We are thinking about taking the Carnival Legend this coming winter 2010 and I was wondering if anyone can give me some incite on the distance from the airport to the port of tampa. Don't know if it would be wise to rent a car since we will be there the day before departure. Then I have to return the car so I am back to the distance thing again. Help!

Welcome to cruise-chat. It is about 10 miles from Tampa airport to the port, but it takes about 25 minutes or so. Look at an earlier message thread regarding this topic.

You may want to consider staying at a hotel near the port that has a shuttle to the port. I've heard other members on this board suggest the same thing, and maybe someone can recommend one near the port. Then maybe you can take a cab or if the same hotel has an airport shuttle, take that from the airport to the hotel.

We did this vacation this past Feb, from the airport to the cruise terminal or nearby Hotels it is a flat rate, @$25.00, then the hotels will shuttle you the couple of blocks to the ship, the cabs are the same rate back to airport from the ship,,, love the flat rate trip, We spent the night prior at the Sheraton Tampa River walk,, and Loved it

I was on the Carnival Legend in May. We stayed the day before and the day after.
The Howard Johnson downtown where we stayed has a complementary shuttle to the pier (and any businesses within a 4 mile radius), but we had to take taxi to get to the hotel.

When we got off the ship I told the porter we needed a taxi to get our rental car - just then a Dollar Rent a car drove in. I didn’t realize they offered the service so we turned around. The shuttle was full so we had to wait for the next run - no problem as there was no fee.

If you do not want to rent a car....you could stay in one of the hotels in the Westshore area.

Most of those hotels pick you up from the airport for free and have complimentary shuttles within 3 miles.

There is a mall you can walk to etc.

They do not take you to the port for free.
That will cost you about $22 dollars one way.

We stayed at the Embassey Suites - Westshore and it was fine.

If you are flying in the day before why not stay at the Airport Hotel - Marriott - as the shuttle bus comes to the hotel and picks up any people going on the cruise the following day.

We stayed there last July/08 and had a great time and the rooms was excellent