caribbean cruise experts - a question on ship time

[disneyholic family]

ok...time to show how challenged i am!!

so first off - i finally booked our cruise for this august!!! tada!!!! drum roll please!!!!

so, now i'm in the midst of the nitty gritty of ports and excursions and this curious thing called ship time that i've never encountered before..

when we arrive in St. Thomas, the gangway opens at 9:30 ship time.
So for those of you who've done this (or who can figure it out), does that mean 10:30 St. Thomas time?
and even more importantly (as missing the boat is a real possibility), if all aboard is 5:30 ship time, is that 6:30 St. Thomas time?
or do i have the relationship backwards?

 

[wilma-bride]

I wouldn't say I'm an expert but I remember that, when we sailed the Eastern, ship time was the same as St Thomas local time. That was October, before the clocks went back.

 

[disneyholic family]

I wouldn't say I'm an expert but I remember that, when we sailed the Eastern, ship time was the same as St Thomas local time. That was October, before the clocks went back.

so if that's the case, why do they have to say ship time and confuse me completely!!!!

so you've done the eastern?
have any recommendations for things to do in st thomas and saint martin?

in st thomas, i was thinking of taking the ferry to st john, taking a short hike, then the ferry back, then into charlotte amalie, then back to the ship...

in saint martin, basically the same - a bit of window shopping in philipsburg, then to maho beach to watch some planes, then back to the ship...
not very exciting, but that's usually what i like to do...a bit of walking around, stopping for a cup of coffee or a cold drink, then a bit more walking, then back to the ship...

 

[luke]

Only done the Western, but we changed ship time by an hour before arriving at Grand Cayman, then kept it at that when we went to Mexico (meaning ship time and land time had an hours difference).

All timings though, such as all aboard were to be on ship time rather than local time so I imagine it'll be the same in St Maarten

 

[disneyholic family]

i just looked up what time it is in st thomas right now..
and i see that it's the same time as new york, which means that they don't go onto daylight savings time.

so i guess that means that ship time and local time will be the same in august (i hope)

so 9:30 is 9:30 and 5:30 is 5:30...

now let's look up st martin and see if they're the same..
yes, same story....no daylight savings time, so in the summer they coincide with the eastern time zone of the US...
so ship time = local time.....very cool...

 

[wilma-bride]

At St Maarten, we took a private tour with Bernard's Tours. It was great fun and a really good way to see some of the island. Our favourite stop, without a doubt, was Maho beach. The kids loved watching the planes coming in.

At St Thomas, we did the Sky Ride to Paradise Point, had a couple of Bushwhackers at the top and came back down again I liked it but it was sweltering up there in October, I hate to think what it would be like in the height of summer My DS was so hot, he sat on the steps and refused to move

 

[Jacqui8374]

Trying to remember last year but I think we changed watches for one day sorry this may not be helpful but the navigator tells you what to do anyway so you will know

Jacqui

 

[disneyholic family]

At St Maarten, we took a private tour with Bernard's Tours. It was great fun and a really good way to see some of the island. Our favourite stop, without a doubt, was Maho beach. The kids loved watching the planes coming in.

At St Thomas, we did the Sky Ride to Paradise Point, had a couple of Bushwhackers at the top and came back down again I liked it but it was sweltering up there in October, I hate to think what it would be like in the height of summer My DS was so hot, he sat on the steps and refused to move

i've heard of bernard's....lots of trip reports with him in it..
DD and her husband are going to go on a snorkeling excursion, but we'll just walk around philipsburg and then head for maho beach..

in st thomas, DD is going to coral world, but DH and i will head over to st john for a bit and then to charlotte amalie...

we'll stay on the ship in nassau, while DD and hubbie go for a dolphin swim at blue lagoon...

we've finished with most of the bookings for excursions and the blockbuster entertainment things on the ship, so we're almost done..
58 days to go