Port Or Starboard – Does It Make A Difference?

One of the most frequent questions asked by people booking a cruise is about the actual cabin number, port, starboard, midhsip, high deck , low deck, so many things to be taken into consideration.

So does it really matter and does it make much difference? Well yes it can do.

The general assumption is that a cabin on the port side means that you will dock facing land, but that is not always the case. I remeber sailing into Messina in Sicilay on P&O Arcadia and, as  we went to berh, an MSC ship beat us to it and we ended up the other way round so starboard was landside. On Celebrity Silhouette last September on my cruise to beautiful Norway we had a cabin on the starboard side, but the ship docked with her port side facing land in most of the stops. This really did not make any difference at all as the views were amazing on both sides, in fact in Bergen the starboard side had a better view.

I went to Amsterdam over New Year on P&O Oceana a couple of years ago and booked port side balcony cabins. This was the best choice as we were able to see the firework display over Amsterdam on New Year`s Eve. Starboard side would have been a big disappointment though.

One voyage though where you need to think a bit more about cabin position is a transatlantic cruise. Here port out and starboard back is very true. Sailing from westbound port side will be best as you will get the sunshine more, on the way back east starborad is the one to go for. The other thing to take into consideration is, if this is a transatlantic on Queen Mary II , when you sail into New York the Statue of Liberty will be on the port side too. Only thing is the ship usually arrives around 4 in the morning so still dark !

So really it is a question of personal preference and remember , especially in the Mediterranean , she will also constantly be turning!