Understanding the difference between ship time and local time is useful for visitors arriving to Cozumel on cruise ships. And it is even more important at this time of year, when the U.S.A. moves to Daylight Savings Time 3 weeks before Mexico. Different cruise lines have different ways of deciding what time their cruise ships take. Carnival cruise ships, for example, always go with the time of their homeport and stick with it, whereas Norwegian cruise ships change their onboard time during the voyage, to match the local port they are arriving to.

Cozumel clocktower.

The itineraries they give passengers display ship times, so cruisers should remember this isn't necessarily the same as Cozumel time.

Cozumel is usually on U.S. Central Standard Time, so the same as Texas, but one hour behind Florida, New York and Toronto.

However, clocks go forward an hour for daylight saving on March 13, 2011 in the States, but not until April 3, 2011 in Mexico.

This means that during the 3 weeks from March 13 to April 3, the U.S.A. is an extra hour ahead.

For example, for these 3 weeks, Texas will be one hour ahead of Cozumel and Florida will be two hours ahead.

This happens again when the clocks go back an hour at the end of October in Mexico, but not until a week later in the U.S.A.

Don't worry if you're confused already, here's a quick reference guide to help you work out what time it is!

Find out about Cozumel tours for cruise ship passengers or more about Cozumel cruises and cruise lines in general.

Disclaimer: we confirmed this information at the time of writing but cruise lines may change their policies, so please use this information as a guide only and check with your cruise line if you want to be sure.