Tampa departure on Gasparilla

[coaster]

Just put two and two together and realized our January 26 sailing on Rhapsody is the same day as Gasparilla. We live  a half hour North of Tampa and never have been to Gasparilla. Is it going to be really bad trying to get to the Channelside area?

[Clarea]

 

Also try the Florida Departures forum:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/

[nolimits]

Just be careful watch out for Pirates LOL.

We did this a few yrs ago there are street closures and undo traffic so leave early.We arrived at 11am and had no problem.Watching all the action from the ship was cool.

 PS where from NY and the next year we went to Gassparila as part of a land vacation.Great boat parade and party its a Marti Gras Florida style .

[coaster]

Thank you for sharing your personal take. We will certainly leave earlier than usual. I  am now looking forward to looking off the ship at all the activities around us. Glad you liked it when you went. I will have to go sometime in a future year.

[island lady]

We boarded Brilliance one year on the same day as the boat parade,which is actually one block over from the cruise port.  We just got there early, and had no problems.  It was indeed fun to watch from the deck of the ship.  Could see a huge crowd of people lining the water front over there.  

 

Then on sail away, many of the boats were following us out.  It was pretty cool.  🙂