Hotel info on Tampa

[lambcom]

My DW and I are doing the Panama Canal cruise in April that sails out of Tampa and would appreciate recommendations as to pre-cruise hotels. I know this is sort-of off topic, but I posted the same request on the hotels boards and came up empty-handed. Surely some of the wonderful people who make up this HAL board, must have sailed on the Veendam (or perhaps other ships) out of Tampa and overnighted either before or after the cruise.

We're looking for three or four star (out of five) accomadation, ideally with on-site restaurant and good access to the port. Shuffle from the airport would be a bonus!

Thanks in advance for your help!

[gizmo]

Check the Marriott Waterside. Many cruisers leaving out of Tampa use this hotel. It is very close to the pier.

http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/TPAMC

[Pilot70D]

Here are four hotels which are in the Tampa airport/Westshore area which also means that they are near the port. I have stayed in all four of these hotels and they are great places to stay. I will also give you their 'star rating' according to Priceline. All of these hotel provide airport shuttle service (the Marriott is in the airport) and all do provide shuttle service to the port. In addition they all have reasanably good restaurants and are reasonably close to other good places to dine.

If you really want to dine in an unusual and very good restaurant make reservations (well ahead of time) and go to Bern's Steakhouse.

Enjoy your stay and your cruise. Everyone have a great day out there.

*********************************************
Four Star

Grand Hyatt Tampa
Renaissance Tampa International Plaza
*********************************************
Three Star

Marriott Tampa Airport
Hilton Westshore
*********************************************

[Esme]

Have stayed at Tampa Marriott Waterside and enjoyed it. Wonderful beds. Staying there again next cruise.

Don't book this hotel through HAL, as they charge too much. Better to book it on your own. This is the hotel HAL uses for passengers booking a hotel through them.

[peaches from georgia]

Pilot, what about the Marriott Waterside? I don't see it on your list?

[Pilot70D]

Pilot, what about the Marriott Waterside? I don't see it on your list?

I haven't stayed in that particular hotel which is why I didn't mention it. Several others have commented that it is a nice hotel and I have no reason to doubt their recommendation. I only recommend those places in which I have stayed and personally know about.

:-)

[mcfreda]

Pilot

Out of curiousity, do you know if one can leave their car at any of these hotels (no charge) while they're on the cruise? Thanks in advance for any info

Maryann

[elmorejj]

Anyone know if the Marriott Waterside has a shuttle from the airport? I can`t seem to find that info on their website. Thanks.....jean :cool:

[hdawson]

We have the Hyatt downtown for $50 from Priceline for Feb 10th. Our return from a Celebrity cruise is on the 21st of Feb. Presidents Day. Many hotels with no roooms available. Booked Sailport for the 21st for $109.

[lipoppop]

Stayed at the Grand Hyatt in December. The grounds are very nice with beautiful walks through the mangrove forest but the hotel is so-so. Service is barely there. Don't know why it has four stars. We bid it on Priceline for $95 a night. Since it is the only 4 star in Priceline's list we were able to bid several times by adding zones and not having to wait 72 hours between bids. If you do not understand that check out a Priceline bidding site like biddingfortravel.com

There is a shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel. Taxi to the pier was about $30 including tax. About a 10 minute ride.

From the pier to the airport is a fixed rate of $20. Much cheaper than using HAL's pier to airport excursion which is $18 pp. Also the taxis line up at the ship and you don't have to wait for the bus to fill.

Happy cruising. Take good care of the Veendam, one of our favorites.
:cool:

[Esme]

We took a taxi from the Waterside to the Pier last Feb. and it was only about $5.00. Pier is just around the corner, it seemed.

[lindacat]

My family and I were at the Waterside in November. The hotel was beautiful, we ate lunch there on the day we checked in and a very nice breakfast buffet the morning of the cruise. (Neither was included). There was no shuttle to the ship terminal, but we were able to get a taxi to accomodate us to the ship. As stated above it was a very short ride.

[chot]

We will be staying at the La Quinta in Tampa for a 11 day cruise and they will let you keep your car during the cruise.
Chot

[Pilot70D]

Pilot

Out of curiousity, do you know if one can leave their car at any of these hotels (no charge) while they're on the cruise? Thanks in advance for any info

Maryann
I do not know if one can leave a car at any of these hotels for no charge or not. Leaving a car wasn't something of interest to me during my prior visits. I would usually fly into Tampa International or Tampa North Aeropark, pick up my rental car at the FBO (fixed base operator) where I had parked the plane and head out to take care of business. Whenever I was finished in the Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater area I would return the rental car at the FBO, pick up the plane and head for my next destination. Sorry, I can't help with this one. Still, everyone have a great day.

[lambcom]

Thanks for all the info you've offered. There must be a convention or something else going on that weekend (April 15) in Tampa as the Marriott Waterside basic room with senior and/or AAA discount is $249 on Travelocity and Expedia shows it as being sold out! Go figure. I'd better get my TA to work in a hurry...

[Pilot70D]

There must be a convention or something else going on that weekend (April 15) in Tampa as the Marriott Waterside basic room with senior and/or AAA discount is $249 on Travelocity and Expedia shows it as being sold out

There are a lot of alternatives to the $249 pricetag for the Westshore hotels. IMHO none of these hotels are worth $250. There are alternatives however. There are numerous hotels along the I-275 corredor which are reasonably near but not necessarily in the downtown/Westshore area. What I would do is to rent a car (assuming you're flying into Tampa commercially) at the Tampa International Airport and make the short drive out I-275 north to one of these hotels. The total pricetag for this should be half or even less of the $250 pricetag for a downtown room. Hertz does have a limited hours car return point near the port which makes returning the car an easy proposition for departing cruise ship passengers.

Another possibility is to make a slightly longer drive and book a room in St. Pete. There are a number of reasonably good hotels there as well. Drive time from Tampa International would be approx. 20-25 minutes as opposed to a drive time of 10-15 minutes to get to an I-275 hotel. Hope this info is helpful.

[localady]

We have an ever growing group of CC'ers sailing on the 11/26/05 Veendam 14 day cruise. There is a huge thread about the trip with a HUGE amount of information regarding the hotels in the Tampa area! A big thanks to Cracker Ken as he has even taken pictures of the various hotels and posted them on the web for viewing. If you are cruising from Tampa you might find this information VERY helpful!! It can be found in the HAL rollcall and is entitled "11/26/05 Veendam".:cool:

[OCruisers]

Here's a place we often stay in Tampa for business/conventions:

Fairfield Inn, Brandon, FL (813-661-9719)

It's only about 15-20 minutes from the convention center ... and we PASS the cruise ship terminal about 2 miles before reaching the convention center.
It's about $100 per night. Resturants are very near by ... but it's so close in ... it's also not a problem to go into Tampa for dinner.

:rolleyes: Thought this might help someone ....

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[desmon]

Just stayed at the Wyndham Harbour Island in Tampa for a business meeting. Very nice and very close to the port.


Don't know about a shuttle, but a taxi shouldn't be very much.
Hope this helps...

[TxGal]

We always stay at the airport Marriott. It's actually in the airport, so no airport shuttle is needed. They have a great restaurant called CK's and very good room service.

[Bookish Angel]

I am a Tampa native and have stayed in this hotel many times as it is near Veterans Hospital where my day was before he died.

They have a nice heated pool, free breakfast and popcorn, and nice rooms with fridge and microwave. The hotel attracts a mostly business crowd. Usually around $80.00 a night and about 15 minutes to the port. It is in a good area of town close to Interstates 75 and 275 and several eateries, University Square Mall, etc. just a couple of blocks away.

[1cruiselvr]

I got this hotel for $50 a night for our Veendam cruise out of Tampa by bidding on Priceline. It's about 6 mi from the port and 3 mi from airport. There is a shopping mall across the street and many restaurants in the area. I would do as others suggested - rent a car at the airport. Use it for transportation to hotel and port. After dropping off luggage and pax at the port, you can quickly return it to the airport and they will shuttle you back to the port. That's what we did when we sailed out of Tampa in 2003.
When I checked Expedia and Travelocity for pricing on this hotel after winning the bid, I couldn't touch it for less than $149 a night. Expedia/travelocity are not cheaper, they just consolidate information, rather than going to each hotel's individual website for pricing. I would suggest studying how to bid by reading all the info provided on biddingfortravel first. Then go for it! IMHO - No need to spend $150 a night, when you can get it for 1/3 less. Happy Sailing!