POA port side or starboard side and other questions too

I am trying to help my friends book a balcony room and I need some help here.

We are trying to decide on the port side for Napali or starboard for the volcano.

I was told by NCL that for Napali they will circle the island so booking a room on either side will get the views, is that correct???? Which side gets the closest view???

To see the volcano do we need to book on the starboard side, is that correct or do they do a circle there as well??

We booked room 9174 starboard side on the 9th floor so that there are rooms above and below so hopefully no noise. We want to know if that is the best room for the views. Not worried about walking distance just want a better room location that is quiet. I see that the aft area on the deck plan juts out just a bit maybe be better views?? Silly question but do you smell smoke from that area?

Thanks in advance for all of your wonderful advice here. I posted this on the NCL board and was advised to post the question here.

I posted this on the other board for you- hope it helps!

"I can definitely help you here, as we got off the POA on 12/31. We had 2 port side large balcony cabins. (B6- the large balconies were fabulous - 2 loungers, 2 chairs, a footrest, a small table!) The captain DID NOT turn the ship around so the starboard side could see the coastline. Only the port side got the viewing. We turned the tv up load and could hear the commentary from the balcony railing. As far as the lava goes - we went up to deck 10 and watched from there. There was plenty of room for everyone to watch on the open decks. I would not get a cabin on the starboard side just to view the lava. For us, it was slightly underwhelming! While pretty at night, we were pretty far away, and unless you had a really good camera would not even get a good picture."

Definately get a port side cabin. The ship does not make a full circle of the island. It sails down the Na'Pali coast with the port side facing the coast and pretty close in. At the end of the long sail by, the ship turns and heads straight away from the coast for some distance and then turns, but at that point you are very far away, and daylight may be fading. You won't get nearly the same effect from the starboard side.

Thanks for all the advice..We booked a room on 9th floor port side aft... Thanks 😃

Thanks for all the advice..We booked a room on 9th floor port side aft... Thanks

I booked an aft balcony - is this "the best of both worlds" or will I miss both?

I booked an aft balcony - is this "the best of both worlds" or will I miss both?

The aft balconies are highly sought-after on POA. Can't imagine you made a bad choice!

I booked an aft balcony - is this "the best of both worlds" or will I miss both?

We've had both an aft facing balcony and a port side balcony on the POA. The view of the wake and the waterfall sound are so peaceful with the aft. But, for the Na Pali viewing in particular, I did prefer the port side view, straight ahead over the railing, more so than the view from the aft facing, which requires you to look to your right for the view. If you don't feel the view of Na Pali will be optimum from the aft, you can always go up to a public deck.

But otherwise, that aft view is wonderful and you can see off to both sides as you come and go from port. It is especially good when there will be views on both sides frequently, like on an Alaskan cruise with the glaciers and inside passage. We loved our aft in Alaska where in Glacier Bay they spun the ship around a couple times. In the passage, we did not miss anything because we were on the "other side".

Thanks everyone. We are on the NCL Jewel, Vancouver to Honolulu in October.