It is easy for cruise travelers to lose track of time while on vacation, especially when Daylight Saving Time begins or ends. But how is the semi-annual time change handled onboard Carnival Cruise Line’s fleet of 27 ships?
One concerned guest who is setting sail on Saturday, November 2, 2024 raised the question to John Heald, the cruise line’s Brand Ambassador, for clarification.
“Hey, it’s been a couple years since I’ve sailed during a time change. How is this handled? We leave on 11/2 on Jubilee and time changes on that day,” the guest explained. “For some reason I’m thinking the ships don’t adjust times and wait till the next sailing. What is the answer?”
The guest’s confusion is understandable, as cruise ships do not typically change times during a sailing. Instead, they remain on their homeport time throughout the voyage, unless the ship moves exceptionally far through multiple time zones, making such a change necessary.
For example, Carnival Jubilee is homeported from Galveston, Texas, and her November 2, 2024 departure is a 7-night Western Caribbean itineraries visiting Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel.
Galveston is in the US Central Time Zone, while the ports Carnival Jubilee will be visiting are in the equivalent of the Eastern Time Zone. Furthermore, the two ports in Mexico, both in the state of Quintana Roo, do not observe Daylight Saving Time (it was abolished in 2015).
This can make cruise ship times very confusing indeed, but Heald offers clarification about what will happen onboard Carnival’s vessels.
“Yes indeed, the ship’s sailing today or that have already sailed from a North America home port will be changing their clocks one hour back tonight before going to bed,” Heald confirmed. “There will of course be reminders given on board.”
This means that all Carnival ships sailing from US homeports – no matter which homeport – will set their time back by one hour as Daylight Saving Time ends. This gives travelers onboard an “extra” hour to enjoy their cruise!
While the use of Daylight Saving Time can be controversial – some people want to stay on it year-round, others want to eliminate its use altogether – there is agreement that it does make understanding the time on different dates and in different places more confusing.
Furthermore, different countries adjust their clocks on different days, making it even more challenging to figure out exactly what time it is, especially for international travel such as on cruise ships.
Other Cruise Ship Time Changes
In general, cruise ships do not change their onboard time so long as they either match their ports of call or are off by just an hour.
When a ship does travel far enough that a time change is necessary, guests are notified about the change by letters delivered to their staterooms as well as several onboard announcements.
The Main Dining Room staff will also often mention the time change to guests at dinner time as one more reminder, and signs may be posted in public areas.
The types of itineraries where onboard time changes are essential are unique voyages such as transatlantic cruises and transpacific cruises, as well as general repositioning voyages as ships are redeployed to new regions with different homeport time zones.
Similarly, cruises that depart California or other West Coast homeports to visit Hawaii will also adjust their onboard times as they head for the Aloha State as well as during their return trip to California.
Read Also: What Happens If You Miss Your Cruise Ship?
Some Eastern Caribbean itineraries adjust times, though many Western Caribbean sailings do not – even if ports of call are “off” by an hour in local time, the ship remains on “ship time” according to its homeport.
This can be confusing for visitors, but cruise travelers should always remember to remain on “ship time” while in a port of call so they do not risk missing the ship as it departs for its next destination.
