port or starboard?

[Willy]

(1) Has anyone seen a pattern concerning "which side" of a ship is facing the dock or pier in ports?

(2) Do the ships always, sometimes, never: anchor or dock with the bow pointing toward land?

Hey, if you don't ask you'll never know and a "minute" here may make a weeks worth of difference!

You folks are terrific, thank you.

Willy

[LisaK]

it all depends upon which side of the ship the gangways are on. It does seem that most ships dock in bow first.

Keep in mind there are gangways on both sides of the ship.

Are you referring to a specific itinerary? Someone may have a specific response for you.

This reminds me of a time on one of the Celebrity ships when a couple sat down next to us on the starboard side of the pool deck. He lit up a cigar, and I politely told him that smoking was on the port side. He said, "This IS the port side. We docked with this side of the ship at the port". Obviously a first time cruiser!

No offense meant. We were ALL first time cruisers once!

[Willy]

Tanman and others - Good point on being specific, here goes ...

Eastern and Southern Caribbean itinerary (combination of 3 were considering) : St Kitts, Barbados, Grenada, St Thomas, La Guaira, Antigua, Aruba, and Curacao.

Thanks for the feedback.

Willy

Those I know of...

Barbados--starboard side likely to face land across the harbor, port side to face the dock and sea beyond
St. Thomas--starboard side to face dock, BUT port side has better view ocross the harbor to the town of Charlotte Amalie!
Antigua--bow points straight into land (pier juts straight out into the harbor)

Sorry for the lengthy delay...hope the info helps a bit.

What side is port and what side is star

[mulderfx]

On CP Western Caribbean, we had tender for Princess Cays & Grand Cayman.

For Monetgo Bay, we docked starboard side.
For Cozumel, we docked port side (could have very well had been starboard).

At Cozumel, there are 2 piers cruise ships can dock - one's further away from the main shopping mall while the other is directly across the street from it. We got lucky and were allocated the closer pier. The pier can accomadate 2 ships and it did for the two days - Carnival had the Sensation & Paradise docked starboard side, across the pier from us.

As you are standing midships and facing the front, port is on your left and starboard is on your right. A teacher's trick the word port and the word left each have 4 letters, keep them together.

Joy

Having been on 25 cruises, worked on ships for 50 years and have contracts with major tanker companies, 80% of the time the ship will tie up starboard side to the dock or pier. Ships very rarely tie up with bow in. Hopes this helps