Tampa and SWA

[Luckymommyx2]

We have booked a cruise out of Tampa for March and have a few questions. First, how do the SWA rates compare between Tampa and Orlando? They looked about the same for the fall but I didn't know if that would change for mid-March. Is Tampa a big spring break destination?

Next, has anyone stayed at the Marriott in the Tampa airport? If so, how was it? Do they have balconies like the Hyatt in MCO?

Compared to MCO, is Tampa smaller, cleanier, less traffic, etc? Which would you fly into for our cruise? Thanks for any help!

 

[CRCrazy]

I've never actually flown to Tampa on Southwest - but the costs are usually fairly competitive. Sometimes one or the other will be less expensive, especially if they are the featured destination that week.

One thing I've noticed - the Tampa flights don't sell out those cheaper fares as quickly as the Orlando ones!

If your cruise is leaving from Tampa - then I would definitely fly into Tampa - probably cheaper, and definitely a shorter ride to the cruise depot - MCO is about a 2 hour drive from Tampa.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by CRCrazy
I've never actually flown to Tampa on Southwest - but the costs are usually fairly competitive. Sometimes one or the other will be less expensive, especially if they are the featured destination that week.

One thing I've noticed - the Tampa flights don't sell out those cheaper fares as quickly as the Orlando ones!

If your cruise is leaving from Tampa - then I would definitely fly into Tampa - probably cheaper, and definitely a shorter ride to the cruise depot - MCO is about a 2 hour drive from Tampa.

MCO is aprox. 1hour 30 mins from Tampa.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I'll probably stick with flying into Tampa. I know some DIS'ers fly into Tampa instead of Orlando so I'm still hoping to hear from some of you.

Gail...welcome home! How was your trip? I absolutely LOVED SWA!!! Thanks for all your help!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Luckymommyx2
I'll probably stick with flying into Tampa. I know some DIS'ers fly into Tampa instead of Orlando so I'm still hoping to hear from some of you.

Gail...welcome home! How was your trip? I absolutely LOVED SWA!!! Thanks for all your help!

HI,
Thank you for the welcome home. I am really happy you liked SWA, they are great for me.
I have flown into Tampa on a number of vacations and it is really no hassle at all, in fact, in some ways it is much easier than MCO.
Much smaller and easier to negotiate.
My trip was very nice and we managed to meet some posters from here. Nice people and fun!!!

 

[nasmith]

I've flown SW into Tampa - It's a lovely airport. Quieter than MCO, and with just as many amenties. Some nice casual restaurants . We are flying in November to MCO, and out of TPA (SW has $99 one-way fares) so that we can do a night in Tampa following our Disney trip. And I'd have to agree that it's easier to get the cheaper fares to TPA than MCO. If you are looking for a hotel close to the airport- you may want to priceline it - check out

http://pub210.ezboard.com/fpricelineandexpediabiddingtampaclearwaterstpetersburg

which is an info board for various priceline bids people have gotten. OF course- it's much too early to priceline something yet -so you may want to make a fully-refundable ressie at an airport hotel, then try pricelining one for cheaper later. Lots of info on bidding for travel about pricelining (go to the above link and follow that to it's home for the info).

Jill

 

[webprinter]

We flew into Tampa last Dec. We flew NWA and the flight was cheaper. The car rental was also cheaper. TPA was a great airport. Much smaller than MCO. Picking up our car was super easy. Getting out of the airport and onto the freeway to Orlando was easy and quick. TPA is much less hassle. I recommend it highly. The drive to Orlando would have been easy if they hadn't been doing road work during rush hour.