Tampa Hotels

[SHELLKOV]

Hi everyone! It has been quite awhile since I have visited Cruise Critic. I have some friends that will be taking their first cruise this October. They will be leaving from Tampa. They were asking me what Hotel would be good to stay at. I told them that I didn't know much about Tampa, but I would check here, knowing that I would get lots of great information. Basically, they would like to be close to the pier, and not spend to much money. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just clean and confortable. Also, they will be arriving 2 days prior to the cruise, so any ideas of something for them to do would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Ehpride]

We stayed at the Holiday Inn on N. Dale Mabry. Nice place with a pool, little pond out back, free shuttle within three miles and from the airport and continental breakfast. It was about 5 miles from the pier, but the shuttle took us there on the morning we left. I think we just had to pay a small amount.

 

As for what to do...we went to Ybor City and Channelside and explored before we went back to our room to rearrange our suitcases and get everything together.

 

Embarkation at Tampa was so easy. We got there a little before 11 and only had to wait a short time for them to begin boarding the ship.

[mrdood]

Hi everyone! It has been quite awhile since I have visited Cruise Critic.

 

...Since you have not been here for a while, maybe you were not aware of the pre- and post- cruise Hotel forum??? Hopefully you will find this post before the hosts move it there. This is not the place for port hotel queries, even if you are on a Carnival cruise. Lots of Tampa info over there...

[SHELLKOV]

Sorry. Actually I had no idea that I wasn't allowed to ask that question here. This is always where we came before to ask any question that had to do with cruising. It is how I always found info on where to stay. Where do I find more information of things to do? I know I can do a search on Tampa Attractions, but I prefer to hear from other peoples experiences.

[momofzeke]

We stayed at Chase Suites in Tampa. They will pick you up at the airport, and then take you to the cruise terminal the day of the cruise. After the cruise, they come get you and take you back to the airport. If you are driving, they provide free parking, and transportation to and from the cruise terminal. You have to ask for the "Ship & Shore" package. The only thing is, Chase Suites is a little isolated. They will drive you anywhere within 5 miles of the hotel, but that eliminates quite a few attractions.

 

Things to do: Busch Gardens (amusement park), Tampa Aquarium (right next door to the cruise terminal), beaches, and as Ephride already said, Ybor City and Channelside, to name a few.

 

Have fun on your cruise! :)

[mrdood]

Sorry. Actually I had no idea that I wasn't allowed to ask that question here. This is always where we came before to ask any question that had to do with cruising. It is how I always found info on where to stay. Where do I find more information of things to do? I know I can do a search on Tampa Attractions, but I prefer to hear from other peoples experiences.

 

You might want to re-read the guidelines posted in the link above. You can find out this type of information on Cruise Critic. The creators of this site have divided up all of the subjects using their best knowledge and created forums for them.

 

For example, there may be someone on an RCI or Princess, or NCL cruise that is looking for a hotel in Miami - they can all go to the same place and help each other, same for ports and other cruise topics like fashion.

 

Doing that helps more people be in the right place together to help each other, and limits extra information that is not needed within a forum to keep it clean and easier to read. When you go to the Carnival forum, you should only get info on Carnival Cruising, and not "how to pick a hotel" or "which camera is the best" - there are other forums for those types of topics. While finding a hotel may be necessary for your Carnival Cruise - it is really not a part of Carnival Cruising that is unique - so it is in a shared forum where all can benefit. It does not always work that way, but it sure is good that people try.

 

Here is the root forum that shows all the forums:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/index.php

 

Here is the hotel forum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=92

 

 

 

...and here is a link to the guidelines that explains it all...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/community/guide.cfm

 

I was not being critical of your post, just trying to make you a better member of the community so that next time when you nee info, it will be easier.

[Ehpride]

Another thing to do that I forgot about was go to the aquarium at Channelside, right by the pier. It's expensive (around $17 for adults when we were there), but it was really cool and you can easily spend a few hours at the aquarium and this ship museum nearby. After you go through the aquarium, there's a large play area with seating where you can just sit outside and enjoy people watching or looking for boats/ships. We got to touch stingrays there too which was really neat since we were going to be doing the stingray excursion in Grand Cayman.

 

Also, about Ybor City and Channelside...there's a trolley that goes between the two so if you take a cab to one of them you can go back and forth fairly inexpenisively (I think it was $2 one way, with other different rates available for number of rides and so on), plus it was fun.

[SHELLKOV]

I want to thank all of you for responding. I got some good info to give my friends. I have pages and pages to give them from the websites of the places that you all have mentioned. Thanks again!!

[cruizinrican]

I Live Here In The Area And I Sorry But What Is Ephride?? Never Heard Of This??

[Darcy03231]

I've stayed at Chase Suites, Doubletree Westshore and the Wyndham Westshore. All were fine. Chase Suites is great if you have a larger family or group as they offer two bedroom suites. When we stayed there about 3 years ago we paid $155/night for a two bedroom suite that included a hot & cold buffet breakfast, shuttle from the airport and to the pier. I booked the Doubletree on Priceline and got it for about $60/night. They also have a shuttle from the airport and to the pier. I booked the Wyndam on Hotwire for about $75/night. They have an airport shuttle, but had to take a taxi to the pier. As I recall the taxi was about $10.

[ellyzma]

I Live Here In The Area And I Sorry But What Is Ephride?? Never Heard Of This??

 

Cruizinrican - I too live in Tampa and had to reread the post to understand... Ephride is the screenname of one of the people who posted a response!

 

Beth:)

[cruizinrican]

Hey thanks for clearing that up for me. I thought that it was something here I had never done before!! LOL And I wanted to know what it was so I too, could do it.

[Middleager]

We are also arriving two days early for our Miracle cruise. We are driving 1.5 hr north to Crystal River to stay there one night. Next morning will do the manatee snorkeling/diving, and then Rainbow River snorkeling/diving in the afternoon.

 

Do a search on Crystal River manatee snorkel and you'll get lots of info and ops. Winter time has better chance of seeing manatees.

 

Drive back to Tampa that night (staying at Doubletree). Will go to Ybor city for dinner that night (thingking Columbia Restaurant and watch the Spanish dance show).