Remember side of ship when picking a room

[Tim Cruise]

Most of you will want to see the land approach rather than just sea. I purposely selected the left side of my ship as that is the side that will be seeing Jamaica Grand Caymen and Cozumel approach.

[crystalspin]

Port is a good choice going to Hawaii -- especially from Vancouver! It puts you on the more-or-less sunny side where the weather is cooler, on the shady side on that trip back to Ensenada.

[leaveitallbehind]

On 1/5/2024 at 8:05 AM, Tim Cruise said:

Most of you will want to see the land approach rather than just sea. I purposely selected the left side of my ship as that is the side that will be seeing Jamaica Grand Caymen and Cozumel approach.

Which of course may be correct for your particular itinerary.  But that can be different for different itineraries and would necessarily not be accurate as a general statement.  And to be correct, "left" is "port", and "right" would be "starboard".

 

Not challenging you, but often in our experience when arriving from Jamaica to Grand Cayman, the first sighting can be on starboard as you typically approach from the south side, but as you turn into George Town, the approach is bow on to your tender location in port.  Just saying that in can vary and ship side stateroom selection is not always a island approach certainty.

Edited January 9 by leaveitallbehind

[leaveitallbehind]

I would like to add another consideration when picking which side of the ship on which you want your stateroom.  Many cruise lines still allow smoking on designated outside areas.  They typically are focused on only one side of the ship.  Although those decks will likely be above and below the balcony decks, the odor from the cigarette smoke will be concentrated on that side of the ship and those balcony rooms can be affected by that.  Whenever possible we select staterooms on the opposite ship side of the smoking decks, regardless of possible port entry view.

Edited January 9 by leaveitallbehind

[Essiesmom]

1 hour ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Which of course may be correct for your particular itinerary.  But that can be different for different itineraries and would necessarily not be accurate as a general statement.  And to be correct, "left" is "port", and "right" would be "starboard".

 

Not challenging you, but often in our experience when arriving from Jamaica to Grand Cayman, the first sighting can be on starboard as you typically approach from the south side, but as you turn into George Town, the approach is bow on to your tender location in port.  Just saying that in can vary and ship side stateroom selection is not always an island approach certainty.

[Essiesmom]

To add to this, if you are approaching Cozumel from Roatan, Belize, Costa Maya, you will be arriving from the south and the port will be starboard.  EM

[leaveitallbehind]

3 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

To add to this, if you are approaching Cozumel from Roatan, Belize, Costa Maya, you will be arriving from the south and the port will be starboard.  EM

Correct!  The other common concern is which side of the ship to be on when in port to be on island side.  That is also usually moot as it is Captains discretion as to which side he docks on and will often change from itinerary to itinerary if, for instance, crew lifeboat drills need to take place in port. This is frequently the case in Bermuda, as example, when docked overnight.

 

But more to this point, some docks (Cozumel) are at an angle to the island, others (Falmouth, St. Kitts, St. Martin, Antigua, etc.) are perpendicular to the island thus bow / stern in, others (Aruba, Barbados, Curacao, Bermuda,  St. Lucia, Roatan, etc.) are parallel to the island.  St. Thomas is both parallel and perpendicular to the island depending on at which pier you dock.

 

This makes it impossible to pick the island side of the ship on any given (Caribbean) itinerary.

[Tim Cruise]

3 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Which of course may be correct for your particular itinerary.  But that can be different for different itineraries and would necessarily not be accurate as a general statement.  And to be correct, "left" is "port", and "right" would be "starboard".

 

Not challenging you, but often in our experience when arriving from Jamaica to Grand Cayman, the first sighting can be on starboard as you typically approach from the south side, but as you turn into George Town, the approach is bow on to your tender location in port.  Just saying that in can vary and ship side stateroom selection is not always a island approach certainty.

Thanks for responding. Of course it can be different from another itinerary because it would be completely different countries. From the map it surely looks like Jamaica will be on the left/port? side of the ship for miles to the entire way to port. Unless the ship travels backwards for 50 miles. I understand the ship doesn't travel 300 yards from land the whole way giving me this 2 hour view of land.

[Tim Cruise]

4 minutes ago, Tim Cruise said:

Thanks for responding. Of course it can be different from another itinerary because it would be completely different countries. From the map it surely looks like Jamaica will be on the left/port? side of the ship for miles to the entire way to port. Unless the ship travels backwards for 50 miles. I understand the ship doesn't travel 300 yards from land the whole way giving me this 2 hour view of land.

I travel from Port Canaveral to Bahamas (sea view) to Jamaica (land view) to Grand Caymen (land view) to Cozumel (land View) and Florida coast on the return (land view) Again this is just looking at my itinerary map arrows and assuming the ship doesn't travel in reverse.

[Tim Cruise]

3 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Which of course may be correct for your particular itinerary.  But that can be different for different itineraries and would necessarily not be accurate as a general statement.  And to be correct, "left" is "port", and "right" would be "starboard".

 

Not challenging you, but often in our experience when arriving from Jamaica to Grand Cayman, the first sighting can be on starboard as you typically approach from the south side, but as you turn into George Town, the approach is bow on to your tender location in port.  Just saying that in can vary and ship side stateroom selection is not always a island approach certainty.

Now that I look at the map closer you are right. It looks like grand Caymen will be on the RIGHT side of the ship arriving. 3 of 5 land views still better than. 2 of 5. 

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, Tim Cruise said:

Now that I look at the map closer you are right. It looks like grand Caymen will be on the RIGHT side of the ship arriving. 3 of 5 land views still better than. 2 of 5. 

Yep.  Typically arriving from FL in Jamaica, you travel west along the northern coast of Jamaica, which will be on your port side until you dock.  Leaving Jamaica for Grand Cayman you typically approach from the south, which would have GC on your starboard until you turn into port. From there to Cozumel, your approach would have Cozumel back on your port side as you are usually coming from the north. Not sure if you are headed to Coast Maya or not, but if so, that will be on your starboard as you approach from the north.  Either way, enjoy your cruise!

Edited January 9 by leaveitallbehind

[Tim Cruise]

3 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Yep.  Typically arriving from FL in Jamaica, you travel west along the northern coast of Jamaica, which will be on your port side until you dock.  Leaving Jamaica for Grand Cayman you typically approach from the south, which would have GC on your starboard until you turn into port. From there to Cozumel, your approach would have Cozumel back on your port side as you are usually coming from the north. Not sure if you are headed to Coast Maya or not, but if so, that will be on your starboard as you approach from the north.  Either way, enjoy your cruise!

Clockwise Port Canaveral to Nassau to Jamaica to GC to Cozumel and back to Port Canaveral 

[leaveitallbehind]

50 minutes ago, Tim Cruise said:

Clockwise Port Canaveral to Nassau to Jamaica to GC to Cozumel and back to Port Canaveral 

Well keeping in the theme of the conversation you will approach Nassau pretty much straight on, just off portside. But Paradise Island will be portside approaching the pier.  The rest is as discussed.  Leaving Cozumel it will be on starboard - Mainland / Cancun to portside. Returning to PC of course will be on portside until you turn into the port.

[BeasleysMom66]

Well another reason to pay attention to which side your cabin is on is where you are in port.  I woke up one morning to see we were docked but didn't go on the balcony and mistakenly assumed we were ocean facing.  I jumped in the shower to come out of the bathroom au naturale only to have to do a rapid dive back into the bathroom. A ship had docked opposite us while I was showering.  I am pretty sure the couple having coffee on their balcony appreciated the show.  Note to self:  close the curtains if you are going to need to move about until dressed.

[CDNPolar]

On 3/26/2024 at 6:09 PM, BeasleysMom66 said:

Well another reason to pay attention to which side your cabin is on is where you are in port.  I woke up one morning to see we were docked but didn't go on the balcony and mistakenly assumed we were ocean facing.  I jumped in the shower to come out of the bathroom au naturale only to have to do a rapid dive back into the bathroom. A ship had docked opposite us while I was showering.  I am pretty sure the couple having coffee on their balcony appreciated the show.  Note to self:  close the curtains if you are going to need to move about until dressed.

 

Haha... never faced that on an ocean ship but certainly have on river ships.