA.

 

[ScooterScott44]

As the PP mentioned, clock changes usually only occur with time zone changes on transatlantic or PC Canal cruises. Usually most ships tend to stay with a standard and not change, just have ship time which is generally the same or only an hour off the local time. No matter what they announce what time is ship time at multiple places. At
least that has been our experience.

 

[ValW]

Princess also changes the clock time. Unfortunately for some, it was the night before disembarkation. Several people showed up an hour early and complained about how long it was taking...

 

[Geomom]

We didn't mind DCL doing the time zone changes on our 2 cruises (Alaska and Baltic). It definitely helps to be in local time, especially with knowing when various museums, etc will be open/closed. The stateroom host changes the clocks in the room the night before. On our Alaska cruise, I did learn a lesson...never book something early when the clocks are getting moved ahead. We overslept and missed our Princess Gathering...kids were fine with it as it was day 7 of the cruise and they'd already seen the princesses they wanted to see.

 

[Xalthon]

I did learn a lesson...never book something early when the clocks are getting moved ahead. We overslept and missed our Princess Gathering....

I just checked out reservations and we have nothing in the mornings of Days 3-5 (days with different time than what we will be started with), so that should help!

 

[Ross Powell]

Just did a western Caribbean cruise on the dream and we did not change clocks back. A little confusing since Mexico was on a different time then the boat.

 

[ninergrl6]

My cruises have always changed to correspond with local time. It never even occurred to me that they wouldn't. What messed with my body clock more than the time change was how light it stayed further north than what I'm used to. In Russia it was still light at midnight, and in Iceland it never got dark. That's what happens when you travel in the summer!

 

[DCLCrazy64622]

I would personally find it confusing to have a different time than the locals when in port plus the issue of making sure to get back on time. It's rarely more than an hour at a time so it's fairly easy to adjust to.

Agree. Especially since most smartphones adjust to the time zone automatically.

 

[pixiedustedme]

Just did a western Caribbean cruise on the dream and we did not change clocks back. A little confusing since Mexico was on a different time then the boat.

Was that via Disney, or another cruise line? I thought the Disney Dream only sailed to the Bahamas.

We just got back from a Western Caribbean cruise on the Disney Magic a few days ago, and we were instructed to change clocks twice during the cruise. I'm glad, as we knew our phones were always on the right time at port. I suspect that some of the "pier runners" who watch their ships sail away had an issue with their ship not being on local time. Their phones might have automatically switched time zones, so when they checked the time they thought they were fine, while their ship was operating on another clock. So I'm glad that DCL sticks to the local clocks.

 

[darnheather]

In the end it is at the Captain's discretion whether the time is changed. You have a notice laid on your bed on the night before the time will be changed and your bedside clock will automatically be reset. Have a wonderful cruise.

 

[gatordoc]

We just got back from a Western on the Fantasy, and changed clocks twice during the cruise. We saw firsthand the potential consequences of not doing this. We were at the dock in Grand Cayman waiting for an afternoon excursion, and overheard a heated conversation between a couple of passengers from a Carnival ship and the tender staff. Apparently Carnival stays on ship time, which was one hour later than local time. The passengers were pointing at a large clock on the dock and insisting that they were not late; however, they were actually an hour past their on-board time.

 

[mmmears]

I think we changed the clocks at least 3 times on our last cruise (Norway, Iceland & Scotland on DCL). It didn't bother me at all. Plus it makes sense since we needed to know the local time since we set up private tours, went to local attractions, etc. It would be far too confusing if ship time ≠ real time.

I see no downside to changing the clocks and lots of issues if they didn't.