Ships dock port or starboard in ABC islands??

[Cruisegoer]

Just wondering if anyone knows which side of the ship is docked facing land in the ABC islands? I've always been under the impression you want to go for starboard side but unsure with the way ports generally jut out into the sea instead of being placed alongside land.

 

Thoughts?

[39august]

No way to predict. Currents, tides, winds, number of other ships in port, etc.  determine how a ship docks in any port and whether if backs in or heads in. 

[stevea36]

The position of any cruise ship in any port can be influenced by many items, including: tides, winds, port traffic, maintenance (if they need to do maintenance on a portion of the ship), crew drills, and even the whim of the captain.  so, there is no way to know in advance.

 

Steve

[ScubaDo]

Recently on the Freedom we were port side for all three islands.

[awhfy]

We’ve been port side toward land on all those islands 5 times, never starboard. 

[Cruisegoer]

Okay thanks for the feedback, sounds like we're keeping port.

[mickey89]

Probability is PORT side but as other have said, it is current/wind dependant.

[oskarNZ]

I just did a 14 night Southern Caribbean on the Reflection in a port side room.  We got to enjoy land views in every single port except in Antigua where out view was blocked by another ship.  

I would definitely book port again if I was to cruise in that part of the world.  

[micheleata]

In September  this is how we docked.  We were very happy being on the Port side.

 

Grand Cayman starboard

Aruba port

Curacao port

Bonaire starboard   

Key West starboard

[ipeeinthepool]

3 hours ago, Cruisegoer said:

Just wondering if anyone knows which side of the ship is docked facing land in the ABC islands? I've always been under the impression you want to go for starboard side but unsure with the way ports generally jut out into the sea instead of being placed alongside land.

 

Thoughts?

 

We always go for the starboard side to avoid any potential issues with the smoking areas on the port side of the Promenade deck.   If you do need to select a port side cabin for some reason, as we did for viewing Venice during the sail away, I would pick a cabin forward of the forward elevators.

[dkjretired]

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

We always go for the starboard side to avoid any potential issues with the smoking areas on the port side of the Promenade deck.   If you do need to select a port side cabin for some reason, as we did for viewing Venice during the sail away, I would pick a cabin forward of the forward elevators.

 

Same thing for us, always do starboard and as to the issue of which side do you dock at, you never know, there is not pattern.

[mahdnc]

9 hours ago, Cruisegoer said:

Okay thanks for the feedback, sounds like we're keeping port.

 

More Data:

 

Dec 28 2013 Eclipse: Aruba (port side faced land), Curacao (port).  Coral Princess was docked with us at Aruba with its port side was facing land.  We did not call on Bonaire.

 

Jan 4 2015 Eclipse: Aruba (port), Curacao (port), Bonaire (port)

 

Jan 4 2019 Reflection: Aruba (port), Curacao (port), Bonaire (port).  AIDAperla (port) was with us at Aruba.  Monarch (port) was with us at Curacao.  This was the same cruise as with oskarNZ.

 

Reflection at Aruba, Jan 13 2019

 

Monarch (left) and Reflection (right) at Curacao, Jan 14 2019

 

Reflection at Bonaire, Jan 15 2019

Edited January 24, 2019 by mahdnc

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

The ship docks where and how the harbor master directs.

[gerelmx]

8 hours ago, micheleata said:

In September  this is how we docked.  We were very happy being on the Port side.

 

Grand Cayman starboard

Aruba port

Curacao port

Bonaire starboard   

Key West starboard

 

Grand Cayman is a tendered port

[micheleata]

12 hours ago, gerelmx said:

 

Grand Cayman is a tendered port

 

Yes it is.  And the starboard side faced the island/dock.   The port side faced away.

 

Edited January 24, 2019 by micheleata

[DENIE]

On our December 2018 Silhouette cruise, the ship docked on the port side at each of the ABC Islands.  Grand Cayman is a tendered port, and as I recall, the front of the ship faced the tender pier (more or less), so you could see land from port or starboard.