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Port or Starboard Balcony on Southern Caribbean?


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Hi,

 

I'm going on Adventure of the Seas this September with the following ports (Sailing out of San Juan Puerto Rico, Philipsburg - St. Maarten, Basseterre - St. Kitts, St. Johns - Antigua, Castries- St. Lucia and Bridgetown- Barbados).  What is the best side of the ship to be on? My goal is to be facing the islands as mush as possible while pulling in and away from the ports. I understand that the ship can dock different directions at each port but I would like to face the islands as we sail in and out of port.  

 

Thanks!!!

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Starboard side gets a great view of El Morro as you leave San Juan.  The others would be one view on the way in and the other on the way out.

I'd agree with this.  For all the other ports, you never know which side will matter so I wouldn't even consider it.

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Save your cash and get an interior room, and then head up to the pool deck when they dock so you can get the full 360 degree experience. :)

 

As Elaine Benes would say, I'm very "careful with money" so it is tempting to put that $522 toward excursions but we have 3 kids under 5 so we only go on a week long vacation (trips without kids) every 2 years so I thought I would splurge on our first balcony. 

 

I have also done some more research and found that the port side will have the best chance of seeing the islands as you pull in and out of port. 

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As has been mentioned, it is a bit of a crap shoot. We sailed Adventure in April 2015 o the same itinerary with the exception that we went to st Croix instead of St Kitts. Our balcony was on the port side and we were facing away from the island everywhere except st. Lucia where you can see the island from both sides of the ship.

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Depending on your itinerary, I would take a room on the side of the ship that has the view of the Pitons on St Lucia as you sail past. For us this has been the Starboard side. When we've sailed from Barbados to St. Lucia, it is worth getting up early to see the sunrise behind the Pitons. If you are going to going to Barbados after St Lucia, then I would recommend the port side.

 

On one visit to st Maarten, at first we thought we had a great view of the harbour, until we saw another cruise ship pulling in. Then we had a great view of another RCCL ship. BUT, it turned out that ship had a Harley Davidson cruise... It was my favorite time to be parked next to another ship. There were pirate flags all over the balconies. You could hear a "wave" of aarghs, going up and down the ship. (At Maho Beach, another story for another time....)

 

Which brings me to another point, if there are a lot of ships in port, you might only get a view of other balconies and lifeboats.

 

Dorothy

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