# Treasure Island/Tampa



## jmd42 (Oct 17, 2009)

Just bought a timeshare on treasure island, just off of tampa-st. pete area.. I do not know anything of this area. Any info on restaurants, fish markets, grocery's or tourism ideas would be great. Thanx Jim


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## Sea Six (Oct 17, 2009)

Check out John's pass ( supposedly named for the pirate who buried his treasure there).  Also note, the waters offshore contain the world's largest concentration of hammerhead sharks!


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## miketv (Oct 18, 2009)

I've been there a few times and they have a nice market area at John's pass and a huge new Publix close by.

Enjoy


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## Sea Six (Oct 18, 2009)

One thing I can recommend is take a drive south to Pass-A-Grill beach (St Pete) and try the Hurricane Restaurant on the beach.  You will pass right thru the Don Ceasar Resort - one of the few 5 star resorts in Florida.  Spend some time poking around this classical pink palace - it's a treat!


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## laurac260 (Oct 18, 2009)

Sea Six said:


> One thing I can recommend is take a drive south to Pass-A-Grill beach (St Pete) and try the Hurricane Restaurant on the beach.  You will pass right thru the Don Ceasar Resort - one of the few 5 star resorts in Florida.  Spend some time poking around this classical pink palace - it's a treat!



Yes, the pink palace is a palace indeed.  Hard to believe it was once a VA Hospital!


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## Don (Oct 19, 2009)

There's a Sloppy Joe's franchise at one of the hotels on TI.


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## Gary & Susie (Oct 24, 2009)

Just returned this morning from TI.  Sloppy Joe's is located at the Bilmar, very good.  There are many good places to eat all along the whole area, we did discover a place we had not been before, The Middle Grounds Grill, it is across Gulf Blvd from The Surf Beach Resort......a little pricey, but well worth it, ate there twice this week and very good both times.


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## Jim Bryan (Oct 25, 2009)

I like the Sea Horse for Breakfast and Lunch. Pass a Grille


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## jmd42 (Nov 11, 2009)

*Getting close to trip!!!!!!!!!*

New area for us at Treasure Island, St-pete, Tampa and all surrounding area's. All Idea's on restaurants, cafe's, pancake houses, steak houses, seafood. Well you get the idea. We have absolutely no knowledge of this area so any info is very helpful. We will be there 11/26-12/2 any festivals, carnivals, I'll stop there Thanx all, Jim


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## hefleycatz (Nov 12, 2009)

On St. Pete Beach, Gulf Blvd.  Crabby Bill's!!!!!   Yum.   very casual,  great seafood.


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## laurac260 (Nov 14, 2009)

hefleycatz said:


> On St. Pete Beach, Gulf Blvd.  Crabby Bill's!!!!!   Yum.   very casual,  great seafood.




Yes, crabby bills, good food, lots of fun!  The Pier in St Pete is fun, we esp like renting the 4 person peddle cars, or taking a dolphin cruise on the pontoon boats.  The boats go thru the inlets as well as out in the bay, and very often the dolphins will swim right beside the boats.  Clearwater Beach is a beautiful beach, go to Pier 60, they have a festival every evening at sunset.  You can take a Pirate ship out into the Gulf and they put on a pirate "show" .  If you want to hit a mall, there are a few close by, Citrus Park Mall is nice, located just off the sunshine hwy.  DO NOT go to clearwater mall, not a nice mall.  If you want a great evening of shopping, dining, and nightlife, I highly recommend International Plaza and Bay Street.  This is Tampa's high end mall, it has Nordstrom's, Neiman Marcus, tiffany's, cheesecake factory, Champps grille, and lots, lots more.    It is located right by the Tampa airport.  take I-275 right across the causeway into Tampa, follow the airport signs, then look for International Plaza.  It is located right off Westshore Blvd.  the shopping is great, the food is great.  Florida Aquarium is located right by Tampa Port Authority, it is a very family friendly aquarium, as is Tampa zoo.  The best brunch I have EVER had is located at Oystercatcher's at the Grande Hyatt in Tampa.  The food is amazing, as is the view of Hillsborough Bay.  Their fine dining, Armani's is also amazing as well, and the view is even better than at Oystercatchers, because it is on the top floor of the Grand Hyatt.


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## Nancy (Nov 14, 2009)

*Clearwater Mall*

Clearwater Mall has been torn down and rebuild with several big box stores; Costco, HH Gregg, Super Target, large Lowe's, and several other smaller stores.  Really quite nice now.

Nancy


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## Sea Six (Nov 15, 2009)

Do people really spend their vacation time by travelling hundreds of miles to visit the same franchise stores they have at home?  It's like vacationing at a major resort and eating at McDonald's.


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## laurac260 (Nov 15, 2009)

Nancy said:


> Clearwater Mall has been torn down and rebuild with several big box stores; Costco, HH Gregg, Super Target, large Lowe's, and several other smaller stores.  Really quite nice now.
> 
> Nancy



Well, I've been gone a couple years now, so that was news to me.  That's good for clearwater!


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## laurac260 (Nov 15, 2009)

Sea Six said:


> Do people really spend their vacation time by travelling hundreds of miles to visit the same franchise stores they have at home?  It's like vacationing at a major resort and eating at McDonald's.



I don't think the OP was looking for where the local WalMart is, but hey, if you need something in a pinch, you know what to expect in a store you've been to before.


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## McKShr6 (Nov 15, 2009)

'Crabby Bill's" has the best seafood in the Treasure Island area and it is reasonably priced too. The supermarket on Treasure Island has an underground garage and you take the elevator to go up to the store. It looks so nice at first we drove by and didn't realize it was a supermarket ! It is a very beautiful area, I took many pictures of the sunset and sunrise from our balcony overlooking the ocean.


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## Jim Bryan (Nov 16, 2009)

While in the area go over to Gulfport for an evening to shop and eat.
http://www.visitfloridaonline.com/article_gulfport.htm


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## Jim Bryan (Nov 16, 2009)

Or try Peg's Cantina, before strolling the shops or after. Area has an "Old Florida" feel.

http://www.pegscantina.com/


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## jmd42 (Nov 18, 2009)

*Leaving 11/21*

Any last minute recommendations for things to do, places to eat, places to visit. Anything appreciated, thanx jim


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## Nancy (Nov 18, 2009)

I live part-time in the town of Dunedin.  Cute shops and several downtown restaurants.  Safety Harbor is another neat small town.  A little further north is Tarpon Springs, a greek town.  Downtown has several antique shops, but the main tourist area is north of downtown off Alt-19, Dodocanese (sp) street.  Several Greek restaurants, a few seafood restaurants, lots of shops and several different small boat trips.  Always fun for a little diversion from the beach.

I also like John's Pass which is right close to where you are staying.

Have fun.

Nancy


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## Jim Bryan (Nov 18, 2009)

Several pictures of Gulf Port.

http://gulfportflorida.us/largePhotoGallery_SeaBreeze.html


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## laurac260 (Nov 20, 2009)

If I was visiting the area:

Busch Gardens, Tampa
Tarpon Springs see previous post
Clearwater Beach--Pier 60, visit the marina, take a deep sea fishing trip, or a dinner cruise, or the pirate cruise.
Florida Aquarium Tampa
International Mall for a day of shopping and dining
St Pete Beach
The Pier--take a dophin sightseeing cruise
Dali Lama Museum
Holocaust Memorial 
Day trip to Disney
Day trip to Sarasota--Ringling Bros Museum
Thanksgiving dinner at Oystercatchers at Grande Hyatt
Dinner at Armani's at Grand Hyatt
rent wave runners

http://www.floridasbeach.com/


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## Arb (Feb 3, 2010)

*Treasure Island Beach Club (#0778) ?*

Hey everyone. I like the location of this resort, but the reviews are ancient!
Can anyone tell me if it would be ok? Comfortable?
We don't need anything fancy, but we'd like to have comfortable beds and a kitchen and bath that's in good repair.
Input, please!!


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## Sea Six (Feb 3, 2010)

I was there about 20 years ago.  It was an older resort even then, and did not have anything fancy to offer.  I would hope the place has been renovated.  It looked like a small condo converted into a time share to me.  The rooms were larger than some places I've been, and the parking lot is across the street from the building.  The beach is really wide there.


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## Arb (Feb 4, 2010)

*reviews*

There just don't seem to be any recent reviews anywhere!


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## hefleycatz (Feb 4, 2010)

Member Reviews Posted: Aug 4, 2008 User: roseannak 
Rating:  
We stayed last week of July and found the resort clean, friendly and very quiet. Our unit faced the pool and beach and was convient to shopping and attractions. Unit was very comfortable and well equipped. Good value for the money. Weather was perfect!


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## Arb (Feb 4, 2010)

Where did you find that review? On TUG? The last one I saw was from 2004.
I'm puzzled.


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## hefleycatz (Feb 4, 2010)

Redweek.com


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## anne1125 (Feb 7, 2010)

We just came back from Indian Shores and want to add to try a Segway tour (Remi's) and he'll take you through Fort DeSoto state park.  It was fabulous!

Anne


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## wcfr1 (Feb 14, 2010)

laurac260 said:


> Yes, the pink palace is a palace indeed.  Hard to believe it was once a VA Hospital!



Only for 2 years. It was built as a luxury hotel and taken over by the VA during WWII. Was then used as VA offices until repurchased and turned back into a luxury hotel... as desigend.


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## wcfr1 (Feb 14, 2010)

Arb said:


> Hey everyone. I like the location of this resort, but the reviews are ancient!
> Can anyone tell me if it would be ok? Comfortable?
> We don't need anything fancy, but we'd like to have comfortable beds and a kitchen and bath that's in good repair.
> Input, please!!



I live in the area and about a year ago I posted a drive by review of all our beach timeshares. I will repost here for everyone. But looking at their web site and my notes I recall this one being fairly clean and not run down but not what I would call high end. 

It's in a great area at the North end of Treasure Island.


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## jmd42 (Apr 21, 2010)

*Better late than never/laurac260*

laurac260, sorry for the delay on update on Thansgiving week and dinner on treasure island. As before mentioned we just purchased week at voyager beach club. My wife was very skeptical about going at this time of year but as things turned out it could have not gone better. We arrived early due to flight schedule but I had gone on line and found they were having a barbecue cook-off out side of tampa. It was huge and we had a great time. Drove over to voyager later that day and we were both satisfied on smaller units. Well to make a long story short we met some co-voyager owners at the pool/bbq. area and asked them on thier opinions on where to eat on thanksgiving and they insisted that we stay and eat with them at the resort, so they cooked a turkey on the grill and had some wonderful sides. We grilled out almost all week with them. My wife had such a relaxing time that I will have no problem getting her to return. We have been all over the U.S.A and part of the world and sometimes it surprises you how much you can enjoy yourself just relaxing at a smaller resort. We had beautiful sunsets every night and nice walks on the beach. So thank everyone for their input on places to eat but we met some very nice people with kind intentions and hospitality and had a wonderful dinner with them.


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## jmd42 (Apr 22, 2010)

*Will post review*

I will post review later this weekend or next week:zzz:


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