Does port or starboard matter?

[utseabee]

We are cruising Alaska on the Millinnium this summer, and are all ready to book...just need to pick our cabin!

Does it matter which side of the ship we are on? We are planning on a CC veranda room. Logic says that while cruising southbound, the scenery will be on the port side of the ship.

HOWEVER...While cruising through Hubbard Glacier and the inside passage areas (the good scenery) there should be a good view from either side. Also, the Frommers guide I am reading says that sometimes the ship will do a 180 when pulling into port, so you can't always guess which is the better view. Lastly, my husband was intensively studying the maps in the Celebrity brochere, and he swears the ones on the starboard side look a tiny bit bigger.

So if any Alaska cruisers can shed some light on the matter, I'd be grateful!

[RichS10]

We are cruising Alaska on the Millinnium this summer, and are all ready to book...just need to pick our cabin!

Does it matter which side of the ship we are on? We are planning on a CC veranda room. Logic says that while cruising southbound, the scenery will be on the port side of the ship.

HOWEVER...While cruising through Hubbard Glacier and the inside passage areas (the good scenery) there should be a good view from either side. Also, the Frommers guide I am reading says that sometimes the ship will do a 180 when pulling into port, so you can't always guess which is the better view. Lastly, my husband was intensively studying the maps in the Celebrity brochere, and he swears the ones on the starboard side look a tiny bit bigger.

So if any Alaska cruisers can shed some light on the matter, I'd be grateful!

 

I really don't think having a port or starboard cabin has much significance today. I've read that if you were sailing from England to India, people wanted to go POSH (Portside Out, Starboard Home) to lessen the heat of the sun on their side of the ship, but I've never been able to find a reason to take one over the other on a cruise. When we were at the Hubbard Glacier, they spun the ship during the entire time. As to ports, you never know where you're going to berth, so you can't plan that. In short, I don't worry about it at all.

 

PS: The best view on our Alaska Infinity cruise was watching the 10 pm sunset through those huge aft dining room windows while cruise south on the inland passage. Absolutely gorgeous!

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

The cabins on both port and starboard sides are the same size. Really.

 

We always choose port or starboard based on when we will get the sun on our balcony--generally prefer morning sun for most of the trip.

 

Regarding Hubbard Glacier--I do hope you will leave your balcony and go out on deck for this experience. Yes, the ship will swing around, but if you are on deck, you control where you go to watch and what you get to see. It is well worth it to be out and about for this experience.

[cb at sea]

It won't matter one bit...you have equally good views from ALL sides of the ship...If what you want to see isn't visible from your balcony, go to an open deck...360 degree views from there!

[labeachcomber]

I really don't think it would matter either, especially if the cruise comes back to the original starting point. The only time where it might matter is if you are doing a cruise where the sailing itinerary looks like it always hugs the coastline and goes in one direction, but I'm not sure any cruise - even a Med cruise - would do that.

 

We decided on Starboard simply because the Port side is the designated smoking side on Celebrity. You can't smoke on your balcony on either side, but I think you're allowed to smoke on Deck 5 Port side. Didn't want to take any chances of cigarette smoke wafting up into our balcony.

[i guide the sky]

I really don't think it would matter either, especially if the cruises back to the original starting point. The only time where it might matter is if you are doing a cruise where the sailing itinerary looks like it always hugs the coastline and goes in one direction, but I'm not sure any cruise - even a Med cruise - would do that.

 

Many alaska cruises start in the north and sail to the south and then vice versa. Even so most of the time your surrounded by land anyway.(inside passage) of course if your on the last alaska cruise I was on . It won't matter much because there was fog everyday we underway. So....

[Denny01]

Most who have cruised realize picking a specific side doesn't really matter much, at least for scenery. The distance to the horizon really isn't that far and the ship doesn't sail that close to the coast except coming into ports or for a specific reason and then you usually get a good view from either side.

 

From a high deck on the ship, the horizon is about 12nm from you. If there are high terrain (mtns) on the coast, you may be able to see them if the ship is within about 25nm or so. Other then that, you see pretty much the same thing on either side no matter whether you are on the 'land side' or not - water all the way to the horizon.

 

But we still look at the ship's general direction, and which side of the ship the coast will be and go for it.

 

By the way, the way to calculate the distance to the horizon is:

 

multiple the distance you are above the water in ft times 1.5 and then find the square root (yeah, you'll need a calculator) and that gives you the distance in miles to the horizon. If you want to know the distance you'll be able to see a tall object (a cliff face or mtn) on the coast, do the same for that object's height and add it.

 

For our Euro's, use 13 instead of 1.5, use meters above the sea and you get the distance in Km

.

Kind of neat, really. It tells us we have to be pretty close to the coast to see anything and even high objects won't be seen because of the haze and so on that will stop us from seeing even the mtns.

 

But that won't stop me from picking one side or the other, just in case! It's usually better to see where the Sun will be. And or course, as soon as you think you picked the 'correct' side to have a good view of a port, the Capt decides (or is told by the Port) a different side to tie up then you expected. What I find is when I get the 'other side' I find lots to watch and see anyway. I just don't get to sit on my Balcony and watch who will come running across the pier or watch the taxi screaming up at the last minute. Fun to watch. On one cruise, it was the same couple! Crazy!

 

Denny