Hotel suggestions for Tampa

[Cracker Ken]

:) Bellera - There is a Walgreen Drug Store at the corner of Westshore Blvd and Kennedy Blvd, across from the Westshore Plaza Mall. There is a conv store across the street too. There was, and may still be, a gas station/conv store at Cypress and Westshore. It's a ways to an actual full scale grocery store.

 

spaceguy - That hotel should be OK. The area is next to an office park at the I-75/Martin Luther King Blvd interchange. Hilton Garden Inn's are most always nice places to stay. This location is about as far E. as you can go and still call it Tampa. It's way out on the far opposite side of town from the airport. It's about as close to the cruise terminal as the airport, but in the opposite direction. It's easy to get to the terminal from the hotel area though, by taking I-75 down to SR60/Adamo Drive exit and going W. into town, but it's a ways. Easy driving on Sunday, but a big mess on week days. As for rental cars - I'm not familiar with a rental company that has returns at the cruise terminal area. It would really be nice (and certainly good for business) if some of the rental car companies would have a return at the cruise terminal area. Unless someone knows something I don't (and I hope they post if they do), you will probably have to take the car back to the airport area, drop it, and take a cab to the port, which costs $20-$25.

 

Colton's dad- Where are you staying? You should be able to get to the Busch Garden's area without getting into the parade mess. If you are in the Westshore area, just go to the E. to Dale Mabry Highway and take it to the N. all the way out to Busch Blvd. Exit onto Busch and take it to the East, all the way to Busch Gardens. This route keeps you off of the interstate highways through town, which would have the bulk of the bad traffic. If you are heading out to Busch Gardens in the morning while folks are scrambling downtown for a parade, you will be going the opposite direction of heavy traffic and all should work out OK. Routinely, Christmas parades aren't the kind to draw tremendously large crowds like the Gasparilla Parade in early February.

 

Jessemon - Yep, you messed up and said it twice. I forgive you. Sometimes "stuff" just happens. :) That's why I carefully read my reports at work. You just never know when you might slip up. Noted regarding the Embassy Suites. I may have known about that at one time, but forgot about it. Seems like they are building a nice overhead walkway from the hotel to the conv center, and there was some sort of contraversy about art work on the cross-over.

[Groovey]

Can you vets suggest an opening bid for a 3 star hotel? Planning on arriving in Tampa two days prior to our February cruise. Since we will not have a car, would you suggest the airport or downtown area? Many thanx for your input!

[seabum]

Hey Cracker Ken,

 

I see where you are the local expert on the Tampa area.

 

We are driving down in a couple of weeks for a cruise on the Miracle (11/13/05 sailing)

 

I found out that the Chase Suites and the Sailport offer a package (room, breakfast, shuttle to/from the pier and parking for the week) - these are running +/- $120-$150 (depending on room size)

 

I believe that parking at the pier will run +/- $96 (I think I read it was up to $12 perday) - therefore your room etc is a pretty good deal.

 

Do you know of any other places that offer this same type of service ?

 

Do you have any thoughts on these two places (the Chase is +/- $20 higher than Sailport) I understand that Chase offers a full breakfast vs coffee and bagels - but we're not big breakfast eaters anyway.

 

These are located out on Rocky Point - I think this is off of SR 60 on the way over to Clearwater.

 

I'm all ears if you have any other suggestions as well.

 

Thanks -

[Cracker Ken]

Seabum - Check out Page 17 on this thread, starting around post #403 and following. I think it's all covered there. If you have any follow-up questions, just ask and I'll try to help you out.

 

Ken

[jessemon]

Hey Ken,

It's Jessemon/Jeff. I was in Cruiseclues tonight and saw your pics of the Veendam from your 11/22/03 cruise.. Surprised we didn't run into each other. I noticed a pic and looked back to the date you took them. The pic was from Costa Maya. It was the one with the Vendam and the Carnival ship. It looked almost exactly like one I took. Boy it was a cloudy day there. But the grilled lobster at the port side tiki hut resteraunt was great. The beers were cold to.

We had a great time on that cruise. The piano bar player is a friend of ours. He was playing on that cruise.

Small world!!!!:cool:

[Cracker Ken]

Jessemon - Yes, it's a small world indeed. We have even met people who were on earlier cruises with us that we have become friends with, yet we didn't meet them (or recall seeing them) on a previous cruise. We may have indeed ran into each other, and didn't even know it. Yes, I've got a lot of pics out there on the Internet. You can find them all in the two links in my signature block. I saw one day that the guy on Cruise Clues had linked some of my albums. I think he has my Zuiderdam cruise linked too, maybe more. When I go on a cruise, I take tons of pics. As a rule, you won't see people (at least specific people, up close) in my pics, since I tend to take pictures of the ship, the port, and places we go. I'm into landscape and sunset pictures, not to mention pics of ships (even those I'm not on at the time) I think I'm up to about 20 albums of pics on my Yahoo page, and some of them have over a hundred pics in them. I'll have loads of pics after our 15 days at see coming up in a couple of weeks. It will take me a while to process all of them, but I'll eventually get a couple of albums posted. I usually do digital processing to lighten up darker pictures, crop as necessary, etc. I've even been known to clean up pictures, like removing power lines, people, etc. Fun stuff. I kind of think we'll be going to Costa Maya again on Carnival Liberty since Cozumel is out of the picture right now. I told them over on the roll-call that Cozumel could set up the "Hurricane Damage Highlights Tour." That's about all they have to offer right now. BTW - There are pictures of me and DW at the end of my second Infinity Hawaii album.

 

Did you notice the new way I've started answering Tampa questions? Perhaps I should spend some time one night an write up an index of where certain info is on the thread so I can make reference to it for folks. I don't mind answering people, but if it's already posted, it's a lot quicker to make reference to where the info is.

 

Later,

 

Ken

[seabum]

Did you notice the new way I've started answering Tampa questions? Perhaps I should spend some time one night an write up an index of where certain info is on the thread so I can make reference to it for folks. I don't mind answering people, but if it's already posted, it's a lot quicker to make reference to where the info is.

 

Later,

 

Ken

 

Hey Ken -

 

it worked for me.

 

and thanks for the tips.

[Guest nemo2005]

Cracker Ken:

In reading all the posts, I see mention of a part of Fowler that is OK. We were thinking of 2 night pre-cruise with our kids. Found the above hotel with a mini water park feature that might be fun (maybe not in early Feb!) - but I'm concerned about location.

Also, do you know of rental car agencies that give a shuttle ride to the cruise port?

 

If Fowler doesn't work out - how far away would we be for staying 2 nights in Clearwater Beach to be on the Gulf? How to get into the cruise port (timewise) for a Monday cruise departure?

 

Thanks!

[wherewillIgonext]

Hey Tampa Cruisers,

 

I contacted Tampa airport Alamo about port shuttle, (the 800# does not know this,) I was told if you rent a car through them or National, they will shuttle you to the port FREE!!!

Alamo/National will also pick you up @ the port if your renting a car upon return. I am doing this myself,

 

KIM

[bellera]

Thanks for the car rental tip - I think that I will be booking my rental through either NAtional or Alamo right now.

 

I love a company that offers customer service.

[Cracker Ken]

nemo2005 - That Holiday Inn has been there for a long, long time, like 30+ years. As I recall, it has outside entry rooms like most older motels. The area isn't too bad. There's a large mall across the street with a theater, and many restaurants in the area (if you can't find something you like to eat in that area, you just aren't hungry). This is up in the N. end of Tampa to the E. of I-275, and W. of I-75.

 

Going to Clearwater Beach isn't out of the question. If you fly to Tampa, you just get on State Route 60 just S. of the airport and head to the West and you end up in Clearwater beach when you run out of road. It doesn't take long to get there. The other poster left some really good info on rental car services. If you flew into TIA, rented a car from National or Alama, you could go to the beach, then on your trip back towards the port, stop and turn in your car at the airport and get them to shuttle you down to the cruise terminal. Taxis's from the airport to the terminal are a little more than $20, maybe as high as $25 now.

 

As for the weather - January and February are our coldest months. It could indeed be too cool for the water slide thing at the Holiday Inn, and for going in the water at the beach. Cold weather in Central FL comes in waves. It can be warm one day (75-80), get a lot of rain the next, and then the next day be 35 degrees. Three days later, it might be back to 75-80 again. Along the coast it doesn't get as cold as inland where I live. If it's 40 in Tampa, it's 35 at my house. Most people up North don't think of FL as being cold, but it certainly can happen (though not as cold as up N. by any means). I've seen a lot of bitter cold and rainy days in February.

 

There's other things to do in the area that kids would like. We have the Lowry Park Zoo, Florida Aquarium at Channelside (the complex at the cruise terminals), and Busch Gardens. They all have web sites and can easily be found using Google.

 

If any other questions, just ask, and either myself or some of our other area folks will get you an answer.

 

Ken

[zzmoo]

You may have answered this question before but I need to ask it again.

 

We are looking for a hotel in Tampa that offers a shuttle to the port, any

suggestions?

 

Dave

[jessemon]

Jessemon - Yes, it's a small world indeed. We have even met people who were on earlier cruises with us that we have become friends with, yet we didn't meet them (or recall seeing them) on a previous cruise. We may have indeed ran into each other, and didn't even know it. Yes, I've got a lot of pics out there on the Internet. You can find them all in the two links in my signature block. I saw one day that the guy on Cruise Clues had linked some of my albums. I think he has my Zuiderdam cruise linked too, maybe more. When I go on a cruise, I take tons of pics. As a rule, you won't see people (at least specific people, up close) in my pics, since I tend to take pictures of the ship, the port, and places we go. I'm into landscape and sunset pictures, not to mention pics of ships (even those I'm not on at the time) I think I'm up to about 20 albums of pics on my Yahoo page, and some of them have over a hundred pics in them. I'll have loads of pics after our 15 days at see coming up in a couple of weeks. It will take me a while to process all of them, but I'll eventually get a couple of albums posted. I usually do digital processing to lighten up darker pictures, crop as necessary, etc. I've even been known to clean up pictures, like removing power lines, people, etc. Fun stuff. I kind of think we'll be going to Costa Maya again on Carnival Liberty since Cozumel is out of the picture right now. I told them over on the roll-call that Cozumel could set up the "Hurricane Damage Highlights Tour." That's about all they have to offer right now. BTW - There are pictures of me and DW at the end of my second Infinity Hawaii album.

 

Did you notice the new way I've started answering Tampa questions? Perhaps I should spend some time one night an write up an index of where certain info is on the thread so I can make reference to it for folks. I don't mind answering people, but if it's already posted, it's a lot quicker to make reference to where the info is.

 

Later,

 

Ken

Hey Ken,

Looked at your pics from Hawaii of you and your bride. We did not meet. But when my BW (Beautiful Wife) is back in town for mor than a few days, we ought to get together. I am the same way as you are with pics. I avoid getting people in the pics. I want the shots of the ship or where we are at. I usually wait til they are off the ship at some port we have been in at least a couple of times. Then I take an hour or so to do the ship.

I also think that setting up a reference for this thread is a great idea. The question is though, will they look? Almost all the info someone could need is on this thread due to your great work and time. I still see the same questions though at the end of the thread (almost every day that has been asked before) because people seem to not want to look at what is already here.

Our Christmas cruise on the Veendam was changed from Cozumel to Costa Maya. We have been to Costa Maya before. But a friend of mine asked if we had been to the town of Majahual right there? We have not. He said it's great. I got on line in the CC threads and learned everything I needed to know...and never had to ask a question.

Hope I didn't go overboard in my comment...

Jeff/Jessemon

[vgottlieb]

I got the Hyatt from Priceline for $75 a night pre Veendam cruise. Could you suggest a restaraunt for Thanksgiving Day dinner?

[jessemon]

I got the Hyatt from Priceline for $75 a night pre Veendam cruise. Could you suggest a restaraunt for Thanksgiving Day dinner?

Which Hyatt, down town or on the Courtney Campbell?

[vgottlieb]

Grand Hyatt by the airport. It is a 4 star on Priceline.

[jessemon]

vgottlieb,

If you are staying at the Grand Hyatt just down the street is "Landray's Seafood Restaurant." We have friends that go there every year for Thanksgiving. They love it. Seafood, beef, turkey and all the fixins. It like the Grand Hyatt sit right on the bay. You can see one from the other. I think the price is $25.00. But don't hold me to it.

Hope that helped. You might need to make reservations. I'd call Tampa information for the # and call them.

[willsma]

Does anyone know if this hotel is in a safe zone? They have a king standard room and a king executive suite upgrade for $50. Wondered if anyone can offer information on location, what's nearby etc

We will use a taxi from airport to hotel and hotel to cruise

address is 601 S. Dale Mabrey

[Cracker Ken]

willsma - The area where this hotel is located isn't bad. As for the hotel, all I know is that it has been there for a long, long time. There are some reviews on this web page:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g34678-d115791-Reviews-Tahitian_Inn-Tampa_Florida.html

 

This hotel isn't one I'd normally recommend to folks. The reviews don't seem to be very consistent on that web page. The price is great, but you may be getting exactly what you are paying for.

 

Ken

[boards]

Thanks Ken for all the helpful information you given us personally. We are eleven days from flying out to Tampa before boarding the Veendam on the 26th. Sorry we are going to able to personally say this you, but maybe in the future we will. Smooth sailing to you and your wife on your upcoming cruise and an early Happy Holiday Season.

[Cracker Ken]

Boards - Thank you. Perhaps we'll run into each other somewhere, someday, on a nice cruise ship. By the way, have you noticed the new tropical depression in the SW Caribbean? Not good. The track has it headed due W. as of Friday PM, let's hope that continues. It should be inland and history by the time we get to that area on the first leg of our B2B's. We hope y'all have a nice cruise out of Tampa.

 

Ken

[medic123]

Hi Ken, I will be driving to Tampa from Gaineville for our cruise next month. Can you tell me the best (least traffic) way to get to the port from I-75. Thanks

[Second seating]

We will be staying at the Garnd Hyatt soon and I would like to know if I will be able to walk to the International Plaza? I know from Map Blast it is a couple of miles but I do not want to walk were there is not sidewalk.

 

Second seating

[COLandlocked]

We will be taking our first cruise in January out of Tampa. Was hoping one of you experienced cruisers/Tampa Aficionados :) can point me in the right direction.

 

I have many many Marriott or Hyatt points that I can use for free nights/upgrades. Is there one of these hotels that you would recommend for 2 day precruise stay? Marriott, I noticed, has several locations as does the Hyatt.

 

Also, we were planning on surprising the kids (6 yo and 18 yo) with a day in Disney. On mapquest it shows that it is about 1 1/2 hours drive. Is that realistic? Are we crazy for doing this?

 

Thanks for your help and can't wait to finish this portion of the planning so I can move onto to shore excursions!

[COLandlocked]

Guess I hit post too quickly.

 

Am I better off saving my points for a land vacation and use Priceline? Do the better hotels ever come up on this service? Can you designate a certain area that you want to stay in? If so, what area would I want?

 

Thanks again and hope I am not asKing to many questions!