Which side would you choose?

[reefgeek83]

There is no right or wrong answer to this question, and I know it doesn't matter. But I'm asking anyway.

 

Would you pick a room with a balcony on the port (left) or starboard (right) side of the ship? More specifically, on the Valor headed to Cozumel, Belize, Mahogany Bay and Costa Maya.

 

Anyone that has recently been on that cruise and provide some insight. Like if on side gets the land side at each port? If one side will get more of the sunrises vs sunsets. Just curious, it really doesn't matter and we'll have fun no matter what. Just like to know. Thanks in advance.

[mapsmith]

Seems from all the cruises that I have been on, the Captain tends to alternate the side of the ship facing the port. so if you have Starboard in Cozumel, you would have port in Costa Maya. Of course Belize and Cayman being tender ports it makes no difference. In other words, there is no difference in Port or Starboard on which side is facing the port.

[YubaSutter]

When we took a cruise with those port stops, we had a starboard balcony. We faced the port at Cozumel and Mahogany Bay.

[nwo4life]

When we took a cruise with those port stops, we had a starboard balcony. We faced the port at Cozumel and Mahogany Bay.

 

 

On our two trips to those ports we had the opposite experience. Port side faced the ports.

[Who Cares?]

I would pick port as well. Also, due to the ports we usually leave from (Miami and Ft Lauderdale), most of the action is on the port side for sail away.

[KPfromCT]

Haven't done this itinerary, but we always choose port side.

On our last 3 cruises, we have lucked out.

 

Plus, I have a thing about odd numbers. I don't like them.:D:D

 

Port side it is!:D

[zqvol]

There is no right or wrong answer to this question, and I know it doesn't matter. But I'm asking anyway.

 

Would you pick a room with a balcony on the port (left) or starboard (right) side of the ship? More specifically, on the Valor headed to Cozumel, Belize, Mahogany Bay and Costa Maya.

 

Anyone that has recently been on that cruise and provide some insight. Like if on side gets the land side at each port? If one side will get more of the sunrises vs sunsets. Just curious, it really doesn't matter and we'll have fun no matter what. Just like to know. Thanks in advance.

 

 

It's six of one, half a dozen of the other. The side of the ship doesn't matter in the Caribbean, or in fact pretty much anyplace except maybe Alaska.

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

I heard from my PVP that it's captain's prerogative as to whether he/she pulls in forward or backs into port. If it's not a weather/safety related choice, this is one thing that annoys me because on many ports you just never know what they will decide to do and it's difficult to plan for. There's some ports like Grand Turk where there's a near 100% chance of pulling in forward and there are others where it's a crap shoot (like Cozumel).

 

I normally do a picture search on google for Carnival ships at the port of interest and look at several of them to get an average. It's not perfect but I've been able to successfully pick the pier side cabin on the stops I wanted.

Edited December 26, 2015 by ATL_Miami_Cruiser

[E&B]

Depends on what side and what deck the smoking sections are.

[kona_wahine]

We always pick port and have docked port side every single time.

[emod20]

We were on in nov and going again in April we picked starboard so as to view the people on land during sail away. As we enjoy that watching from balcony.

[GUT2407]

I like Port, just cause I do.

 

But as others say it really doesn't matter on all but a tiny handful of itineraries.

[crusinpsychRN]

Port. Works almost every time.

[mmckm]

I look at sea days and which direction the ship is traveling. Sometimes you have to sea days 2 or 3 in a row and if you like afternoon sun and its traveling north you want to be on the port side. I don't even think about being in port because they dock a lot of times it determines which side of the ship they want to do some maintenance on or give the life boats a run in the harbor. You never know.

[waywyrd]

I almost always choose a starboard side balcony if it's available, no idea why. I just prefer that side.

Edited December 26, 2015 by waywyrd

[v3cruiser]

There is no right or wrong answer to this question, and I know it doesn't matter. But I'm asking anyway.

 

Would you pick a room with a balcony on the port (left) or starboard (right) side of the ship? More specifically, on the Valor headed to Cozumel, Belize, Mahogany Bay and Costa Maya.

 

Anyone that has recently been on that cruise and provide some insight. Like if on side gets the land side at each port? If one side will get more of the sunrises vs sunsets. Just curious, it really doesn't matter and we'll have fun no matter what. Just like to know. Thanks in advance.

 

Not sure you can predict how the ship will dock. I tend to go for starboard side but room location is tops for me. Im in a 4j next cruise so it doesnt matter in that case.

 

i would look at the itinerary map and you should be able to tel which side of ship will get more sun.

[DH30]

On our last cruise (Magic from Galveston to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Montego Bay) we had a starboard balcony and we had more sunrises on our side than the port side. I enjoyed that, so it was a plus.

[Plant]

We generally book an aft, port cabin, not for what we see outside, but because we can get off the lift and turn left :)!

 

Being in the same area on each cruise makes things easier :)!

 

YMMV,

[vwrestler171]

In my 2 stops at Cozumel, we have always docked on the port side. Mahogany Bay we docked portside as well.

[bakersdozen12]

On my cruise a couple months ago out of New Orleans, which went to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, we had a cove balcony on the port side. When in New Orleans it was nice because the balcony faced the Mississippi. We had a nice view of the bridge, even though it was a gloomy, rainy day when we embarked. But, waiting for sail away, I got to stare at this rather than watching the dock workers load the ship:

 

 

In Jamaica, our balcony did not face the dock, which was nice. The dock area in Montego Bay isn't all that pretty, and there isn't much to see except for pier runners. So, that's really all we missed out on. But, I preferred the way our balcony was facing because we got to watch the sun set, with a beautiful backdrop, while waiting for the ship to pull out of port:

 

 

Grand Cayman is a tender port, so not dock to face. But, we were on the side of the ship that the tenders pulled up to. I'm not sure if it's always port side, but it worked out well for us. Our room (2256) was very close to where the tenders pulled up, so we had a great view of the first tender pulling up (and later, of a half dozen people that almost missed the ship by getting on board five minutes before we sailed away):

 

 

And in Cozumel, the ship pulled up to the dock, so our port-side balcony was facing the dock. Although we were on a Carnival excursion that had us getting back on board 15 minutes before the ship pulled away, so we didn't have a chance to watch for pier runners. In fact, some people probably thought we were pier runners! And we weren't on the balcony when we pulled into port either, but I did manage to take a picture of the dock while we were pulling in. This picture was taking on the port side of the ship, so it would have been the same view from our balcony:

 

 

Anyway, what I think you should take away from this is that there really isn't a right or wrong side, because every port will end up being different. You just never know.

[Babycat]

I've always chosen port side because we always sail out of New Orleans and the ship pivots mid river, exposing the port side to the city for sail away. Incidentally, every time we pull into port in Cozumel and Mohagany Bay, our balcony faces the islands.

[BiggDawg]

Oh, definitely the PORT side, since if

FLOATS

better! :p

 

[topofE]

The past 3 times, on the Dream, to Cozumel and Mahogany Bay, port side was port side.

 

Belize is a tender port.

 

We always get a port side room so we can see the pier runners.