Best side of ship

booking on the jewel in August inside passage Alaska out of Seattle. What side of the ship has the best balcony views. Thank you

It's been a while (14 years), but as I remember, going southbound out of Seward, the Hubbard Glacier was on the left. Other than that, they usually try to alternate which side of the ship faces the town from port to port.

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We were on a starboard side before but still had to move around to get better views.

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Makes no difference. In scenic areas you will want to be out moving around. But if you are sailing from Seattle, you are on a round trip, so what is starboard going up will be port coming back. EM

Either/or. You won't be cloistered in your cabin and views are everywhere! You will want to roam about!

I always look at the itinerary and the direction the ship will be cruising and usually pick the side that I will be able to see most of the ports coming into them.

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I find the question to be more of a bother than it is worth. I was told, after I reserved our cabin, that I had picked the wrong side on a southbound cruise. It made no difference.

Going into and out of port, there will be sights on both sides, and you have no way of knowing which way the ship will tie up. In some ports it changes and it is generally not just a captain's choice to change each time. Besides, you will be going out if you go in, and the other side will get the view -- frequently after you are awake!

Along the shore of Alaska, a cruise ship, other than the Costa Concordia, will stay far enough away from the shore as to make it something of a minor tableau -- nothing close enough or clear enough to see except for the mountain ridges.

In the Inside Passage, the views are about equal on both sides.

As others have said, you will be going out on deck a lot to look in both directions in lots of places.

I put more time in worrying about it after I had chosen my cabin than it was worth.