Left (Port) or Right (Starboard) - which is the best side???

[golfermike35]

Taking a Eastern Caribbean next May on the FANTASY!!!! Was wondering which side of the ship is the best for sunsets, ports, shows etc....

 

[kcashner]

Well, since this is a route that the Dream is not doing and the Fantasy isn't built yet, anything we say is based on guesses from what the Magic does.

There are people who swear by starboard. Granted, this is the side that the fireworks go off from, but you are asked to be IN your cabin, not on your verandah during the fireworks show. If the ship backs into Castaway, the better view is the starboard side. Most ports exit from starboard although we've had tenders leave from the port side. I can't see that that really matters though.

Sunset leaving Castaway--starboard.

All that said, I've never felt bad about a port side cabin! Do remember that starboard is the smoking side in the public exterior decks. Again, I've never been aware that this is an issue in a private area, and people can smoke on ANY verandah.

 

[kthomas618]

We like the left/port side. That seems to be the side everyone exits/returns to the ship. We like to be on our veranda to watch all the commotion. Especially at CC. The characters are usually out there and it's great people watching. Might depend on the ports, etc. I don't know for sure. On the few cruises we've been on it's worked out that way.

 

[JD&LYD]

Been on 4 Magic cruises. 1Portside, 3Starboard. Not much difference. On the Eastern, you get late afternoon sun going to St. Maatan, St. Thomas, and late afternoon Shade coming, Starboard side. Th eopposite on Port.side. Portside you view the bay's at the islands, Starboard the dock and towns. The best sunsets we've seen have been from our veranda Portside at Key West, but thats on a Western. If you see something spectacular there's always the upper decks and desck 4.

AND, the laundry on deck 7 is starboard.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Well, since this is a route that the Dream is not doing and the Fantasy isn't built yet, anything we say is based on guesses from what the Magic does.

There are people who swear by starboard. Granted, this is the side that the fireworks go off from, but you are asked to be IN your cabin, not on your verandah during the fireworks show. If the ship backs into Castaway, the better view is the starboard side. Most ports exit from starboard although we've had tenders leave from the port side. I can't see that that really matters though.

Sunset leaving Castaway--starboard.

All that said, I've never felt bad about a port side cabin! Do remember that starboard is the smoking side in the public exterior decks. Again, I've never been aware that this is an issue in a private area, and people can smoke on ANY verandah.

We were not told this on our two cruises we had in 2010 with a verandah. On one of the two cruises, we enjoyed an evening standing on our verandah watching the fireworks along with a lot of other guests nearby!

I think it's a matter of luck with sunrises/sunsets, but we did go to bed one night with our drapes open and in the morning awoke to the sun peeking over the horizon on the ocean. I quickly jumped out of bed and went to verandah and just sat there and watched the sunrise. (we were Starboard).

Plus, being on the Starboard side we could see Castaway Cay's family beach and the when the ship pulled away it turned in a way we could still view the island.

We are on Port side on our next cruise, but that's okay.

 

[mmouse37]

We were not told this on our two cruises we had in 2010 with a verandah. On one of the two cruises, we enjoyed an evening standing on our verandah watching the fireworks along with a lot of other guests nearby!

I think it's a matter of luck with sunrises/sunsets, but we did go to bed one night with our drapes open and in the morning awoke to the sun peeking over the horizon on the ocean. I quickly jumped out of bed and went to verandah and just sat there and watched the sunrise. (we were Starboard).

Plus, being on the Starboard side we could see Castaway Cay's family beach and the when the ship pulled away it turned in a way we could still view the island.

We are on Port side on our next cruise, but that's okay.

Each time we were in a verandah on the Starboard side we were given a letter in our room to NOT be on the verandah and to remove any flammable things from the verandah (like books, mags, towels, etc.)

MJ

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Each time we were in a verandah on the Starboard side we were given a letter in our room to NOT be on the verandah and to remove any flammable things from the verandah (like books, mags, towels, etc.)

MJ

I wonder why we didn't get the letter. We are sticklers for rules and wouldn't have gone out had we received the letter.

 

[kcashner]

MJ's experience agrees with mine. I was beginning to wonder when I read the post from KSDISNEY. Thanks, MJ--I'm not going crazy.

 

[noladave]

Same here. WE had a great view of the fireworks last week on the Magic.

No letter, or anything stating that we could not be out on the balcony.

A lot of people were out there.

 

[algae]

Both sides are good, just different.

On the port side, you can watch the activity on the ports from your verandah. Kinda fun. You can wave to all the CM's who stay behind on CC as the ship pulls away. Or watch all the people on other ships while at port in Nassau. Some people do the strangest things on ships

On the starboard side, you get really nice views of CC and fireworks from your verandah.

That said, I like the port side just a bit more than starboard.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

2 families received letters to stay off their verandah's during the fireworks.

2 families didn't receive any notification and noticed lots of others out on their verandahs as well.

It's nice to see that DCL is at least as consistent with this as they are with other "policies".