Worried about which side of ship on Greek Isles cruise

[Sun Lover]

We just booked a 9-night Greek Isle cruise on Explorer that leaves from Rome and returns to Rome at the end of the trip.  We have cabin 7634 booked, which is on the port side.  I looked at the location of this cabin online and even though it's listed as an aft cabin, it's pretty close to midship, which is what I wanted.  Now our neighbors who went on a Mediterranean cruise, not a Greek Isles one, a few years ago said it makes a big difference which side of the ship your cabin is on and if we aren't on the good side, all we'll see is empty land and the scenery will all be on the other side.  Does anyone know if this is true? We purposely booked a balcony cabin and paid quite a bit extra for it figuring we'd want to have a nice view of the different islands.  Should I change cabins so we're on the starboard side?

[CruiserBruce]

The side of the ship won't matter. You aren't that close to land most of the time...just as you approach a port, and what you don't see coming in, you will most likely see going out.

[Sun Lover]

I guess I'll leave the cabin alone then.  Thank you!

[John Bull]

Deleted

(I need a geography lesson)

 

JB 

Edited September 24, 2019 by John Bull

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

Deleted

(I need a geography lesson)

 

JB 

You do?

[John Bull]

41 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

You do?

 

I deleted my post about the well-known Greek port of Venice 

 

JB 

Edited September 24, 2019 by John Bull

[CruiserBruce]

47 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

I deleted my post about the well-known Greek port of Venice 

 

JB 

Oh yeah...that little place. Been there, back again next June.

[cruisemom42]

I think your friends were having you on.

 

You'd be surprised how quickly the land disappears once your ship departs the port. There is rarely any land in sight until your next port call although there are a few exceptions, such as sailing through the Strait of Messina or the Bosphorus enroute to the Black Sea.

 

For sail-ins and sailaways, it is easy enough to plan to be on deck, where you will get a much more panoramic view than from any balcony cabin anywhere onboard.  If you sail into or out of Venice or Malta, be sure to be on deck. Istanbul is also very pretty.

 

As for docking, there is no way of knowing which side of the ship will face land. Once upon a time it was generally the "port" side (hence the name) but with busy ports and modern ships that are easier to maneuver and dock, it seems to be about 50/50 as to which side may have the landward view (which may be better or worse, depending -- sometimes ports can be very industrial and rather ugly....).

[chipmaster]

Lost count of the cruises I took, can't remember a single one where which side my cabin mattered, even for one Alaska cruise where we splurged for a balcony it didn't matter, we only wondered why we wasted money for the balcony, though the extra space was great and the kids thought it was "cool"  and we spent for "cool"   

 

Pick the largest room available and close or far from elevator IMHO and don't sweat the side.

[Hlitner]

I would not have any concern about the side of the ship.  In regard to when you are in port, the best side is often based on luck more then planning.  Ships will dock on different sides (port or Starboard) based on all kinds of reasons such as the weather, ship maintenance (they may want dock access to a specific side for painting access), etc.  On some cruises (especially transatlantics or pacific) we might sometimes choose a side because we prefer the morning shade on our balcony for breakfast.  But on your kind of round trip cruise even this is not a factor.

 

Hank