Floridians have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to cruising. Three of the world’s busiest cruise ports are located in Florida. Combined, Port Canaveral (which many call the Orlando port), Port Miami, and Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) serve close to four million cruise passengers annually. However, Florida boasts three other, often overlooked cruise ports in the world’s top 100 busiest. Of these, the Tampa cruise port is the most active and offers the most cruising options. This article serves as your guide to cruising out of Tampa.
Cruising out of Tampa is unique. The port’s smaller size, combined with its location within Tampa Bay in downtown Tampa, creates an unusual experience that is truly unlike departing from Florida’s larger ports. Cruisers that steer clear of massive mega cruise ships will find the smaller vessels in Tampa a refreshing change. And cruising under the Skyway Bridge is an experience every cruise aficionado should experience at least once.
How Big is Port Tampa Bay?
Serving one million passengers annually, Tampa’s cruise port isn’t what most people would consider “small.” While it’s the eighth largest cruise port in the continental US, it’s often overshadowed by ports in larger cities.
However, Port Tampa Bay is a favorite among many because of its size, location, and ease of use. It is served by some of the most popular cruise lines in the U.S. and ships sail year-round to many favorite destinations in the Western Caribbean.
Taking the Scenic Route: Cruising Through Tampa Bay
Most cruise ports are located very close to open water, however cruising from Tampa offers a very different experience. Tampa Bay is a massive natural harbor off of the Gulf of Mexico, and actually consists of three “bays.” Port Tampa Bay is located in the easternmost section of Tampa Bay, known as Hillsborough Bay, which borders the city of Tampa. Tampa proper is actually located quite a bit inland from the Gulf of Mexico, which means it takes time before reaching the Gulf.
Instead of navigating just one or two shipping channels before reaching open waters, your cruise will need to travel more than 25 miles through the bay. This means the first two hours of your cruise will be a unique experience.
After you exit the port, hang around the starboard side of the ship, because the port side will pass the ugly commercial shipping port scenery. On the starboard side, you’ll pass Harbour Island, a residential isle just south of downtown Tampa. At the southernmost tip of the island, you’ll pass its adorable mini lighthouse on the property of the Bailey family mansion. Next, you’ll sail past Davis Island, best known for the mansion that once housed Derek Jeter and Tom Brady.
After cruising through Hillsborough Bay, you’ll pass the interbay peninsula, home to MacDill Air Force Base before reaching the heart of Tampa Bay. Here, the waters are calm and you’ll likely see dolphins, as you cruise into the setting sun. The highlight of these two hours, however, will likely be your trip underneath the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, a topic deserving of its own article. You’ll see a crowd gathering on the top deck an hour or more before reaching the Skyway, jockeying for the best spot to experience the bridge.
Drawbacks to Cruising out of Tampa Bay
While the uniqueness of Tampa Bay makes for a special departure (and arrival, if you’re willing to get up that early), it can cause a few complications. First, if you’re a fan of hitting the ship’s casino, remember that the casino cannot open until you reach international waters. That means a much longer wait before you can visit the poker tables and slot machines when you cruise out of Tampa.
Second, Tampa is one of only a handful of ports that will close down entirely because of fog. On our recent Tampa cruise, dense fog was forecast for Tampa on the day of our arrival. Early on our sea day (the day before arriving back in Tampa), the captain announced that we would be traveling at full speed on the way back to Florida in hopes of beating the weather. However, there was a very good chance that our ship would not be able to port in Tampa until noon or even later, especially if the fog didn’t lift until after 9am.
Because so many travelers had time-restrictive schedules (flights out of Tampa and Orlando), the cruise line offered complimentary phone service for the entire day so passengers could make alternate plans. As it turns out, we got to Tampa in the nick of time, and cruised under the Skyway around midnight, foghorns blaring. We were all able to disembark at our scheduled time, to the relief of many passengers.
The moral to the story? If you’re cruising into Tampa, especially in the winter months, book your return flight for much later in the day. If the ship arrives on time, you’ll have plenty of time for sightseeing- but if your return is delayed, you won’t have any reason to panic.
Cruise Lines Sailing from Tampa
Some of the most popular cruise lines in the world cruise out of Port Tampa Bay. Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Lines all offer itineraries departing from Tampa year-round, while Celebrity offers sailings during the winter months. Later in 2024, Margaritaville at Sea will join these larger cruise lines in Tampa.
Because cruise ships must be small enough to travel under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which connects St. Petersburg to the Bradenton/Sarasota area, the ships serving Tampa are considered mid-size. Averaging 950 feet in length, they’re certainly not tiny. However, they’re small in comparison to the mega-ships that have come into fashion in recent decades. By comparison, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas is nearly 1,200 feet in length– more than a football field longer than Carnival Paradise.
What Cruise Ships Depart from Tampa?
With four major cruise lines departing from Tampa, you’ll find close to a dozen cruise ships departing from the port. However, you won’t find large ships– or particularly new ships. Fortunately, cruise lines recognize the importance of these smaller ships, and often refurbish older ships with newer amenities.
Carnival Ships Serving Tampa
Three of Carnival Cruise Lines’ Spirit Class ships, Legend, Pride, and Spirit will port in Tampa at least part of 2024. Legend will arrive in Tampa in November after serving passengers in Europe and Baltimore. Pride will serve Tampa January through April before repositioning to Baltimore. Carnival Spirit will visit Tampa with a 14-day itinerary in April as part of the cruise line’s Carnival Journeys program. While Spirit was built in 2001, Pride and Legend were built in 2002. Pride was most recently refurbished in 2023, while Legend received a makeover in 2022. Spirit’s most recent refurbishment was in 2021.
Carnival Paradise, a smaller Fantasy Class ship, will begin cruising from Tampa late in the year. Of Carnival’s Tampa fleet, Paradise is the oldest ship, built in 1996, but received an extensive rejuvenation in 2023.
Celebrity Ships Serving Tampa
Only one Celebrity vessel is scheduled to port in Tampa in 2024: Celebrity Constellation, a Millennium Class ship. It will offer sailings January through March before moving to the Mediterranean for the summer. Constellation will then return in November to close out the year in Tampa. Constellation entered service in 2002 and was most recently renovated in 2017.
Norwegian Ships Serving Tampa
Norwegian Jade and Jewel, both Jewel Class vessels, are scheduled to cruise from Tampa in the winter months. Jade will offer cruises January-May before repositioning to Port Canaveral, Boston, and Miami. Jewel will begin serving Port Tampa Bay in November after spending the year in Asia and Alaska. Jade entered service in 2007 (as Pride of Hawaii) and was refurbished in 2017. Jewel was built in 2005 and refurbished in 2022.
Royal Caribbean Ships Serving Tampa
Enchantment Class ships Radiance of the Seas and Serenade of the Seas from Royal Caribbean both operate seasonally out of Port Tampa Bay in 2024. Built in 1997, Radiance will offer cruises January-April before repositioning to Alaska, then return in October. Built in 2001, Serenade will begin docking in Tampa in September after spending the year cruising Asia and Europe. Serenade was refurbished in 2012, and Radiance received a significant facelift in 2016
Two Royal Caribbean Vision Class ships will also offer cruises out of Tampa in 2024: Enchantment of the Seas and Grandeur of the Seas. Launched in 1997, Enchantment cruises year-round out of Port Tampa Bay. It received a major upgrade in 2017. Grandeur, which is Royal Caribbean’s smallest ship, will cruise from Tampa April through October. It was launched in 1996 and refurbished in 2012.
Margaritaville at Sea Ships Serving Tampa
Previously only serving the Port of Palm Beach, small cruise line Margaritaville at Sea will add a second ship to its fleet in summer 2024. The Sea Islander, formerly Costa Atlantica, has been completely refurbished for its new home at Port Tampa Bay. The ship was built in 2000 using the same platform design as Carnival’s Spirit-class ships that serve Tampa.
Where Can You Cruise to From Tampa?
Like other ports in the Gulf of Mexico, Port Tampa Bay sometimes gets a bad rap for offering a limited set of itineraries. True, the majority of shorter cruises out of Tampa visit Western Caribbean favorites like Cozumel. However, you’ll still find some interesting longer itineraries departing from Tampa.
Other typical ports on shorter cruises out of Tampa include Costa Maya, Roatan, Belize City, Key West, and Grand Cayman. The majority of cruises visiting these destinations will range from 4-7 nights, and will include at least one sea day. You’ll also find occasional trips to the Bahamas out of Tampa.
However, if you’re able to commit to a longer cruise, you’ll find many more options. Celebrity travels to the southern Caribbean, including stops in Panama and Colombia. Some Celebrity cruises out of Tampa also include a stop in New Orleans. Royal Caribbean offers Tampa-based itineraries to the eastern Caribbean, which may include stops in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, St. Maartin, St. Croix, and the Dominican Republic. Royal also offers some longer western Caribbean itineraries that include Costa Rica and Panama. Norwegian also offers eastern Caribbean cruises, as well as trips to the southern Caribbean, including the famed ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). Finally, Carnival offers round-trip Panama Canal cruises during the winter months.
Repositioning Cruises from Port Tampa Bay
Because many of the cruise ships that serve Tampa are part-year residents, Tampa offers a number of longer, repositioning cruises.
What are repositioning cruises? When a cruise line needs to move a ship to a new home port, they’ll typically offer a one-way cruise to that destination. Repositioning cruises are common with ships that serve seasonal wintry regions like Alaska or Northern Europe. Although you’ll need to pay for your airfare back home, these cruises are often quite cost-effective. They also often stop at ports that cruises infrequently visit, like the Azores.
This means you may find a Celebrity14-day Transatlantic cruise that departs from Tampa and arrives in the Mediterranean Sea. But Repositioning cruises may also take you to other parts of the United States. Carnival sometimes offers a repositioning cruise from Tampa to Baltimore, taking the long way around and visiting the southern Caribbean. Royal Caribbean has offered another domestic repositioning cruise that travels through the Panama Canal and ends on the west cost.
Where is Tampa’s Cruise Port Located?
Tampa’s cruise port is conveniently located at 1101 Channelside Drive, near both downtown Tampa and tourist favorite Ybor City. Because of its close proximity to the Leroy Selmon Expressway and I-4, the port is easy to get to from some of Florida’s largest metro areas. Travelers from Orlando, Sarasota, and the Cape Coral/Fort Myers areas will find the drive to the Port of Tampa fairly painless. However, some Orlando residents familiar with I-4 might argue that point.
Attractions near Tampa’s Port
Channelside Drive is best known for the bustling Sparkman Wharf, a lively hub for dining and entertainment located just a short walk from the port. How close? The first time we visited many years ago (when it was called Channelside), my husband spotted the top of a cruise ship behind the bar we were entering and said, “What’s that place? It looks fun!” He was completely surprised when I informed him that a cruise ship was docked right behind this dynamic entertainment district. (We were very new to Florida at the time)
Tampa Channelside
Other features in the Channelside area include Amalie Arena, home to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Florida Aquarium is located next door to the port, and the Tampa Bay Convention Center is also nearby. Since you’ll likely park in the Channelside Parking Garage, we highly recommend arriving a few hours early to enjoy all that the Channelside district has to offer. You can walk to Sparkman Wharf in about 10-15 minutes from the port. If you have time, do a little sightseeing, or even relax in Cotanchobee Fort Brooke Park. After your Tampa cruise returns, consider a visit to The Florida Aquarium. This gem next to the port is considered one of the best in the United States. You might also consider scheduling some time for sightseeing on the Tampa Water Taxi or the Pirate Water Taxi.
Ybor City
Historic Ybor City is another great spot to visit near Port Tampa Bay, although slightly further away. Ybor is a small neighborhood established in the 1880s by Cuban immigrants. It was once known as the Cigar Capital of the World, Today, Ybor is home to many bars, restaurants, breweries, nightclubs, and shops. Although Ybor has had a bad reputation for crime in the past, historic Ybor City is generally considered a safe neighborhood, especially by day. A walk to historic Ybor will take at least half an hour, but you can also take the Teco Streetcar.
One of Ybor’s most popular attractions is the Michelin-recommended Columbia Restaurant, the oldest continuously-operated restaurant in the state, and the oldest Spanish restaurant in the entire country. Known for delicious Cuban and Spanish cuisine, the restaurant also boasts a massive wine list with more than 1,000 choices. Although you may not need a reservation for lunch, dinner reservations are highly recommended. Columbia also offers a flamenco dance show during dinner every night except Sunday (a nominal cover charge applies).
Are you ready to book a cruise out of Tampa?
Contact us to talk about your options for cruising out of Port Tampa Bay. Email info@seavixenvoyages.com or complete our no-obligation inquiry form and get packing!
