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Home > FAQs > General Tour Operation Questions
What is the difference between cruise ship time and Belize time?
The time issue is often a source of confusion for cruise ship passengers. The time in Belize is easy to figure out. Belize is on central time (CST), just like Houston and Chicago. Belize does not observe daylight savings time. (Our web site displays a Belize time clock in the sidebar.) The start times for our tours reflect Belize time.
During daylight savings time season, Florida is two hours ahead of Belize, while Texas and Louisiana are one hour ahead. (In other words, if it's 10 am in Miami, it's 8 am in Belize.) During standard time season, Florida is one hour ahead of Belize, while Texas and Louisiana are on the same schedule as Belize. (In the United States, daylight savings time begins the second Sunday of March and ends the first Sunday of November.)
Carnival cruise ships almost always remain on the time of their home ports throughout their travels, even when they cross into a different time zone. During standard time season, ship time aboard the liners based in Florida (including the Carnival Dream, Glory, Legend, Miracle, and Valor) is one hour ahead of Belize time. During daylight savings time, ship time aboard the Florida-based liners is two hours ahead of Belize time. On liners sailing from central time zone ports (including the Carnival Conquest, Elation, Magic, Triumph), ship time is the same as Belize time during standard time season and one hour ahead of Belize during daylight savings time.
In contrast, Norwegian Cruise Lines ships generally adjust their ship clocks to reflect the time zone in which they are sailing. (NCL ship clocks also take into account that Belize does not observe daylight savings time.) The ship clock policies of the Royal Caribbean and Holland America cruise lines vary by ship. For example, the ship clocks on the RCCL Liberty of the Seas remain on eastern time while those on the RCCL Navigator of the Seas are adjusted to central time. The Holland Ryndam adjusts to central time but observes daylight savings time.
The itinerary that your cruise ship distributes to you and your fellow passengers will generally reflect ship time.
From your perspective, the time issue should not be a source of anxiety. Our business is based almost entirely on serving cruise ship passengers and part of our job is to closely monitor cruise ship schedules. Our departure times are set to fit within the port times of ships calling on Belize.
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