Portside balcony or starboard

[csoud68]

Side? Which do you prefer and why? We chose a room on starboard side because we didn't want to look at the pier while in Port.

 

My travel agent seemed to think we were nuts...

[ColeThornton]

9 minutes ago, csoud68 said:

Side? Which do you prefer and why? We chose a room on starboard side because we didn't want to look at the pier while in Port.

 

My travel agent seemed to think we were nuts...

 

You are nuts.   🙂       Ships don't always dock with the same side to the pier.

[ArchieCruise]

Port side doesn’t mean the side the port is on.  The port side will always be the left hand side facing forward.  When docked the pier may be on either the port or starboard sides.  Maybe book a balcony at the aft of the ship?  That way you are looking out the back of the ship.

[sw33twif3]

We like port forward. Just our preference.

[skrufy]

34 minutes ago, sw33twif3 said:

We like port forward. Just our preference.

Makes no difference to us. Last month we were lucky. On our Hawaii cruise we were able to see the coastline of Ohau, Maui, and Hawaii ( the big Island ). We like mid ship forward, close to an elevator.

[sgttami]

I always book starboard.  No clue why but I've never been disappointed.

[CM1984]

1 hour ago, sw33twif3 said:

We like port forward. Just our preference.

 

 

Us too!

[Loritd]

We like port side aft, just our personal preference

[icft]

Port or starboard really doesn't matter. What matters is what is above and below your room. We always get starboard because we like to be on the Panorama deck. The spa deck is above. On the ships we have been on the starboard side of the spa deck doesn't have the fitness center or other noise sources.

Edited April 1, 2022 by icft

[groundloop]

9 hours ago, icft said:

..... What matters is what is above and below your room.....

 

THIS.

 

One time I splurged on a junior suite on Elation because the price was just a little bit more than a balcony.  We were on the very top deck, above us was an open deck with lounge chairs.  Someone was up there moving those damned chairs around every single morning WAY before I cared about being awake.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

We usually book starboard, although it's not a requirement. It usually puts us on the pier side in Cozumel, and I enjoy watching the runners at the end of the day. 😁 That's not a guarantee, though. 

[Mysticks1]

It only really matters when you are sailing an itinerary when the ship is going to be sailing close enough to something that you would like to see.  Like an Alaskan cruise where you want to see the shoreline.  Docking side changes so it is always hit or miss as to which side is to the pier.  I have been on both sides on Caribbean cruises and it doesn't really matter. 

[TheMettins]

We base our cabin location (port or starboard) on the home-port we leave from as we enjoy a quiet sail-a-way from our balcony.  

[CookieShip]

I asked a similar question recently, but the ships don't always dock port side to the pier, it can change! Even from sailing to sailing. The other factors were if there was a landmark you wanted to see (Statue of Liberty for example) and if there were smoking areas nearby on that side of the ship.

[DGNewton]

Consider the sun in the morning in the afternoon and when you may use it - what time of day.   Also the way you face when docked.  On the Horizon 8 day Sothern Caribbean Cruise (twice) we took the Port and faced the shoreline.  On the Mardi we had the port, but only faced Grand Turk.

 

We are the Mardi Gras again and have starboard....

 

It's a wash....

 

In the end we like the Port side for late afternoon sun, but it depends when and where you are sailing. The ship will flip the other way on the return too. 

 

But enjoy it if you have one - otherwise save your money and go for an inside cabin

[njoyndride]

We like port due to the smoking areas being on starboard on most ships.

[Knights on the Beach]

On 4/1/2022 at 8:50 AM, TravelGirlinDallas said:

We usually book starboard, although it's not a requirement. It usually puts us on the pier side in Cozumel, and I enjoy watching the runners at the end of the day. 😁 That's not a guarantee, though. 

 

That's always great entertainment.  😂  With the last 6 cruises we've booked, 5 of them were on starboard side.  If we stay high enough, the smoke doesn't drift up there.  If we can get a balcony cabin on Lido, we'll take either side but for some reason I like starboard.

[kelkel2]

I don’t have a preference anymore about what side we book on. I used to try to figure out what side we would be docked on when in port but there’s so many things that can change that at a moments notice or from week to week. Now we just pick a cabin we like! 

[Moonarino]

Leaving Miami, port (left) side gives a better view (at least if the ship is pointing seaward). Tampa, starboard side is better.

 

Nassau (every time we've been there) the ship backed into the dock, so port was facing Nassau, starboard was seaward -- a preview of the port city versus a slightly more pleasing nature-view. But that depends on whether other ships are parked on either side (or both). Cruising into Nassau, portside was better because we could see the dolphins alongside (port was the seaward side going in). This was from our aft balcony, where I could tell that the dolphins were only on one side. But maybe that changes from ship to ship.

 

The point being, port or starboard is a crap shoot in my experience, might as well flip a coin 🙃.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Moonarino

[csoud68]

On 4/2/2022 at 3:08 PM, njoyndride said:

We like port due to the smoking areas being on starboard on most ships.

Hopefully deck 17 won't smell smoke.

[JandPB]

Now that the majority of smoking sections are on the starboard side we will be booking port side balconies if we can. Our upcoming cruise in less than 3 weeks is a starboard cove on the Magic. If it weren't for the smell of smoke I wouldn't care which side we were on. 

[mexicobob]

On 4/2/2022 at 2:08 PM, njoyndride said:

We like port due to the smoking areas being on starboard on most ships.

Very good point.

[Knights on the Beach]

17 hours ago, csoud68 said:

Hopefully deck 17 won't smell smoke.

 

We didn't smell smoke from either our deck 12 balcony (directly above the smoking area) or deck 16 balcony right off Lido (farther forward).