Best place to park Tampa

Where can you recommend parking in Tampa? Do they shuttle you to the port. Carnival website sent me to park and fly. But I do not see anything that says they shuttle you to the port.

The most convenient is to simply park at the cruise terminal parking garage; it is directly across Channelside Drive from the terminal used by Carnival. Just drive through the terminal & drop off your luggage with the porters (also at this time, any of your passengers can get out & wait by the building, the area is covered/shaded). Hop back in your car, loop around & follow the signs to "Cruise parking." Pay as you enter, make the short stroll back to the terminal, get onboard.

There are also a few places who offer offsite parking; they typically have outdoor lots located a few blocks to a mile from the terminal. You park, they shuttle you to the terminal. At the end of the cruise, they shuttle you back. I've not used any of these outfits; reviews I've seen have been mixed.

The offsite places are cheaper; on a weeklong cruise you might save $60 or more. Tradeoff is convenience; you're at their mercy waiting for a shuttle to arrive or depart vs. going at entirely your own pace with the parking garage.

The other alternative, if you're coming from out of town, is to arrive the night before & find a hotel that offers a "stay here, park here" deal. IN many instances, the cost for that isn't much more than a week's parking charge (not sure if your cruise is a week or a shorter one). There are several threads on here that discuss this option & identify which hotels offer it.

The easy solution is to park at the port - $15 per day and it is convenient (walk to check-in! :D) and covered.

Here is a chart that shows some of the Tampa Park & Cruise hotels:

www.parkingstay.com/p/tampa.html Also check www.parksleepfly.comor www.stay123.com for other Tampa hotels that offer cruise packages.

For cruise parking packages that include a shuttle both to the port and the return shuttle back to your car, check out these hotels located in the Rocky Point area: Holiday Inn, Tahitian Inn, Hampton Inn and Chase Suites.

Good luck! :)

We do not need a hotel. We live 2 hours drive away.

We just returned home from a 4 day cruise on the Carnival Paradise. The last time we cruised out of Tampa, we used Capital Parking. They have since been bought out, and are now known as The Parktologists. I was hesitant to book, but couldn't justify the cost of parking at the port. So I bit the bullet and booked with them.

They are on Channelside, and it is a gated lot. We arrived around 10:20 Thursday morning, and were at the port at about 10:40. Parking was easy, and the shuttle driver was prompt. Upon our return, we called the number provided via the business card the driver gave us when he dropped us off. We called as soon as we walked out of the port building, and by the time we arrived at the designated meeting spot (across the street behind the port parking garage) the shuttle was there waiting for us. Keep in mine, we are platinum, and in the first group off the ship, once more people exit, the wait time might be a little longer.

We were very please, and wouldn't hesitate to use them again. BTW - I used a promo code that I searched for here on this board.

Happy sailing!

Silc