Port or starboard?

[Irishmom23]

I am booked for the Eastern cruise on the Magic Sept 6, 2003. We have been assigned room 7058, which is on the port side. For our 3 day Wonder, we were in 8552, which was on the starboard side. We found the view for the ports, ect great on the starboard side. Which is the prefered side for the Eastern. It is just DH and myself for the 7 day, and we would like to spend the mornings relaxing on the verandah, but would like to see something besides water when in the ports!

[candleonwater]

For our Eastern in December we were Starboard side... and had the perfect view of St Thomas (overlooking downtown)... and a terrible view of St. Maarten (overlooking some sort of industrial shipping yard), and CC we overlooked the beaches. However, the port side, in St. Maarten had a view of another ship, and in St Thomas a view of Havensight Mall...

BUT keep in mind, as has been said here MANY times... there's no guarantee of which way the ship is going to pull into the dock.

[Señor Ferrari]

I think for the Eastern route, you're more likely to get the good views in port from the starboard side. The ship usually backs in to both St. Thomas and Castaway Cay. It almost always faces bow-in at St. Maarten, which will give the starboard side the view of the aforementioned cargo pier, or if the ship is on the other side of the pier, the starboard view will probably be of another ship.

If you're inclined to do so, it might be worth seeing if you can change sides of the ship. BUT...bear in mind that the starboard side doesn't necessarily guarantee you of anything. It's up to the harbor pilot and/or the Coast Guard to decide which was the ship will face when in St. Thomas. All things considered, I would probably book the starboard side for the Eastern, but I've sailed that intinerary on both sides of the ship, and in the end, it didn't really make or break the trip. I find that the best verandah mornings are on the days at sea (and let's face it, half of the trip is days at sea), where the view is essentialy the same regardless of which side of the ship you're on.

[candleonwater]

During the days at sea - I enjoyed having starboard going south, so that we could see all the islands we passed... the time heading back north, I don't think would have been as impressive.

[Deniseibase]

Humor the cruise virgin please :) Which side is port and which is starboard?

[Señor Ferrari]

Port = Left, Starboard = Right

[Deniseibase]

Thanks Senor Ferrari! :)

[grandmalinda]

Here's an easy way to remember the left side of the ship (Port) that my dad taught me when I was learning to sail. There are 4 letters in Port and 4 in left. So there.
Linda