What is the best way to get from Tampa International Airport to Port Tampa Bay?

From Tampa International Airport (TPA) to Port Tampa Bay is about 10 miles by road, airport to cruise-terminal area. The distance is the easy part. Your cruise line sets when you can board and when check-in closes, those times are on your cruise documents, and the ground leg should be planned backwards from them rather than forwards from your landing time.

It is the shortest of the airport-to-port runs outside Fort Lauderdale, so the case for booking ahead is certainty rather than distance: a named car at an agreed point when you land, and the same on the way back off the ship.

Coming off the ship is a different job from going out. Thousands of people disembark into the same road at once, and the difference between a good morning and a bad one is whether a named car is waiting at an agreed point or you are joining a queue with your luggage.

Luggage decides the class of car. A cruise party travels with more of it than a flight-only party, so say how many cases when you book. An Executive Sedan holds 2; a Luxury SUV holds 5; an Executive Sprinter holds 12.

Booked ahead, it is one captain and one fare agreed before the car moves, for the airport you land at and the ship you sail on. The fare beside this page is for 10 miles; the fare for your trip is set when the exact addresses are routed, and you see it before you book.