Table Of Content
- Find Cruises Departing from Florida’s Tampa Port
- WEEKEND CRUISES
- Park & Cruise Hotels Nearby
- Read Next: Park & Cruise Hotels for Every Port in America
- Best Western Tampa
- RCI-Royal Caribbean unveils 2025-2026 Caribbean deployment (7 liners)
- Hampton Inn & Suites Tampa/Ybor City/Downtown
- Convenient Tampa “Park and Cruise” Hotels (Highly Rated)
While there is some public transportation offered, it’s not particularly convenient, unless you are coming from Ybor City. Ybor City has a rail line (TECO Streetcar) that runs back and forth from Ybor City to the port area. In general, we recommend that passengers flying in for their cruise plan to arrive a day early and stay the night. There are simply too many issues that can come up with flying that can cause delays to risk flying in on the day your cruise departs. Additionally, you’ll find some of the best theme park rides here, including the SheiKra, which is only located at the Tampa Bay Busch Gardens.
Find Cruises Departing from Florida’s Tampa Port
Below, we cover the most common ways for getting to the Port Tampa Bay. In other words, you get a lot of the benefits of a larger port without a lot of the drawbacks. If you’re looking for another great place for the family that’s educational and filled with animals, come over to the ZooTampa at Lowry Park.
WEEKEND CRUISES
Whether you're planning a group tour or a romantic getaway for your client, Tampa Bay has various cruises to choose from. Port Tampa Bay is home to some of the largest cruise lines including Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity Cruises. On this page you will find more information about how to plan your next voyage.
Park & Cruise Hotels Nearby
It is very importantto keep your cruise pass safe, especially when you go ashore as you cannotreturn to the ship without it! As part of the Tampa cruise check-in process, you will be photographed and asked to provide credit card details. This is your stateroom key and serves as a charge card for any onboard purchases, drinks, daily gratuities, casino chips and chargeable amenities during your cruise. Once you have passedthrough security, you can join the line at check-in. There are dozens of mannedcounters with trained cruise personnel waiting to register you. However, withup to 3,000 passengers and up to 1,800 crew, it can be a slow process soprepare to be patient.
Read Next: Park & Cruise Hotels for Every Port in America
The premise is simple — book at a hotel with a shuttle (often there is a cruise package you can reserve) and you’ll get your night’s stay plus a ride to the cruise port in the morning. Uber/Lyft are a great option whether you are coming from the airport or anywhere else around town as they offer service in Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater, and surrounding areas. Thus, if you are staying in an area hotel or want to explore the city, you can get a ride to spots other than the port. Some of the nation’s leading beaches are found on the Gulf Coast, and passengers on Tampa cruises will have plenty of award-winning options to explore.
We’ve got you covered with all your parking options, including costs and discounts. Of course, while Uber and Lyft have taken a bite out of their business, taxi cabs aren’t extinct. They are also a decent option on getting from the airport to the cruise port, or from other points around town. Heights Public Market offers a dozen different local restaurants – enough variety to please every palate.
RCI-Royal Caribbean unveils 2025-2026 Caribbean deployment (7 liners)
Residence Inn’s “Fly Here, Cruise There” package provides guests with shuttle service from the hotel to the cruise port, along with free internet and breakfast. Along with a free hot breakfast and Wi-Fi, if you book this hotel’s Park and Cruise package, you’ll receive free roundtrip transportation to the cruise port, as well as parking for up to 7 days. It is already Florida’s largest and most diversified port for cargo, handling over 37 million tons per year. It currently handles around one million cruise passengers annually, in addition to container imports, dry and liquid bulk cargo, petroleum and cars. It is also one of the largest shipbuilding and repair ports in SE USA.
Hampton Inn & Suites Tampa/Ybor City/Downtown
Project's Phase 1 (May-October 2019) and Phase 2 (May-October 2020) are both during off-season. For FY2017 (fiscal year), Port Tampa Bay reported a record operating revenue of USD 55,4 million. Port's previous records were USD 51,3 million (2015) and USD 49,2 million (2016).
Convenient Tampa “Park and Cruise” Hotels (Highly Rated)
That means it can be convenient — and inexpensive — to stay the night before your cruise. Understanding the city you’ll be traveling to and the logistics involved will give you a great start to making trip planning as painless as possible. However, if you’re not driving, there are other various ways to get to the port, especially if you’re flying into the Tampa airport. No matter how you plan to arrive into Tampa, you need a way to get to the port. Driving yourself is easy enough, you just have to find a place to park.

If you come on the weekend, at 1pm you can stand eye-to-eye with a giraffe and feed them some lettuce. You can also visit a variety of other animals, all safely behind glass enclosures. Also within walking distance of the port (on the other side) is the Florida Aquarium for anyone fascinated by underwater creatures.
Passengers should follow the digital signage at the port to find the correct terminal for their ship. Port Tampa Bay is proud to partner with Moffitt Cancer Center on a new community outreach and education center. Moffitt Cancer Center at Port Tampa Bay is located in the busy Water Street district across from The Florida Aquarium at Port Tampa Bay’s Cruise Terminal 2.
Arguably, one of the best sites to see is the ship sailing under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. This bridge is located about a minute drive south of Tampa, and it takes the ships about 2 hours after departure to reach the bridge. Port Tampa Bay allows you to walk right up near the ships, for an unforgettable view. Tampa offers a convenient embarkation port for cruises to the Western Caribbean, including many with Royal Caribbean.
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