If you are visiting Cancun or Montego Bay from the following time zones then you will need to bear in mind that when you arrive at your tropical escape you will need to adjust your watch or clock in the following ways. What is the time in Montego Bay?īeing only about eighteen degrees above the equator, the incredible island of Jamaica has not observed daylight savings time since 1983 and instead maintains a steady Eastern Standard Time zone GMT-5 all year long. Time zones are nice and easy on this island with Atlantic Standard Time GMT-4 being used all year round. What is the time in Punta Cana?ĭaylight savings time has not been used in the Dominican Republic since January 1974. Whilst much of the country uses Central Time Zones GMT-6, Cancun, in Quintana Roo uses Eastern Standard Time GMT-5. What is the time in Cancun?ĭaylight saving time was being used in Mexico but was removed in July 2022. Whereas, if you compare this with your Caribbean timezone, they will remain with the standard version. This is the advantage of using GMT and UTC since they specify the hours ahead instead of the time zone name.Īnother thing to look for is that Eastern Standard Time EST changes to Eastern Daylight Time once clocks change, and Atlantic Standard Time changes to Atlantic Daylight Time.

Therefore, if you are traveling from a country that observes Daylight savings time DST, then you should be aware that you are an extra hour ahead even if you share the same time zone name. This does mean, that whilst some places like Florida and Jamaica both use Eastern standard time, for the part of the year, they will have an hour time difference because in the states they change their clocks, but in most of the Caribbean, they do not.

In places where the days are long during the summer months, daylight savings allows people to change their clocks so that they can gain an hour of daylight during this period.īut does this apply in the Caribbean? Do they have the same need to lengthen their daylight by changing their clocks?Ĭountries close to the equator with lower latitudes, your favorite tropical destinations, generally do not need to use daylight savings time because the daylight throughout the year in these countries remains fairly consistent so there would be no real advantage to changing the clocks each year. It was put in place mainly so that countries could save energy. Do they use daylight saving time in the Caribbean?ĭaylight saving time may be slightly confusing for some but it does serve a purpose. This way, by entering a new time zone in the Caribbean, you can make the most of the daylight and really soak up some sunshine on the beach. These time zones are based on the earth's rotation and are established based on the amount of daylight that specific parts of the world get during different times. So whether you see UTC or GMT, you can safely determine that it is really the same time zone.Īnother common time zone in the eastern parts of the Caribbean is GMT-4 or UTC-4 which is known in the states as Atlantic Standard Time. This post was originally published in May 2018 and updated on Mato change the header photo and provide additional context for 2021.Eastern Standard Time which is common in the west Caribbean as well as the United States and Canada would be GMT-5 and UTC-5. But if you go to the trouble of providing your three-letter time zone abbreviation, make sure you know which is which. Or give the name of a nearby city: “America/New York” and “America/Los Angeles” are options in every time zone menu. If you truly want to remain clueless, it’s fine to say “ET” or “eastern time” (likewise for CT, MT, and PT) do so, and you’re just being imprecise, not wrong. If you pick “EST” off a menu when you’re scheduling a reminder or an automated event, but your actual time is EDT, the computer will do its thing an hour too late. Many tools are smart enough to adjust automatically, but some aren’t. You’re dealing with a program that doesn’t account for your ignorance. Better double check that anybody coming from a different time zone gets the right time on their calendar. Perhaps it’s daylight time now, but it will be standard time by the time the appointed day arrives. You’re scheduling something for the future. During those in-between times, you have to be extra careful that you’re converting correctly. has daylight savings from March 14 to November 7this year, but the UK has it from March 28 to October 31. The dates for switching over aren’t the same worldwide.

Your location has switched from standard to daylight time (or vice versa) but the other person’s hasn’t. But if you don’t know the difference, you’re vulnerable to screwups when: Fortunately, many time zone tools are smart enough to know when it’s standard time and when it’s daylight time, and will fix your mistake (like this one).

Real time clock eastern standard time