Grand Cayman time

[nyc211]

I've been given conflicting information about how DCL handles time... We're scheduled to be in port from 10:30 - 5:30. Someone told me that the ship time doesn't change. Should I assume that this is 930a - 430p 'local' time in Grand Cayman?

Thanks!

 

[cantontrebor]

My experience is that the ship time does change with the "local" time. Ship time changes are announced via the daily navigators.

 

[SeattleSuz]

The time will change when you get into the new timezone. And if you have an early morning (ie. 7:30/8:30) excursion, that normally means that you will MEET on the ship at said time and then go down to wait by the door where the gangplank will be. it's nice being one of the first off the ship!!

 

[nyc211]

That's what I thought -- but I've called DCL and twice I've been told that the time stays constant.

 

[SeattleSuz]

That's what I thought -- but I've called DCL and twice I've been told that the time stays constant.

Not that I can recall. I remember my husband being so messed up with time on our cruise, cuz it kept changing with the time zones!

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I don't remember if it was Grand Cayman or Cancun, but for one of them, we stayed on ship time, which was different than local time. They made a point to remind us a number of times, starting the night before at the show. My experience may have been complicated by the change from Daylight Savings Time.

 

[bumbershoot]

My experience may have been complicated by the change from Daylight Savings Time.

And that is generally the biggest issue, because so many of the island countries don't mess with such silly things. So the ship is changing and then the daylight thing might change, or you're already on savings time, but then the country you're visiting doesn't follow that.

If booking an excursion, IMO a big enough place should KNOW what the cruiselines generally do and will have contingency plans. If it's just for knowing ahead of time, no need. Just follow what the Navigator says on your sailing. Perhaps bring along a proper watch and set that to ship time. I've had phones get tricky and change time even when in airline mode, so I wouldn't trust anything that has a "brain" like that, personally.

 

[Meriweather]

We've always changed time......besides the Navigator, a card is left on the bed the night it changes.

 

[Fuzzywuzzy]

On my last trip, as Meriweather said, a card reminding us of any time change was left on the bed.

 

[anricat]

Sometimes GC is on the same time as Central and sometimes it matches Eastern time because they don't observe Daylight Saving Time. So it depends on when your cruise is. Currently Grand Cayman is matching with central time zone through November 1 (because the US is currently in DST) at which point it will once again match the same time as Eastern between November and spring 2016. Technically GC is officially Eastern time.

So in theory, the ship should change to match local time (if you have a cruise from now through November 1).