Symphony of the Seas Western Caribbean - which side does ship dock on?

[Margie]

For those that have recently cruised on Symphony of the Seas doing Western Caribbean route to Cozumel, Costa Maya, Roatan and CocoCay - which side did the ship dock on?  We are wanting to book an oceanview balcony cabin where we see the land when docked at ports.  Some cruises we've been on the ship backed in so starboard was actually facing the port, although I always thought "port side" meant those cabins faced the port?  Should we book port or starboard side then when visiting these specific ports on Symphony if we want to see land and not the ocean when docked?

[KristiZ]

Welcome to the boards!

I can't answer your question about Symphony, but I can tell you that "port side" just means left side as you face forward. Starboard = right.

[dr martini]

i don't think there are a lot of definitive answers here, every island is different with various cruise lines sailing all kinds of different ships.  harbor masters in each port usually decide for their port based on ship's size, arrival time, departure time etc.  you can find who is scheduled to be in port with you on sites like cruisemapper.com and elsewhere

i can tell you symphony and the other oasis class ships in Miami leave the terminal heading straight out, so docked with the terminal and freight harbor to the right (starboard) side and rooms the the left (port) will look out to miami beach and the skyline etc.  the port of miami has a basin that's like a cul de sac dead end where ships can turn around, many ships do this when they enter at night/early morning of their final return day, although it's not every ship all the time, there are plenty of sail away videos you can find on youtube of other, smaller ships, turning around in the basin before heading out.  so that can make for a nice view as you unpack and get ready to sail away, but after that i wouldn't worry too much about side of the ship, look more at what you like to do, where you can get the best price, maybe closer the middle to avoid walking down the hallways multiple times a day etc.