Sheraton Riverwalk Hotel Review, Recap, and Cameral Roll. 3rd Annual Gasparilla Barrr Crawl with BRUNCH, BLOCK PARTY & PARTY BUS

District Tavern Channelside

This year I was able to attend the 3rd Annual Gasparilla Barrr Crawl with BRUNCH, BLOCK PARTY & PARTY BUS with sponsored host Anheisur- Busch and Pepin. This was my first time experiencing a Bar crawl to be honest, it was a part of the brunch ticket. There were 4 restaurants and bars participating and you can go to each one via the party bus and get a complimentary shot as well as brunch before noon. The Channelside area in actuality is close to downtown and only a 8 minute walk so we walked.

I actually enjoyed the walk because that particular area is changing so much due to the development of Water Street it was good to see what all was going on. We had cruise ships in port that day, the Starship Yacht had their three yachts also in port in time to experience the Flotilla.

Like last year, we got a room at nearby hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton Riverwalk downtown. Is it necessary to stay in a hotel room for Gasparilla? No, but it has some pros

- You can get a room on the parade route so you can get good seats without having to leave your house at 8am and sit outside until 2pm for the parade to start.

- If you book a room on Riverwalk like we did you have the option of the City View or the Riverview. The city view is rooms facingAshley street so essentially you have the best view out of everyone from your balcony.

-Gasparilla for some is an all day thing that goes straight into night time parties then morning "Hangover Brunch". 

-My favorite pro is you dont have to sweat parking because you are already valeted with the hotel.

(This hotel however had their valet shut down because its literally on the parade route so the street was closed). Parking ended up being cheaper in the nearby garage overnight, cheaper than what the hotel would have charged by 50%

This hotel was all the way live! They had a full blown pool party going on on the river and on the otherside the parade. The whole hotel was locked down. If you didnt have a wristlet on to prove you were staying in the hotel you couldn't even get past the Tampa pd into the lobby. Despite the loud music coming from Ashley Street and the pool party the room was quiet. It was quiet, clean, huge, and had a balcony. I am sure that couch pulls out and can sleep two more people which would make this the perfect place to rent for the parade if you want to split the bill amongst friends. I liked the room a lot and I liked the balcony and the views even more.

Views of Riverwalk from our balcony

These are all iconic views from downtown Tampa and its cool to see them from the higher floors. The only con I had about this room was that we paid for a club level room and the club room was closed due to Gasparilla. That price for the room includes club level access so it is misleading to not inform you when booking that it will be closed. Sunday morming we woke up to church bells ringing. This is not something I am used to at all. When we stayed in Charleston, SC there was a church near our hotel that rang church bells for about 10 minutes every hour or maybe every other day or something like that. This church rang their bells for 2 hours! I was so shocked and yea, we never went back to sleep.

So, we always go out to lunch and dinner near where we are staying. We actually prefer Malio's for dinner during this time. I was at this time having a pretty acute autoimmune reaction to gluten and I was having a hard time even finding an appetite. I was so mad that I essentially gave most of my food to my husband and we left my steak at the hotel by accident! This is one of the things I struggle with having Celiacs and when accidentally ingesting gluten. I absolutely love Ceasar salads with fresh anchovies and I barely made a dent in it.

All of these are views from the pool at the hotel (ground floor)

So the pennicle of the day was not only experiencing the Flotilla, but being a part of the Flotilla. This will arguably will be the coolest thing I do all year. So, I went into this a lot on the blog post from the Pirate Invasion here. All the details on the Pirate Invasion Brunch with Starship Yacht are in that post that I linked. I would love it if I could do this every year. I told my husband I think I a going to be A-OK with him buying a boat in the future if we can join the Flotilla for free.