Seabourn Ovation V2 room choice

[ciaoYacht]

Just booked on Seabourn Ovation May 28 Barcelona → Rome cruise in V2 category.  Travel agent assigned us a room on the odd numbered room side of the side (starboard side).  Wondering if anyone has insight on which side of the ship may have better views on this cruise... ideally I'd like to have a view facing the coastline so I'm guessing its the even numbered (port) side?  Also, any insight on what the best floor to stay on it?  We are currently booked on the 8th floor.  Looks like rooms are available on floors 6-9, and I've read lower = less sea sickness, but higher seems to be more sought after?  Thanks in advance!

[mcondition]

I have cruised starboard side with sister ship Encore Barcelona to Rome (Civitavecchia I think). It is excellent short cruise and starboard side is my preference. Some excellent views of the ports of call.

 

Regarding the deck level, since the ship doesn't cross the ocean, I guess Mediterranean slow cruising won't bring any serious sea sickness but my general rule is my cabin to be surrounded by cabins only, i.e. cabin above, below and next to. Starboard side at 7th or 8th deck is my pref.

[cruiseej]

@ciaoYacht The closest you can come to determining if there's a "better" side of the ship for a voyage it to look at a map of your cruise itinerary. In this case:

 

 

From Barcelona to Patmos to Sete to Monte Carlo, the land will be on the left (port) side as the ship sails. Monte Carlo to Toulon, land will be on the right (starboard) side. Toulon to Corsica, there's no land on either side. Corsica to Livorno, there's land on the right side for part of the way, and open sea for part. From Livorno to Civatavecchia, land is potentially on the left side. So taken together, I'd say you'd be facing land more of the time if you were on the port side of this trip.

 

However, that said, let me add some important caveats. Between various ports, the ship is quite often far enough out to sea that you either don't see land at all, or just see a narrow line on the horizon. Sailing into and out of ports is often the most scenic part of cruising, and it's difficult to know which side will be better  unless you know the exact location of the port; even then you don't know if the ship will be docking forward into its berth or turning around to face out to sea -- so it's almost impossible to know which side will be looking out over the port and city and which will face out to sea. and in busy ports with multiple docking piers, you could find yourself staring at another cruise ship rather than the city or sea, depending on how the berths are assigned. And remember that much of your sailing takes place in the evening when you're at dinner or at night when it's dark, so there may not be much to see after sailing out of port in the evening or sailing in early in the morning.

 

What's excellent about being on a small ship is that it's always easy to get to an open deck on either side, or facing front or rear. So if there's something special to see during a sail-in or sail-out, or a sunset, or a passing ship, you can generally get somewhere to see it very quickly.

 

Taken all together, I'd say the choice of which side of the ship ends up being generally of minimal importance. There may be slight advantages to one side over the other, but parts of it are impossible to predict in advance, and it's generally not worth giving any further thought to once you've selected your suite.