Easter Sunday in Tampa

[kctwinmommy]

We dock from our cruise on Easter Sunday and are going to spend the night in Tampa. Flights going back home were like $3-400 more and had inconvenient times, so we just decided to stay an extra night and leave early the next morning. I booked a hotel along the river (The Aloft hotel) for that night, so we'll be close to the city. Just wondering if any locals have a suggestion on something to do that day/afternoon. It's my husband, our 18 year old son, and myself. We won't have a car of course, so things that would be easy to get to would be helpful. TIA!

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

There's not a lot downtown itself IMO. The Florida Aquarium is pretty decent and perhaps having dinner in the Ybor City section of town could be interesting. Both the aquarium and Ybor City are connected to downtown via the TECO Line streetcar. Indeed, the cruise port is adjacent the aquarium and the trolley stops there. Unless your downtown hotel is nonrefundable, you might look at staying the night in Ybor City which has both a Hampton Inn and a Hilton Garden Inn. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TECO_Line_Streetcar#/media/File:Invision_Tampa_Street_Car_Project.png

Edited March 30, 2022 by KINGBOBOFTHENORTH

[bajathree]

You have the Tampa History Center which you would have to see if it is open Easter Sunday....great restaurant and an icon for Tampa is Columbia Cafe located right at the history center. Another cool spot next to the aquarium is Sparkmans Wharf. All of these are an easy walk along Riverwalk or jump on the free trolley. Another cool spot for drinks and food or just hanging out is Armature Works..many restaurants to choose from and also along the Riverwalk....walkable but a bit longer....you can jump the ferry also or Uber there. 

[BigDaddyCVO]

We'll be in Tampa on Easter Sunday for non-cruise travel and are doing an Easter brunch on a yacht (search Yacht StarShip) in Tampa Bay.  They also have dinner available.  Lasts about 2 hours.  Reasonable cost for being a holiday and a nice meal.

[kctwinmommy]

So who'd a thunk it, we were exhausted when we got back from our cruise on Sunday! LOL! We ended up staying at the Four Points Sheraton by the airport before we sailed. This worked out nicely because we went to the International Plaza to get some late lunch/early dinner. Plus, our son had a friend from 5 years ago that he met and he was able to hang out with her all afternoon/evening.

 

Once we came back on Easter, we did get lucky and the Aloft had a room ready for us at 9 a.m. when we got there. So it was nice to be able to put our stuff away in a room, not just store it, and clean up a little bit. We did end up walking along the Riverwalk and grabbed a quick lunch along there. The afternoon we just spent at the hotel pool, chilling out. For dinner we tried going to Urban Cantina, just something simple and close, but they were closed. So we went to a burger place about a block away, then just strolled the Riverwalk again. I mean, we were in our room by like 7:30 to get to sleep for our 4:15 wake up call to get to the airport.

 

Overall it was a decent time, nothing fancy, but it all worked for what we wanted to do. And we did like the port! That was easy to Uber to and get dropped off easily!

[airlink diva]

8 hours ago, kctwinmommy said:

So who'd a thunk it, we were exhausted when we got back from our cruise on Sunday! LOL! We ended up staying at the Four Points Sheraton by the airport before we sailed. This worked out nicely because we went to the International Plaza to get some late lunch/early dinner. Plus, our son had a friend from 5 years ago that he met and he was able to hang out with her all afternoon/evening.

 

Once we came back on Easter, we did get lucky and the Aloft had a room ready for us at 9 a.m. when we got there. So it was nice to be able to put our stuff away in a room, not just store it, and clean up a little bit. We did end up walking along the Riverwalk and grabbed a quick lunch along there. The afternoon we just spent at the hotel pool, chilling out. For dinner we tried going to Urban Cantina, just something simple and close, but they were closed. So we went to a burger place about a block away, then just strolled the Riverwalk again. I mean, we were in our room by like 7:30 to get to sleep for our 4:15 wake up call to get to the airport.

 

Overall it was a decent time, nothing fancy, but it all worked for what we wanted to do. And we did like the port! That was easy to Uber to and get dropped off easily!

Same with me, I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn airport.  I was in a room before 10 a.m.  Went to Metro diner and it was packed with the Easter crowd.  I went back to enjoy sitting outside

[kctwinmommy]

1 hour ago, airlink diva said:

Same with me, I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn airport.  I was in a room before 10 a.m.  Went to Metro diner and it was packed with the Easter crowd.  I went back to enjoy sitting outside

Yeah it wasn't super busy downtown. Just people out running and biking on the Riverwalk. And then people casually strolling in the evening.