Easy port to cruise out of with decent hotels nearby; close to Ybor City (but don't try to walk from Channelside to Ybor - very dodgy areas in between). Read Less

We arrived in Tampa the night before and stayed at the Embassy Suites Downtown/Convention Center. The hotel was great and the area around it felt safe and inviting. They had a stay and park deal, which worked out just fine. We could have taken the trolley to the port, or even walked, but we overpacked and took a LYFT instead. Worked out great! We left Tampa just as the rain cleared and had a beautiful view of the Sunshine Skyway as we went out to open sea. Read Less

Use Parkway Parking! Very easy. Would depart from Tampa again. Read Less

Long lines, but staff is great. Read Less

We only stayed overnight both directions. Read Less

Worst embarkation experience ever. Staff were spreading rumors about why we had epic delays in boarding. Unsafe conditions. First time ever I've seen police have to get involved for public safety at an embarkation Read Less

Easy port to embark and disbark from! Park at the parking garage across the street. I believe it was $47 for the week and easily within walking distance (we did it with luggage). The aquarium is right next to the cruise port as well if you’re looking for additional activities. Read Less

Hometown. Easy on and off. Read Less

Loved exploring Ybor City and dinner at Columbia. Great port for embarkation/debarkation Read Less

Beware of pushy Porters demanding tips for their service. Porter argued with my mom for 10 minutes straight because she had no cash and no cash app on her phone to pay him. Read Less

Tampa's airport is very clean and the port is okay, but not as nice as Miami's. Read Less

Ybor city is amazing. Free trolly downtown is super cool. Had lunch downtown on water Read Less

Departure: Could not be easier. Arrived at Terminal 3 slightly before our scheduled time of 11:30. Dropped the luggage quickly (few cars dropping bags) and parked in the parking garage across the street, which had ample spaces available. We pre-paid parking before leaving home and handed the parking attendant our printed ticket and parked on the second level near the elevators. Although we were early, by the time we had competed check-in our group number had already been called. We were still on the ship before many passengers had shown up. We had Guy’s burgers for lunch, at 1:30 we went to our cabin to change and went to enjoy the hot tubs on the Serenity deck before it was crowded. Return: Getting off the ship was quick and orderly and went much faster than the scheduled departure times. We learned that self disembarkation was starting with Deck 14 and we were on Deck 4 (Riviera), so we got luggage tags when they were offered at 10 am on the last day (Friday) and had a low group number (5 out of 28). Customs consisted of checking passports, and asking how many cigars and how much liquor (rum) we were bringing in from Cuba. We were under the duty-free limits and were on our way home. Read Less

VERY disorganized port, were moved from long line to long line in a hot stuffy room. Heard many complaints from other passengers about this embarkation process in Tampa. Read Less

Unorganized and poor execution from Tampa Port Read Less

Tampa is one of the easiest ports of departure. The parking at terminal 6 is so cloase to the ship there is no need to check your bags before you park. Read Less

We had transfer to the ship from the airport through NCL and it was a very smooth process once we got to the port the lines were a bit long and they apologized and it moved pretty quickly. Read Less

Terminal was not a fun place. Poorly designed for the number of people and what was required for getting on a ship. I would seriously consider a different port for our next cruise. Read Less

This was the first time that we chose to arrive at the port once boarding had begun. We arrived at 12:30 and had no wait getting through the steps and onto the ship. From the time we were dropped off to the time we sat down in the Summer Palace for a relaxing lunch was no more than 25 minutes. Way to go! Read Less

Nice port. There is an aquarium right at the port. Read Less

It was a pleasant experience. Embarkation was organized and incredibly fast. The port of Tampa is great! Read Less

Embarkation was very smooth. I can't imagine how it could be faster unless the ship picked us up at our house! Our suite was ready as soon as we boarded. Read Less

Tampa was our departure port. We like it. It's easy in easy out. Parking is near ship Read Less

Tampa is a great place to start a cruise with one exception: the fog. With the fog we were severely delayed arriving back into port. Not a big deal for us as we booked our flight home the following day however, many others were upset from the delay caused by fog. The crew of the ship said it was common for Tampa. The embarkation and disembarkation process was very easy here and very well organized in a very nice terminal. Customs was fast and easy as well. Read Less

We used Lyft to get us from our friends house to the port. This was his first experience with delivering people to the port. It was not bad at all considering the third largest parade i our nation (Gasparella Pirate Fest) was going on that day. It was an easy drop-off. There could be better signage for those driving up. Read Less