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Port Side or Starboard?

aberthelot

By aberthelot,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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susie8862

susie8862

Posted
Posted
Hi,

I am planned another cruise and I would like to know how to select the best balcony room....how do I know if it port side or not or should I even get a port side room? Thanks!:)

You would have to look at the deck plans. What ship and I will post the website for it.

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okgirl

okgirl

Posted
Posted
Hi,

I am planned another cruise and I would like to know how to select the best balcony room....how do I know if it port side or not or should I even get a port side room? Thanks!:)

 

When facing forward the port side in on the left and has even numbers cabins and the starboard side is on the right and has odd numbered cabins.

 

I don't think one side of the ship is better than another. When you are docked at a pier there is little rhyme or reason as to which side of the ship will be facing the port or if there will be a ship docked between your ship and the port.

 

I personally prefer the port (left) side of the ship because I've sailed on that side of the ship 24 times and I don't get turned around.

 

The real important thing about a balconey is to make sure you have cabins above and below you or at least don't have something above and below that would cause lots of noise.

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susie8862

susie8862

Posted
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On the Legend Obstructed Balcony Room 5159 - hope this is a decent location without noise below or above? Not sure how to check this out - if someone can do so that would be great.

First ..go to cruise line rooms dot com and click on the Legend. Then click on room #6159. (they do not have a pic of 5159), but they should be identical.

Here is the website for your ship/deckplans.

https://www.goccl.com/irman/bookccl/the_fleet/interactive_map/legend/interactivemap.html

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rajones007

rajones007

Posted
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I tend to over-think things, so I look at things like which direction will the ship be heading for the majority of the cruise and where land is relative to that direction.

 

For some reason I prefer to be on the side that has the better chance of seeing land (or being closer to land). For instance, on my last cruise we headed from Tampa straight south to Roatan. I knew we'd be curling around the western tip of Roatan, so port side would be best to see the island as we approached the pier at Coxen Hole.

 

After Roatan we headed north to Belize, then north to Costa Maya, then north to Cozumel, then north to Tampa. There was 5 straight days northbound, with the central American/Mexican coast on the port side for 4 of those days, and a nice Gulf of Mexico sunset on the final day at sea.

 

Obviously my preferred choice on that particular cruise was Port side. How the ship was actually docked/anchored is always a crapshoot, but we got 2 of the 4 to how I would have like it. So I'm not complaining in that respect.

 

If we had done the ports in reverse order (starting at Cozumel and working our way southward for the next 3/4 days) I probably would have chosen starboard.

 

As much as I like looking at the vast ocean, in the long run I think I prefer to see land, regardless of how distant it is.

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geaux_aces

geaux_aces

Posted
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Individual ships do tend to dock the same way each time they visit a port. This is not always the case, but is pretty common. So, if you really want to spend the time, you can do what I've done in the past, which is to look up other reviews with pictures from people who have taken this exact cruise before. If they had a balcony, they are likely to post pictures from their balcony in each port. They'll also often give a room number. You can then get a pretty good idea what your view would be.

 

It's not 100% and does take a lot of time, but may help.

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fast ed

fast ed

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Long ago, the right side of a ship was called the starboard side (in relation to the front of the ship) and the left side was called by a name that was similar to starboard ( forgot this name ) but it created some confusion to sailors/crew. This was remedied by keeping starboard as the right side and changing the left side name to portside. This was done because most freight/goods unloading at this time was being done from the left side of the ship. This took place long before pleasure cruising exploded after the television series The Love Boat. Now, people tend to assume that their port of call will be facing the portside so they book their balcony cabin on that side of the ship. Sometimes they dock facing portside, and some times they dock facing starboard side. In nautical terms, portside means left and starboard means right, all in relationship to the ships front, nothing more, nothing less.

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cruise101101

cruise101101

Posted
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Long ago, the right side of a ship was called the starboard side (in relation to the front of the ship) and the left side was called by a name that was similar to starboard ( forgot this name ) but it created some confusion to sailors/crew. This was remedied by keeping starboard as the right side and changing the left side name to portside. This was done because most freight/goods unloading at this time was being done from the left side of the ship. This took place long before pleasure cruising exploded after the television series The Love Boat. Now, people tend to assume that their port of call will be facing the portside so they book their balcony cabin on that side of the ship. Sometimes they dock facing portside, and some times they dock facing starboard side. In nautical terms, portside means left and starboard means right, all in relationship to the ships front, nothing more, nothing less.

 

Now THAT was most interesting. Thanks for educating!!

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fishtaco

fishtaco

Posted
Posted
Just a little FYI-

 

An easy way to remember which side is port and which side is starboard:

 

PORT and LEFT both have four letters. Got it? :)

 

No no no this is the one!

 

There is no "PORT LEFT" in the bottle, Hic:D

 

I have only ever cruised port side? my first cruise was port so I have always chosen port,we have even had free upgrades on sail day but always port to port:)

 

I think i would feel uncomfortable starboard side,i would soon get over it though if the nice Carnival people would shift me from my port aft to a starboard:D suite

 

 

Den

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ChefSusan

ChefSusan

Posted
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You're in luck - your cabin is surrounded by other cabins, so you will not have any noise from public spaces.

 

We always select port side cabins as we enjoy watching sunrises, sunsets, and of course watching the pier runners as they try and make the ship before she sails off!

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