Tampa Port?

[NEHMAR]

I've seen several people say they stay at a hotel nearby, leave their car there and take the shuttle to the port. Can I get some more details about the port and such?

1. If I stay at a hotel that will let me leave my car there and shuttle me to the port, will they pick me up when I return or will I need to take a cab back to the hotel?

2. If I park at the port, how far is it from the parking to where we actually need to be to check it? Do we have to walk from a parking deck a few blocks or is the deck right there?

 

My husband is thinking of staying in Ocala and drive and leave our car at the port. But, I'm not so sure. Any insights would be helpful, thanks!!!

[FlaGrl4Evr]

You could try www.stay123.com select Cruise Parking Hotels and then click on Port of Tampa. This will pull up Tampa hotels with parking and a shuttle to the port the next morning. The site has several port cities listed not just Tampa. Good-Luck !

 

Hope that this helps. Cari :)

[demos]

I've seen several people say they stay at a hotel nearby, leave their car there and take the shuttle to the port. Can I get some more details about the port and such?

1. If I stay at a hotel that will let me leave my car there and shuttle me to the port, will they pick me up when I return or will I need to take a cab back to the hotel?

2. If I park at the port, how far is it from the parking to where we actually need to be to check it? Do we have to walk from a parking deck a few blocks or is the deck right there?

 

My husband is thinking of staying in Ocala and drive and leave our car at the port. But, I'm not so sure. Any insights would be helpful, thanks!!!

 

 

We stayed at the Embassy suites Downtown. We parked our car there for the week while we cruised. You have to pay for a shuttle to and from the port. It saved us parking at the port at 15.00 per day. The hotel was very nice and took great care of our group.

 

If you choose to park at the port, the parking deck at the port is across the street from where you will enter the terminal. They have a drop off area where you can drop off your luggage before you park your car.

 

Check out the ports board there is lots of info on hotels there. Great place to get lots of info. Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

[NEHMAR]

We stayed at the Embassy suites Downtown. We parked our car there for the week while we cruised. You have to pay for a shuttle to and from the port. It saved us parking at the port at 15.00 per day. The hotel was very nice and took great care of our group.

 

If you choose to park at the port, the parking deck at the port is across the street from where you will enter the terminal. They have a drop off area where you can drop off your luggage before you park your car.

 

Check out the ports board there is lots of info on hotels there. Great place to get lots of info. Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

 

Very helpful, thank you!!!

[irun5k]

Tampa is a good drive from Ocala. Are you going to be in Ocala for some other purpose, prior to cruising?

[NEHMAR]

Tampa is a good drive from Ocala. Are you going to be in Ocala for some other purpose, prior to cruising?

No. Hubby is thinking we'll drive there on Saturday and then to the port on Sunday morning. Is that unwise? Will there be lots of traffic to deal with?

[NEHMAR]

No. Hubby is thinking we'll drive there on Saturday and then to the port on Sunday morning. Is that unwise? Will there be lots of traffic to deal with?

Does anyone have an opinion on this? IE. Should we not drive from Ocala to Tampa the morning of the cruise?

[Santaa]

Driving from Ocala on A Sunday morning won't be a problem but allow your self 2 two hours drive time. As for parking its a easy walk to the cruise parking. I always drop off my wife with the luggage in the unloading area and then park the car. On return we roll our luggage back to the car instead of bringing the car back to pick it up. Cruise parking is the second garage back. I will add a pic that was taken from the Legend.

http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab293/santaa11/Tampa%20port/Legend088.jpg http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab293/santaa11/Tampa%20port/Legend089.jpg click on the two links to enlarge. The lower part of the pic you can see the unloading lanes under the building. The garage in the backround the first one is for short term parking and at the end to the right is the entrance for cruise parking. I hope this will help you.

[RayJacki]

You could try www.stay123.com select Cruise Parking Hotels and then click on Port of Tampa. This will pull up Tampa hotels with parking and a shuttle to the port the next morning. The site has several port cities listed not just Tampa. Good-Luck !

 

Hope that this helps. Cari :)

 

LOVE this site! Thanks so much. :)

[andrzej5914]

Another option:

 

Priceline a 3.5* or higher downtown hotel (we always get it for about $55-60, $75 TOTAL after fees and taxes). Hyatt, Marriott, Westiin, etc.

 

Which ever hotel you'll get, you'll be about 2-3 city blocks away from a city run garage which charges $9.50 for 24 hours.

 

So let's do the math:

 

7 x 9.50 = $66.50

Hotel 1 nt = $75

Total = $141.50

 

Just about any mid-range hotel that has park/cruise package will cost you about $125 PLUS and then add tax to that.

 

Is that really free parking when compared to my above example?

 

We go up to Tampa on a regular basis and we always Priceline downtown hotels so I know what I'm talking about. We like to park our car and use the streetcar to get around as we like to have few drinks.

[shellgoodman]

We are actually using points and getting two free nights at the Doubletree Westshore by the airport.

 

I was planning on using the city garage for parking. Is that a huge hassle? My husband would drop off the kids and I and then park. We've done this on other cruises before. $9.50 sounds alot better than $15.