Port Side or Starboard Side Mostly Does Not Matter and Here Is When It Does

People pay extra for the wrong side of the ship all the time. They heard port is better. Or starboard. Someone said it with confidence at a dinner party and now it is gospel.

Here is the truth. On most sailings the side of your cabin barely matters. The ship turns around. The views even out. You are moving the whole time, so whatever was on your left in the morning is behind you by lunch.

The side myth usually comes from Alaska. And Alaska is the one place it actually holds a little water. On a one way northbound cruise, the starboard side tends to keep the coastline closer for more of the trip. Flip the direction and the logic flips with it, which is why a southbound sailing leans the other way.

But round trip Alaska cruises wash that out. You sail up one way and back the other, so both sides get their turn. And in Glacier Bay, Endicott Arm, and Dawes Glacier, the captain slowly spins the ship so everyone sees the ice. Nobody is stuck staring at a wall of water while the other side gets the glacier.

There are real reasons to care about your side, they just are not the scenic ones people obsess over. Tender ports sometimes board from one specific side, so you hear an announcement about deck four and a direction. Sun exposure can matter if you want a warm balcony or a cool one. And if you have a bridge or a lifeboat or a lower promenade deck right outside your window, that is a view problem no compass direction fixes.

So before you pay a premium for a side, ask what the ship is actually doing. A one way scenic route is worth a thought. A round trip Caribbean loop where you are at sea or in port the whole time is not. You will be on your balcony with a coffee either way.

Picking a cabin is less about left and right and more about what is below you, above you, and right outside the glass. That is the part people skip. If you want help sorting out which side, if any, is worth it for your specific sailing, that is literally what we do.

Fair winds and following seas,
Captain Steve