Ship Lag: The Impact of Time Change on Transatlantic Cruise Crossings (The Good and the Bad)

• Introduction: A 14 Day Atlantic Crossing on the Norwegian Escape
• Delta Air Lines Premium Select Experience (Premium Economy) – What has Changed?
• High Risk – I Flew to my 14 Day Cruise Departure City on Embarkation Day!
• Using Caesars Discount Plus Amex Offers and More to Lower the Cost of Cruising Norwegian
• Starlink Internet Performance on Norwegian Cruise Lines Escape Review
• Bidding for Haven and Suite Upgrades With Norwegian Cruise Lines is no Longer Cheap
• What is the Weather Like on Transatlantic Cruises. Will you get Seasick?
• Comparing the Norwegian NCL Vibe Beach Club to Spice H20 Experience
• The Impact of Time Change on Transatlantic Cruise Crossings – The good and the bad
• Family Balcony Cabin 15862 On Norwegian NCL Escape Review
• What to Expect from the free Main Dining on Norwegian Escape
• Comparing the old Norwegian NCL Cruise App to the New App – What has Changed
• Entertainment on the Norwegian NCL Escape – Choir of Man is a Must See
• Final Thoughts on another NCL Atlantic Crossing

Spring forward and fall back: something you either love or hate and is sure to start an enthusiastic conversation. What about its impacts when traveling? Have you ever missed a connection because your phone did not properly update to the correct time where you were? What about when cruising: is there such a thing as “ship lag”?

When you fly from the United States to Europe, you generally experience jetlag and find yourself tired and hungry at all the wrong times. This is because you traverse the distance into a different time zone faster than your body can keep up.

Traveling West to East, you lose several hours, whereas in the opposite direction, you gain those hours. When you are on a ship, you still travel through various time zones — but at a much slower pace than on a jet.

On a transatlantic crossing, you will have several nights of time change adjustments in order to keep them in sync with the time zones the ship has arrived in along the way. Again, traveling east to west results in several nights of getting an extra hour of sleep. This would seemingly eliminate anything you could label as “ship lag,” but consider a west-to-east voyage, when you lose an hour for several nights along the way.

Believe it or not, on a long enough voyage, you can even get tired of the extra hour on so many nights in a row. You find your body clock might make you wake up at your regular time yesterday, but today, that’s an hour earlier. Phones have a fun time trying to update to ship time when out in the middle of the Atlantic, as well. There also seems to always be an utter absence of clocks onboard. (Pro-tip: you can always check the onboard phones for the correct ship time)

So, why does this even matter, you ask? There are many reasons. Shore excursions are scheduled according to ship time, so it’s crucial to know what time it is according to the ship, not your phone, unless you enjoy running to the port to wave good-bye to your ship that has sailed without you. There is also the consideration of specialty dining dinner reservations which you typically want to book well in advance. After several time change adjustments, your 6:00 PM dinner might “feel” more like 3:00 PM. That might impact your enjoyment of the meal. The whole idea of a cruise is to have a relaxing vacation, so if you find yourself struggling with seemingly endless time adjustments, it can cause some unwanted stress.

I often tease my wife that she must be part cat because she could easily sleep 16 hours a day. Needless to say, I try to always avoid booking trips that require early morning departures. On this crossing, she even woke up far earlier than her usual “time” after so many time change adjustments. They say timing is everything, so it’s good to be aware of what impact this can have on you when booking a longer cruise! – René