🇺🇸 Tampa, United States — Cruise Port Guide
A Gulf-coast homeport with a Cuban cigar district, a riverwalk you can walk end to end, and ships that sail under a bridge on the way out. Quieter than Florida's Atlantic ports, and cheaper to fly into than most.
Updated September 2026
Quick facts
Getting ashore
When to visit Tampa
Cruise ships sail year-round from here, so there is no closed season — pick your month for the weather at the far end of the itinerary rather than for the homeport.
Good to know
Air draft under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge limits ship size here, so itineraries are usually mid-size vessels — worth knowing if you were expecting the largest ships in the fleet.
Things to do in Tampa
Ybor City
Brick streets, wrought iron, cigar shops with rollers at work, and the free-roaming chickens that are a protected local institution. The streetcar runs there from downtown.
Tampa Riverwalk
Two and a half miles along the Hillsborough River linking museums, parks and restaurants. Flat, shaded in stretches and easy to do in an afternoon.
Busch Gardens
Serious roller coasters combined with a genuine 65-acre zoo. A full day, and a common pre-cruise stop for families.
Florida Aquarium
On the Riverwalk within walking distance of the cruise terminals — a good option if your ship leaves in the afternoon.
Tampa Bay History Center
Three floors covering the Seminole, the cattle drives, the cigar trade and the port itself. Right beside the ships.
Clearwater Beach day trip
Regularly voted the best beach in the country, about 45 minutes west across the bay. A pre-cruise day rather than a turnaround-morning dash.
What to eat
- Cuban sandwich (the Tampa version)
- Deviled crab
- Cuban toast
- Flan
- Grouper sandwich
Weather by month
Best time to visit: Nov–Apr (dry season)
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 70° | 52° | 2.3" |
| Feb | 73° | 55° | 2.5" |
| Mar | 77° | 59° | 2.7" |
| Apr | 82° | 64° | 1.8" |
| May | 88° | 70° | 2.4" |
| Jun | 90° | 75° | 6.8" |
| Jul | 90° | 76° | 7.3" |
| Aug | 90° | 77° | 8" |
| Sep | 89° | 75° | 6.5" |
| Oct | 85° | 68° | 2.2" |
| Nov | 78° | 60° | 1.6" |
| Dec | 72° | 54° | 2.3" |
A little history
Ybor City was built in the 1880s by Cuban and Spanish cigar makers, and at its peak the district rolled hundreds of millions of cigars a year. A few rollers still work by hand in the shops.
The Tampa Cuban sandwich includes Genoa salami, a Sicilian addition from the immigrant workers who shared the neighbourhood. Adding it in Miami will start an argument.
Ships sail out under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge — the air draft limits which vessels can use the port, so Tampa tends to get mid-size ships rather than the largest.
Ybor's cigar factories employed a lector, paid by the workers themselves, to read newspapers and novels aloud from a platform while they rolled.