Carnival Cruise Line passenger shares timely warning
It’s crucial to avoid this mistimed mistake during a cruise vacation.
Many people don’t want to have to worry about being on time for anything while on vacation. But if you're taking a cruise vacation, you can’t always forget the clock.
On Carnival and other major cruise lines, passengers often have set dinner times and if they want to enjoy certain shows and activities on board the ship, they’ll also need to pay attention to the cruise activity schedule.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line won’t help with problem that ‘really sucks’
Although cruise ships often cross into different time zones during their voyages, most keep their schedule on a consistent ship time, which usually lines up with the time back in the ship’s departure port.
While on board a Carnival cruise ship, you can always find the current ship time in the Carnival Hub app. Getting out of sync with ship time isn’t usually a worry while at sea, but things can get tricky when you get off the ship in a port of call.
In a recent post in the CarnivalCruiseFans community on Reddit, one Carnival cruiser revealed just how problematic it can be to get out of sync with ship time while enjoying your time in port.
Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter to save money on your next (or your first) cruise.
Image source: Pixabay
Carnival cruiser shares ship time mishap
“I've been on multiple cruises. I've heard the [cruise director] make mentions of ship time but I never had to really pay attention. My phone has always stayed on the standard ship time. No problem,” Great_Huckleberry709 began.
Visiting a port of call in a different time zone than the one your ship departed from can cause some major issues, however, as this cruiser found out in Jamaica.
“Well, just got off the Horizon, and on the morning of our Jamaica port, both my wife and [my] phone times went back an hour. We didn't notice it until we were already off ship,” Great_Huckleberry709 explained.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line gift cards made quick return
“Apparently, it didn't just happen to us, a couple people were left at the pier, a fairly large group of people made it on board just barely in time. And I heard from multiple people who missed their excursions completely due to the time confusion.”
Although getting out of sync with ship time luckily didn’t cause this cruiser to miss the ship, they did miss their dinner.
“Funnily enough, we missed out on dinner that night due to the timing issues. Once back in our room, the wife and I showered and took a nice long winter's nap. Woke up at "8" to get dressed very quickly for dinner. Tried to check in on the Hub app, only to find out that check-in was now closed,” Great_Huckleberry709 shared.
“I don’t know how we forgot that our phones got switched away from ship time, but due to that mistake we were stuck with the deli line for dinner.”
Cruisers offer tips for staying on ship time
In the Reddit thread’s comments, experienced cruisers shared their techniques for avoiding this rookie mistake.
Some passengers make sure to turn off the phone setting that automatically adjusts the time when you travel to a different time zone. Cruisers reported that in some cases, putting their phones in airplane mode didn’t prevent the automatic time zone adjustment, so it’s best to just switch this setting off.
Other cruisers shared that when getting off the ship in a port of call, they set a timer for how many hours they have there.
More Carnival cruise news:
- Carnival Cruise Line passengers fight over key dining controversy
- Carnival Cruise Line makes plea amid America’s growing divisions
- Carnival Cruise Line shares problems it can’t fix
“We also set a timer. If we're getting off at 11 a.m. and need to be back on at 5 p.m., the timer is set to 6 hours,” tn_notahick wrote.
Great_Huckleberry709 pointed out that the timer hack also helps in case you forget what time you need to be back on board.
Surprisingly, a number of cruisers shared that they don’t rely on their phones at all to keep track of the time in port. They take an old-school wristwatch approach instead.
“That's why I always wear my good old fashioned Timex analog watch when I cruise,” sdega315 said.
(The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.)
Make a free appointment with Come Cruise With Me's Travel Agent Partner, Postcard Travel, or email Amy Post at amypost@postcardtravelplanning.com or call or text her at 386-383-2472.
