SS American Victory Mariners' Memorial and Museum Ship, Florida, United States
4.0 (389 reviews) Saturday: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Spent Ranking #29 in Tampa Military Museums • Ships
A great experience brought by a mostly volunteer team
We took a guided tour that incidentally started just five minutes after we got in around opening time on Memorial Day. They keep just a few people on payroll, and the rest are volunteers. We had George guide us, a Navy veteran whose informative and straightforward we appreciated greatly. This museum ship is a converted Liberty cargo ship, saved before being put for scrap some decades ago when container shipping made these vessels mostly obsolete. You get a real sense for life on the ship and what it must have been like for sailors to live here. I have visited other WWII-era ships in the past, and this one was right up there with the others in terms of value for my money. I recommend it to anyone who feels they would enjoy this sort of thing.
Address
705 Channelside Dr, Tampa, FL 33602-5600
Mobile
Website
http://www.americanvictory.org/
Working hours
Monday : 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday : 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday : 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday : 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday : 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday : 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday : 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Current local date and time now
Saturday, May 11, 2024, 16:18
User Ratings
4.0 based on (389 reviews)
Reviews
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4Chris_626 5:00 PM Aug 13, 2022
Ship and History Explorers, Go For It
It's an honor to tour history! At this experience, if you don't book a tour guide you are exploring on your own, museum style. It was fun to explore and imagine this ship at sea. I only gave 4 stars because since it is a self tour, it would have been helpful (in our opinion) to see more museum type posters that explained the story of the ship as we explored it (to tie the story of the actual ships history). Warning: If anyone in your party has bad knees, or a bad back the ladders and climbing may be a bit much. In addition, it's Florida and metal is hott! The ship did make a few AC areas which was amazing to help you continue the tour and battle the heat! Enjoy!
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3T C 5:00 PM Oct 30, 2021
Creepy Halloween event would be even scarier without human actors
Need to buy tix online in advance. Different price for different time slots which also seem to change depending on how soon the tour is coming up. We had a 10pm slot (cheaper tix) but got there early and they let us in early. Lots of steep narrow stairs so you must be fit. You get to walk thru most of the ship on a designated course but can't really go off to explore on your own, especially since you're sent thru in a group of appr 10 people, you have to walk fast so you don't hold up anyone behind you. Ship by itself is already spooky enough. Takes appr 30 mins to walk thru. Next year they should not hire actors (save on payroll) and let people walk thru in their own private groups, each spaced about 5 mins apart. Now that would be creepy! Or instead have the actors guide small groups thru the ship discussing the history sprinkled with real (or made up) ghost stories. Also need to do something about the unbelievably putrid odor, literally smells like there is a real rotting corpse on board. I felt bad for the actors that had to breathe that in all night. Glad I wore my mask! Overall a unique if somewhat pricy Halloween experience and at least I know our $ went to a good place as this is a nonprofit that relies on admission to cover it's ongoing maintenance and operating expenses.
