Tampa - what to do the night before our cruise

[danajjj]

We have never sailed from this port before (never been to Tampa before). Does anyone have any good suggestions as to what to do the night before the cruise? When we sail from Port Canaveral, we love to go to the channel area and have dinner and watch the ships go by. Not sure if this is doable in Tampa. Any good restaurant suggestions?

[asylum575]

We went over to the Channelside complex the day before the cruise and took the kids to the Aquarium. In warmer weather they offer a boat ride to see dolphins and manatees. We spent a couple of hours at the aquarium,then met an old HS buddy for dinner.

Ybor city offers some restaurants as well.

 

BTW Channelside also houses the cruise port. We watched the Carnival Legend sail off while having dinner.

[adventuregrrl]

For years, we've used Tampa as our base for long weekend escapes when we can get super cheap flights. Here are some of our favorite things.

 

Where to eat?

 

If you have just one afternoon/evening in Tampa, I would agree that Channelside is a good nearby option. There are a number of restaurants and, depending on the schedule, you can see the ships. Our favorite spot at Channelside is a Spanish restaurant called Tinatapa's http://www.tinatapas.com/.

 

If you want another kind of experience, you could take a cab or drive to Bahama Breeze http://www.bahamabreeze.com/. It's a very festive restaurant with a great view of the Bay and is about 10-15 mins from downtown. Use call ahead seating.

 

A third option for an evening out, would require your own car or a lot of money for a cab. Frenchy's Rockaway Grill in Clearwater Beach has one of the best Grouper Sandwiches you will ever put in your mouth and has amazing beachfront views of the sunsets. http://www.frenchysonline.com/rock_index.html It's about 45 mins - hour from downtown Tampa.

 

 

What to do if you have more time than just dinner the night before?

 

• The Florida Aquarium is one of the best we've been to. You can learn about all sorts of fish which is a good thing if you're doing any snorkeling on your cruise. http://www.flaquarium.org/
  

• Busch Gardens is a really good animal park. We did one of their wildlife expeditions and got to feed the giraffes, the hippos, and the rhinos. It was great! Here's a pic and if you're intersted you can see more of my Busch Gardens animal pictures at:
  
  

 

 

 

 

 

• Last, but not least ---here's our new favorite Tampa area experience! Last weekend we went on a kayaking/fossil hunting trip. Located about 1.5 hours outside of Tampa, Fossil Expeditions takes you out on a river that has a rich fossil bed. Our guide Mark Renz has written a number of books on Florida fossils and helped us identify our finds. During our 4 hour trip, we found more than 40 fossilized sharks teeth, pieces of mammoth and mastodon teeth, and lots of fossilized mammal (dugong) bone. It was a great adventure and we saw a few alligators, as well as birds and even an owl. If you have time and interest, I highly recommend this trip. http://www.fossilexpeditions.com/ Here's a picture from our recent trip:
  

 

Hope this helps!

[4xcruisers]

We went over to the Channelside complex the day before the cruise and took the kids to the Aquarium. In warmer weather they offer a boat ride to see dolphins and manatees. We spent a couple of hours at the aquarium,then met an old HS buddy for dinner.

Ybor city offers some restaurants as well.

 

BTW Channelside also houses the cruise port. We watched the Carnival Legend sail off while having dinner.

 

 

 

By they in regards to the boat ride, I am assuming you mean the aquarium. We were planning to do the Aquarium before our early August cruise with the kids. They would love this.

[asylum575]

By they in regards to the boat ride, I am assuming you mean the aquarium. We were planning to do the Aquarium before our early August cruise with the kids. They would love this.

 

 

Yes, "they" is the aquarium. Check out their website. The aquarium also has an outdoor play area with a spray waterpark. Great for kids. We saw a cute penguin show while there. Get the schedule of shows ahead of time, you can plan 3 hours there easy.

 

Also, you can buy tickets to the aquarium across the street in the "Destination Tampa" booth/storefront and save $$. I think we saved about $30 going there.

 

The port was a breeze and dismbarkation was great. "Destination Tampa" has a stand as you exit the terminal and you can buy vouchers for van service to the airport. I think it was $10/adults, $5 children.

[AndrewD65]

Tampa has a lot of options for just spending a day here.. There is a lot you can do and those where all excellent suggestions.

[abby and nathan's mom]

We sailed on the Legend 2 years ago from Tampa, we went to a Tampa Bay Ray's baseball game...Something different that my children had never been too...A major league baseball game...:):):)