mark1

I found a lot about this tour by searching for "Land Rover" looks great!

Has anyone done the Caving and Jungle Tour? 45 minutes by boat up the river, arrive at a local farm to change to 4x4 vehicles for the trip on the trails and across the river in a barge, a short walk through the rainforest to the caves for some caving and a "jungle truck" back. This takes 5 hours and listed as moderate activity by HAL.

Has anyone done the Caving and Jungle Tour? 45 minutes by boat up the river, arrive at a local farm to change to 4x4 vehicles for the trip on the trails and across the river in a barge, a short walk through the rainforest to the caves for some caving and a "jungle truck" back. This takes 5 hours and listed as moderate activity by HAL.

Note that the excursion arrived back late, and that since this was a Celebrity sponsored tour, there was no issue.

HIGHLY recommend Lamanai Tour.

Here are the complete details of this excursion. (Scroll down to ports).

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/westerncaribbean.html

OK, now we're getting down to it. :) We're likely to be having four meals in Tampa ( 3 meals the day before plus breakfast on the day we're sailing) while staying at the Hilton Westshore with no car. My guess is cuban for a breakfast or lunch and barbeque for dinner, unless we are in Ybor City for dinner, in which case it's Barbeque for lunch.

Advice? Remember no car.

mark and gretchen

mark1 - Now you've went and got me started! We must think alike. I never get tired of BBQ. I like various types. South Carolina style (like Maurice's Gormet BBQ in Columbia, SC) is great. Sonny's isn't shabby. Sometimes I plan road trips with Sonny's in mind. I'm sure my manager see's it on my expense accounts and laughs at it. I've had Memphis style too, lovely. As for Selmons, it's on the sweet side. It's very good though, and a really nice place.

 

If you want something different, where lots of locals go, try Jimbo's Real Pit BBQ at 4103 W. Kennedy Blvd, Tampa. It's sometimes hard to get a place to park at lunch. When our Tampa office was closer, we used to eat there every Friday. Some of the best sliced pork and ribs I've ever had. The sauce is very good, and kind of thin. It's not sweet. Just right for my taste. I've been eating at that place for many years, as well as it's sister location here in Lakeland, where I live.

 

On Dale Mabry Highway, S. of Kennedy Blvd (I don't know the street number, but it's not too far S.), is Fred Flemings Famous BBQ. This is great too.

 

Is there such a thing as BAD BBQ? I don't think so, unless it's burnt.

 

I know of another little BBQ joint out in the E side of Tampa on 40th St. just N. of Hillsborough Avenue - Big John's Alabama BBQ. It's ran by an African-American family. The patriarch, John Stevens, died years ago, and (as far as I know), the kids still run the place. It's a small place, nothing facing at all. The parking lot is dirt. But the pork, beef, and ribs are great. They make their own sauce. They have spicy sauce too. I remember a gentleman ordering the spicy sauce one day (he was ahead of me in line), Big John Stevens asked him twice if he really wanted the hot sauce. The man said yes. From the looks of things, I think he messed up. :) I haven't been there in hears. When I was in law enforcement, they gave us 50% off the price, and they loved police types. They would take a large 5" hamburger bun, get a big hunk of BBQ port off of the pit, slice off a big amount, then chop it up and pile it on the bun until it fell off the sides on the wrapping paper, put a big gob of sauce on top, then the top bun. We would have to hold it over the table to eat it, while little bits of meat would fall out. I just made myself awful hungry for this stuff!:rolleyes:

 

Enjoy.

 

Ken

With our mini-suite, we should have embarkation priviledges. In any case, one our first (and only other) cruise, we arrived early and found that there were tours of the ship available. So, I expect that we'll be early.

We'll be arriving by plane and have no car. If we were to go over to Ybor City, we'd need to get a cab or a shuttle. I trust the hotel will have arrangements.

Selmon's sounds like serious barbeque. I hope they have spicy. Most have sweet barbeque these days. I missed by annual trip to Gatlinburg this year (with barbeque every day).

from a previous post, I noticed that there is a couple of Cuban restaurants around. I guess I can get my fix of Cuban coffee.

mark

mark1 - As for the time to show up at the ship, I agree with Jessemon. We have been on the Veendam from Tampa, and DW has been on it 2x with her mother. You could get into the terminal earlier, probably as early as 10:30-11:00, but getting there a little later like Jessemon said is a good idea too. If you get there a little later, the huge crowd that gets there very early (as if they think someone else may be able to get on the ship before them or something...:rolleyes: ), will have already boarded. So, you can waltz right in, go to the counter, check in, and walk on the ship. No sense in dealing with the crowd and lines. There's something to be said for showing up with the boarding passengers are down to a trickle. They won't give your cabin to someone else if you wait until 12:30 to 1PM to board, and there will still be plenty of food left in the lido (despite what some folks seem to think:) ).

 

As for the Hilton Westshore: There are some good places to eat in walking distance. LeRoy Selmons BBQ (That's LeRoy Selmon, as in Tampa Bay Bucs years ago), Flemings Prime Steakhouse, and Roy's. Those are all Outback Steakhouse Corp. concepts. Great places to eat. Across the street (a busy divided highway), is the International Plaza Mall. It's upscale, and very nice. Huge too. In an area behind the mall is an area with some nice restaurants, including the Cheesecake Factory (you might need a cargo van to take you back to the hotel when you leave there).

Going down to the Port of Tampa could be fun. You could go down to the Channelside District shopping complex for some light shopping and restaurants. The FL Aquarium is next door. The street cars run by Channelside, so you could take one down to Ybor City and scout around there too. The Centro Ybor complex is nice, with movies and fun things to do, and restaurants, etc. It all depends on your mode of transportation.

If any other questions, just ask.

 

Ken

We are arriving TH nite for a SAT cruise. So, we will have a day available.

We'll be staying at the Hilton Westshore. Are there sites worth seeing, a trip to the pier perhaps. If not, a day in at hotel pool and walk to a couple of restaurants works fine for us.

Also when will the Veendam allow us to board? We were thinking noon.

mark and gretchen

Galaxy 3/04