Cruise out of Tampa

[lionheart]

Airlines seems from NYC area flights land in tampa at 1130 and the ship leaves 4. Since airport is 10 miles from cruise port, recommend to book through cruise line and/or night before arrival?

 

Also, i see all flights leave i afternoon, so many a tour around Tampa might make sense as they will want us off the ship at reasonable time.

Thanks

[Clarea]

Airlines seems from NYC area flights land in tampa at 1130 and the ship leaves 4. Since airport is 10 miles from cruise port, recommend to book through cruise line and/or night before arrival?

 

Also, i see all flights leave i afternoon, so many a tour around Tampa might make sense as they will want us off the ship at reasonable time.

Thanks

I strongly advise arriving at least a day early. If the ship leaves at 4, you have to be checked in at 2:30pm. Not much room for delay.

[wolfcathorse]

Airlines seems from NYC area flights land in tampa at 1130 and the ship leaves 4. Since airport is 10 miles from cruise port, recommend to book through cruise line and/or night before arrival?

 

Also, i see all flights leave i afternoon, so many a tour around Tampa might make sense as they will want us off the ship at reasonable time.

Thanks

 

what time of year are you flying into Tampa? I've flown in the day of departure in December from Michigan and had no problems. It is a quick 15 minute taxi ride to the port. If you're flying in the dead of winter and fear a snowstorm may delay or cancel your flight, then by all means, fly in the day before. RCI tours post cruise with airport drop off stipulate your flight leaves after 2 or 3 pm. So read the fine print on the tour.

[MikeNJ1109]

When it comes to our vacation, whether cruise or land based, we won't take a chance on same-day travel. While admittedly we've been lucky 99% of the time in getting to where we need to be, we've also had a couple of situations involving dead-of-winter issues involving EWR and snow delays ... it was for shear luck that we were able to get out and make our vacation. For those rare times alone, we will ALWAYS arrive a day before ...

 

Michael and Silke

[lazydayz]

Depends on when you are cruising. But keep in mind we can get lightning here any time of the year. So come a day early and enjoy our slice of paradise. Lots of fun things to do!

[Mikew0805]

Well... the smart way is to come a day early. However, I will tell you .. I drive all of Hillsborough County for work constantly, and on the weekends to get from the Airport to downtown at Channelside is only about 25 minutes via John F. Kennedy Blvd, and maybe 20 minutes via I275 to the Selmon. Those are a little on the high side with weekend traffic.

[ONECRUISER]

Another vote for day before. Had a flight delay 20 yrs ago the first time we flew in day before. Was supposed arrive in Florida by 10:30am, was 8pm. Would have missed our cruise, we got lucky. So always day before then on...

[molsonschooner]

When it comes to our vacation, whether cruise or land based, we won't take a chance on same-day travel. While admittedly we've been lucky 99% of the time in getting to where we need to be, we've also had a couple of situations involving dead-of-winter issues involving EWR and snow delays ... it was for shear luck that we were able to get out and make our vacation. For those rare times alone, we will ALWAYS arrive a day before ...

 

Michael and Silke

never mind dead of winter. Early August a few years ago we flew from Buffalo to JFK. Plane left 4 hours late due to a thunderstorm, could not get to a gate at JFK for over an hour. One of our bags did not make the trip. Thankfully, we were flying in a day early. If we were flying in on departure day we would have missed the cruise. This year, we flew from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale. When we got close to Fort Lauderdale we kept going around in circles. Finally an announcement was made that due to a thunderstorm the plane could not land so we flew to Orlando to get fuel and to wait out the storm. We landed in Fort Lauderdale 3 hours late after 3 pm. Again, we flew in the day before so no issue, other than being hungry.

Edited October 14, 2017 by molsonschooner
added more content

[suesnake2002]

I have a tampa cruise in nov, i will arrive a few days before(and visit with in laws) coming home i will be taking a different airline totally, and land at a diff airport. Just because of time of flights

[cdaloia]

Flying from nyc to tampa night before 2/17 cruise. Arrive close to 11pm. Any recommendations for reasonable and convenient hotel? Thanks.

[Clarea]

Flying from nyc to tampa night before 2/17 cruise. Arrive close to 11pm. Any recommendations for reasonable and convenient hotel? Thanks.

We have used the Fairfield Inn near the airport which has free airport shuttle. A taxi to the port would be a flat rate $25.

 

I'd also post on the Florida Departures forum for more ideas: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=672

[Homosassa]

 

This story is a reason that I warn people not to ignore the potential weather conditions in Florida.

 

We can get fronts at all times of year rolling across the state or have the daily collison of the east coast and west coast sea breezes with resultant storms.

 

This means that airports will close or be diverted elsewhere in the state (i.e.; Miami to Tampa) which results in flights being disrubed in the airport to which the flights are diverted and the original airport.

 

AsTampa is now one of my home airports (Baltimore is my other one), I fly out of Tampa frequently. I now always have in the back of my mind that I have a chance of not having my flight leave on time (biggest delay was five hours) or arrive in Tampa on time due to shutdowns from lighting strikes around the airport.

 

Time of day or year is no guarantee that there will not be a problem.