daytime/nighttime in January

[Tarquin]

Hi there everyone-
I have been reading this forum for about 2 months now and I first want to say THANKS for all the great information-
we have booked our first Disney cruise for 1/8/05-7 day Eastern

this may seem like a silly question, but I am not a science person-

We are from New York and around here in January, it is dark by 5- when we go on the cruise, will it still get dark around that time, or because we are at a different point on the earth will it be lighter?

I know at one point we change our clocks by one hour-forward or back, I can't remember?

thanks

 

[DisneyKids]

I believe that the more you travel East, the earlier it will get dark. But the change on the cruise will be slight. Starting from Port Canaveral (which is likely a little west of your location in NY), I think it stays light a LITTLE longer. So, depending on where the ship is, it may be different. Roughly, it's the same within a small window of change (plus or minus). How is that for a muddy answer!!??

 

[Lisa]

Tarquin,

Nice to meet a fellow cruiser. My family and I will be on the same cruise. Brack has started a thread over at the Cruise Meet board for fellow cruisers to introduce themselves. Stop by when you can and join in on the fun.

When I took our cruise last year, the sun went down around 5:50-6:00 pm when we left Cape Canaveral and Key West. Perhaps that info will help answer your question. Can't say what time the sun will set at St. Thomas or St. Martin as we were on the Western cruise.

There will be two time changes on our cruise. The first one will be Sunday evening/Monday morning - 1 hour forward. The second will be Thursday night/Friday morning - 1 hour back.

 

[jrabbit]

I was on the eastern a couple of years ago (MLK week) and I believe that it was still light after 6pm. I do remember us leaving St. Maarten and it was dark. And when we left St. Thomas at 4:30/5pm there was still lots of light except for the dark clouds/rain storm that was approaching the island as we were leaving.

Two reasons for it being lighter in the Caribbean: 1) you change time zones and now you are 1 hour later but you are on the "western edge" of the time zone so it's lighter later. #2) You are much farther south (closer to the equator) and there is less variation in daylight/nighttime than way up north where you live.

RE: Time zones - I thought we changed our clock two time zones on our way to St. Maarten, and then twice on the return trip to Florida. Here's a tip: Change your watch to coincide with ships time. Yes it's a pain in the wrist with some watches. DCL ship time is local time. Why is this important You DON"T want to miss the ship. In St. Thomas several families were late arriving back at the ship and we almost left without them. They didn't change their watches and thought that they had an hour to spare.