Report on the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa/Riverview/Brandon in Tampa

[webprinter]

We just arrived home from cruising on the Star and stayed at this hotel. It was very very nice. The room and hotel were beautiful and the room was much larger than our cruise ship room. :) We had no problem checking in. They told us where to park our car so that they could keep an eye on it while we were on the cruise. When we checked in (around 4:00), we were told our shuttle choice was 8:00 or 10:30. We chose 10:30. The next morning we went down for our breakfast which consisted of a buffet. They also told us we could choose just about anything hot which they would cook to order. DD chose an omelt, I chose a waffle and eggs and I think DH chose a waffle and eggs also. We all had bacon and sausage. They had a wide variety of items to choose from and there was no limit on what you could order. We headed down to the shuttle about 15 minutes early and were told it was running about 30-40 minutes late. The shutttle took us to the port and dropped us off. We were told to call when we were done with customs and they would come pick us up. We did the early walk off and called after we were done with customs. We were told that the shuttle would pick us up in an hour!!!!! Finally after more than a 90 minute wait it arrived. I would recommend this hotel but would warn anyone booking the cruise package that the shuttle has a tendancy to run behind. Also, do not believe that Hilton when they tell you that you can go to the cruiseport at any time you choose. However, the price was right and everything except the shuttle was very nice.

[JohninDC]

Thanks for the feedback and pointers; if they told me it would be an hour I would forget the shuttle and just jump into a cab. Hope you had a great cruise! :)

[KroozFoolz]

We stayed at this hotel pre-cruise last November before our Legend cruise and we also were very pleased with the hotel, including the room, fantastic staff, and wonderful breakfast. Fortunately, we did NOT experience delays that bad for the shuttle service! Not the most 'on time' shuttle we have experienced but not the worst either. Your experience would have been unacceptable to me too.

 

We have used park and cruise packages at several hotels at different ports and have come to expect some delays as part of the nature of the beast and so try to factor in the time lost vs the money saved for not parking at the port when deciding on using a park and cruise package. The best "shuttle" was at the Quality Inn and Suites Fairgrounds in Tampa - they call a cab when you want to go to the port and you take a cab back to the hotel after the cruise - all at their expense.

[dgack1]

I had the same experience with the hilton garden SEVERAL years ago! The hotel stay was perfect, except for the shuttle pick up from port. Upon returning from our cruise and calling the hotel we were told that we were not on the "list", after a heated conversation it was decided they had "overlooked" us and a shuttle was on the way. After waiting an hour, we gave up and grabbed a cab. I was hoping they had improved their service since a am looking for a dependable "park and cruise" hotel.