Portside - is it worth paying extra?

My husband and I are considering a Med cruise on Viking Star, Rome to Rome. Looks like the ship leaves Rome, heads south to Sicily, circumnavigates the Med and returns to Rome. The best views will be portside, land?

We're quite happy with a basic V cabin which gives us no cabin choice.

If we want to choose we'll have to pay $400 extra, each, for a DV4 (also a bunch of extras are included we're not interested in). Same size cabin!

Wiil the portside have nicer views? Is it worth paying $800? Any other suggestions?

Many thanks, Saskia, first timer on Viking

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My husband and I are considering a Med cruise on Viking Star, Rome to Rome. Looks like the ship leaves Rome, heads south to Sicily, circumnavigates the Med and returns to Rome. The best views will be portside, land?

We're quite happy with a basic V cabin which gives us no cabin choice.

If we want to choose we'll have to pay $400 extra, each, for a DV4 (also a bunch of extras are included we're not interested in). Same size cabin!

Wiil the portside have nicer views? Is it worth paying $800? Any other suggestions?

Many thanks, Saskia, first timer on Viking

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I am planning my second Viking cruise. There are 2 levels of V cabins and the difference in price is about what you quoted. Both times we were on port side. The V2 cabin is less expensive than the V1 but I don't think it has to do with port or starboard.

It sounds like your choice is between what is called a guaranteed cabin, where Viking will assign you a cabin, or booking in the least expensive of the categories that are available. Since there isn't really a bad cabin on the whole ship and because Viking sails mostly at night, go for the guarantee (if that is actually what it is). It is a shot in the dark and you might end up in a V cabin, but some have reported ending up in DV or even better. Save the $800 and use it to splurge on one of the optional tours!

Totally agree!

Whether you're port side or starboard side makes little difference on most cruises. Most of the time while cruising you're too far out to sea to see anything. When you arrive at a port, the ship docks where it's told to dock, and maybe the ship will scoot straight in and maybe it will back in. You may have a city view, a view of the port, or a view of very little if the port is one that's in a very industrial area. I wouldn't worry about whether you're port or starboard!

Excellent points! The Star is a big ship and we will not be hugging the coast. I'm remembering our last cruise, a small expedition ship (the Vavilov) - we were fortunate to be on the land side. Great views!

A big ship will be a big change for us. Thanks again, we just saved $800!

Excellent points! The Star is a big ship and we will not be hugging the coast. I'm remembering our last cruise, a small expedition ship (the Vavilov) - we were fortunate to be on the land side. Great views!

A big ship will be a big change for us. Thanks again, we just saved $800!

Spend it wisely. :D And wishing you a very pleasant surprise on your cabin assignment.

Port or Starboard - this is important fo TA crossings. The south side is usually preferable.

 

None of the cabin on the ship is worth extra $800.

 

This is a classy ship with beautiful observation areas indoors and outdoors.

 

Enjoy our cruise.

I don't recall any kind of premium for being port or starboard. We were and will be again on the starboard side near the bridge. As others have said when you come into port what you can see from your cabin is random. We just assumed that the outbound leg gives one view; the return leg the other. However on a TA there is no return leg. Do they actually charge more in that case? Interesting.

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I don't recall any kind of premium for being port or starboard. We were and will be again on the starboard side near the bridge. As others have said when you come into port what you can see from your cabin is random. We just assumed that the outbound leg gives one view; the return leg the other. However on a TA there is no return leg. Do they actually charge more in that case? Interesting.

 

 

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CharTrav, you are right. There is no premium for port or starboard, however, the higher the deck, the more you pay for the cabin and forward vs aft may also have some price differences (i.e, V1 and V2 are both on deck 3 but the V2 cabins are aft and cheaper than the V1).

OP had a choice to make: pay for a guaranteed cabin and take whatever was assigned OR if she wanted to choose her cabin (because she had a question about port vs starboard), to pay another $400pp for DV4 which was the least expensive category cabin with cabins available so that she could choose a cabin, port or starboard, based on our response to her question (DV5&6 were already sold out). So, that is where the idea of an $800 premium comes from--not port vs starboard but choice vs. no choice.

And the TA remark had nothing to do with OP's question because she isn't asking about a TA.

CharTrav, you are right. There is no premium for port or starboard, however, the higher the deck, the more you pay for the cabin and forward vs aft may also have some price differences (i.e, V1 and V2 are both on deck 3 but the V2 cabins are aft and cheaper than the V1).

 

 

 

OP had a choice to make: pay for a guaranteed cabin and take whatever was assigned OR if she wanted to choose her cabin (because she had a question about port vs starboard), to pay another $400pp for DV4 which was the least expensive category cabin with cabins available (DV5&6 were already sold out). So, that is where the idea of an $800 premium comes from--not port vs starboard but choice vs. no choice.

 

 

 

And the TA remark had nothing to do with OP's question because she isn't asking about a TA.

Just call me tired. On a routine now of spending 3 days per week in my company office and then two days a week overnight (Thu/Fri) working at my customer's site (approx 90 miles from home). Been doing this for 3 wks now. I'll get used to it I'm sure but so far Friday evenings when I get home, I'm functioning but barely.

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Just call me tired. On a routine now of spending 3 days per week in my company office and then two days a week overnight (Thu/Fri) working at my customer's site (approx 90 miles from home). Been doing this for 3 wks now. I'll get used to it I'm sure but so far Friday evenings when I get home, I'm functioning but barely.

 

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UGH. Not fun.

I am appreciating all the discussion and am learning a lot. I now remember being on the Queen Mary on a TA, sailing tandem with the Queen Elizabeth. They changed position every night so starboard folks had a good view of the sister ship one day, next day portside woke up to the older sister along side. It was amazing!

We haven't sailed with Viking but have completed several med cruises and it will not make any difference Port or starboard.