AmeriSuites Tampa Airport Westshore

[DM]

Has anyone stayed there? I choose this hotel since they offered a free shuttle to the airport and to the port. I would like to hear what others thought of this place. Thanks.

[tadjr]

I asked a lady the other day at work how she liked staying there (she had the checkout form in her hand). She said it was ok. Nothing fancy, but clean and close to where she needed to be and the price was right. If you're just looking for a place to sleep, it should be ok.

[DM]

Thanks for the information. Since you are from Tampa, maybe you can suggest some reasonably priced activities for a family of 5 for the day before our cruise. Is there a nice beach close to the hotel? Will I be close to Yarbor? I've read a little about that area. Thanks for any info you can provide.

[tadjr]

Check out http://www.visittampabay.com to get some info on attractions and the area. You will be fairly close to the Courtney Campbell Causeway and the beaches there. They arent as spectacular as the Gulf Beaches, but there is sand and water there and a lot of people use it. You dont mention the ages of the kids either, but Lowry Park Zoo is fairly neat ($11 for adults, less for kids, not as expensive as Busch Gardens since it doesnt have the rides, but it has the animals) or the MOSI museum. You will be about 10-15 mins from Ybor. During the day it would be ok for the kids, but I wouldnt recommend it at night. Centro Ybor has a lot of shops and a GameWorks that the kids might like. They might also like the trolley car that goes from downtown to Ybor. For any shopaholics, there are 2 malls near the hotel. http://www.westshoreplaza.com and http://www.shopinternationalplaza.com . Check out the website and if you have any more questions, I'll try to help you out.

[DM]

Thanks for all the information. My kids are 17, 15 and 12. They will be anxious to board the ship the next day so it will be difficult to keep them entertained but at least now I have some options. Thanks again.

[tadjr]

If you want to go to a nice beach and spend the day doing things at the park, you could rent a car and head to http://fortdesoto.com/ and http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_Ft_DeSoto.htm . This is a great beach and there are lots of things to do. Swim, picnic (stop and grab some sandwiches and drinks on the way there), nature trail, walking, the fort to explore and there is also a wildlife trip and ferry to another island http://www.hubbardsmarina.com/ferry01.htm that I have seen bringing people out to Egmont Key while I've been out there on my friends boat. There are loads of dolphin in the area and stingrays as well to look at. Ft Desoto is a really nice beach, and if you are there during the week, theres lots of room to spread out. Even on the weekend its not too bad and much better than the beach in Tampa on the Causeway.

[DM]

Thanks again for all the great information. Fort DeSoto sounds like a really nice beach. We were not planning to rent a car. Do you know if we could use the public transportation to get there from Amerisuites?

[tadjr]

Unfortunately there is no public transport from where you are staying to Ft Desoto. You could do a limo service, but with 5 of you, a car would be cheaper for the day probably. The bus service in the area as a whole leaves much to be desired. Most routes only run every hour, or on the busier routes, every 30 mins. http://www.hartline.org is the local bus website. If you want to check on route near the hotel just look for the airport/Westshore area and those are what your choices are. They dont have anything out to the Causeway beach either and nothing close.

[DM]

Ok, so maybe we will skip the beach. I Called the Amerisuites and they told me that their shuttle will take us to either mall. Since we don't even have a full day in Tampa, it doesn't make sense to rent a car especially since the hotel shuttle will pick us up at the airport and drop us off at the port the next morning. Now I'm thinking of just hanging out at the pool for a couple of hours and then heading to the International Plaza to just walk around. I did send an email to the HART Line asking about the best way to travel from my hotel to the Greyhound Track. My kids would enjoy seeing dog races and I know my husband would love that. So if it doesn't seem like too many transfers, maybe we will try that.

I can't thank you enough for all the great information and the web site addresses. It really helped me figure out my options.

Debbie

[tadjr]

Glad I could help. Not to be a big downer (sorry there doesnt appear to be good news), the buses to your hotel area do not run late at night after the dog track is over, unless you happen to be here on a day when there is a matinee. You might do a bus to the track and then cab it home?

I would check out routes 30 or 10 transfer to route 2 to get to the track.

There is also another way that requires walking about 3 blocks at the end or a third transfer 36-16-9. I would avoid routes 15 transfer to 2 because the area you are required to transfer in is not an area I would be standing around for a bus personally.

On the maps and schedules, your hotel is very close to the Westshore transfer station (this will give you approx times from the hotel), and the track is on Nebraska at Waters north of downtown Tampa.

Sorry Tampa isnt more tourist friendly when it comes to not renting a car. You can take the bus from the hotel downtown and then transfer to get to Ybor if you do it during the day. Bus 30 or 10 downtown transfer to 8.

http://www.ybor.org or http://www.centroybor.com will give you some info on that part of town.

If not, just relax, enjoy the pool and then head to the air conditioned mall in the evening. There are some great restaurants there in BayWalk and the mall is nice.

[DM]

The dog track does have a matinee the day we will be there. I will just leave it up to my family on whether they are up for the bus trip after our flight or if they just want to hang out at the pool. Thanks again for all the great information. It is nice to have some options.