Sail Away from Tampa

[kpauley]

Is there a preferred side of the ship to be on when sailing out of the Port of Tampa? When we leave Port Everglades, we like the port side because of the enthusiastic send off from the condo residents and we also like the port side when leaving Miami because of the view of the million dollar homes and the MacArthur causeway. Is there something similar when leaving Tampa? Thanks.

[LDR]

There aren't any condos or big houses when you go down the channel

in Tampa, (or at least none that I recall)but sometimes there are a few people near the aquarium/shopping area there that will give you a sendoff. If there is another ship there that is leaving around the same time, all their passengers are out on deck and will wave, the ships' horns will sound off, so that's kind of festive. Going under the bridge is interesting too, it takes about an hour from the time you pull away from the dock.

We've sailed out of Tampa twice and were all the way forward on the deck

with the jogging track. Not the greatest scenery around, but you're going

on a cruise:)

[Twinsmomct]

We sat on the starboard side when we left Tampa. There isn't much to see and since it was raining, nobody was there to wave to us!:( But it was a great feeling anyway, knowing that we were on our way! If you have early seating, you'll be eating dinner when the ship goes under the bridge. We could see it out the windows. If you're in the second seating, go out on deck -- it must be beautiful to see that bridge. There were a few decent houses that we saw on the starboard side as well as a small airport. But again, not too much. My boys got bored quickly and went to play ping pong!