Med Cruise - Which Side of Ship?

[Chunder Worthy]

We will shortly board a Princess cruise traveling in the Mediterranean from Barcelona to Istanbul (w/stops in France, Italy, Greece in between).

 

Our cabin is located on the starboard (right?) side of the ship. Ideally we would like to see the coastline as we cruise so I'm wondering if we should have asked for a portside cabin.

 

Did I make a mistake booking on the starboard side for this cruise or for all practical reasons would both the port and starboard sides largely be seeing an ocean view (at least until we're very close to pulling in)? Thank you kindly.

[paul929207]

Most of the itme, when cruising, you will be out of site of land.

 

The main reason to pick a side is Venice. If you go there, the view is to the right sailing in and the left when sailing out. So you have to look at the timing of your arrival and sailaway

[Cruz-OR]

Paul is right, you will most likely be out of sight of land most of the time. Beyond being able to land or not there is a term used, in the days before air-conditioning, for making this decision that could apply to your trip. The term is POSH which means Port Out, Starboard Home. When going east you stay on the port side of the ship and going west you're better on the starboard side. Had to do with the side of the ship opposite from the sun where it was cooler. Using POSH you should book a cabin on the port side of the ship. Enjoy your cruise as either side will be great.

[Kamloops50]

A lot of the cruising is also done a night . There isn't much to see in the dark.

[Chunder Worthy]

Makes sense. Thanks all for taking the time to answer a rookie/Cruise 101 question.

[navybankerteacher]

Paul is right, you will most likely be out of sight of land most of the time. Beyond being able to land or not there is a term used, in the days before air-conditioning, for making this decision that could apply to your trip. The term is POSH which means Port Out, Starboard Home. When going east you stay on the port side of the ship and going west you're better on the starboard side. Had to do with the side of the ship opposite from the sun where it was cooler. Using POSH you should book a cabin on the port side of the ship. Enjoy your cruise as either side will be great.

 

Of course, for a US resident on Fall trans-Atlantics it is SOPH

[CruiseIreland]

When sailing east in the med, a starboard stateroom gives you Sun all day on your sea day. This is great if you have a balcony but less so if you don't. Ken

[Chunder Worthy]

When sailing east in the med, a starboard stateroom gives you Sun all day on your sea day. This is great if you have a balcony but less so if you don't. Ken

 

Wow, now THAT's some insightful information I didn't know (which will now save me from bugging VTG to move me to the othe side of the ship). I guess I came to the right place to make this my first question. I'm sure I'd enjoy either side (and am just happy not to have a room below the waterline -- really sucks I'd bet with a balcony, haha). Thanks CruiseIreland (and all for previous thoughts)!

Edited May 8, 2015 by Chunder Worthy

[debdiva]

We were starboard on Med cruise this past month. Advantage starboard for Stromboli because we could see it at night from our verandah rather than the cold and windy bow decks. Generally, we stayed on our verandah when we got the view, went to crow's nest or one of the open decks if we didn't have the view.

[Hlitner]

We learned long ago to choose a side (when we do not book guarantees) based on the ship's course/route and the position of the sun. Since we often enjoy our balcony in the morning (for breakfast) we prefer to have our side in the shade in the morning and be able to enjoy the sunset from our balcony in the afternoon. On one-way cruises this is a major factor for us...but less of an issue on round trip voyages.

 

In Europe you will seldom cruise within sight of land unless entering or leaving a port. Cruise ships move within the normal shipping lanes which are located far out in international waters where there is lots of depth under the keel. The Costa Concordia disaster is an example of what happens when one wants to cruise close to land.

 

Hank

Edited May 8, 2015 by Hlitner

[paul929207]

Hank,

we pick the opposite for essentially the same reason. We like to sit on the balcony late afternoon and early evening and don't want the sun in our eyes.