Puerto Vallarta off itinerary

I just saw on Good Morning American that 3 cruise lines were avoiding Puerto Vallarta because of increased violence. When we were there a month ago several excursions were cancelled because of a shooting. This makes me very said as PV is my favorite stop.

I hope they can get it together.

That is all I know and just heard a short blurb, not sure which lines this includes. Has anyone heard anything more on this ?

Kris

Sad. We didn't really do anything in Puerto Vallarta itself but loved our day at Las Caletas when we ported at PV.

There's an article about the cancellations located HERE

I hope they can get it together.

That is all I know and just heard a short blurb, not sure which lines this includes. Has anyone heard anything more on this ?

 

Kris

Haven't you been following the news? The violence in Mexico is constant and spreading. I don't see some of the ports of call remaining in itineraries. ( Acapulco is gone too) This isn't due to just "a shooting." There are kidnappings for ransoms daily in the country. The cruise lines just aren't taking chances.

Only the Mexican gov. can help " get it together". Unfortunately it is as corrupt.:rolleyes:

It is awful for their economy. The Cancun area is feeling it too. The news just puts understandable fear into tourists.

Yes, it is a shame. They have made efforts to clean up the crime but it has come back. In 2012 we took a Panama Canal cruise from LA to FLL and completely bypassed Mexico. We had 5 sea days between LA and Costa Rica.

We enjoyed the sea days, so it was not bad.

Of course this will make i rougher for the West coast cruises.

We have a Panama Canal full transit coming up in September. The only Mexican port on the itinerary is Cabo. I wonder if that will be scratched from the schedule. So far I don't see that is a port that's been scratched but one can never tell with Mexico. I'll worry about that when the time comes. If we have to skip Cabo it won't really be that much of a loss.

I have two upcoming Princess cruises with stops in PV, and neither has been cancelled or modified. I don't think Princess is going to panic just yet.

We were there in April and they had cancelled the ship sponsored zipline excursions. We heard about 4 different stories as to what was happening and no one was to forth coming. We did hear after our return that a tourist had been murdered in the Marina district and that was a robbery gone bad.

We had booked an independent zipline and I called to cancel and see if we could recoup some of our money but of course she denied any problems and so no refund.

We went in to town instead and walked the Malecon and didn't feel anything out of the usual but apparently we were just oblivious tourists.

I feel bad for all the wonderful people who live and work in PV, they count on the tourists for their livelihood. I hope they get the problem under control.

It is a terrible liability to put tourists in....literally....the line of fire. Gang/drug cartel shootings that happen to hit and wound or kill cruise ship passengers doesn't look good in court. I love Mexico, and Tunsia.....and have lived in the Middle East for years....but I don't go where I am more likely to get killed than to just have a good time.

It is a terrible liability to put tourists in....literally....the line of fire. Gang/drug cartel shootings that happen to hit and wound or kill cruise ship passengers doesn't look good in court. I love Mexico, and Tunsia.....and have lived in the Middle East for years....but I don't go where I am more likely to get killed than to just have a good time.

Guess you better stay out of Los Angeles. Gangs, shootings, drug dealers. I know you hear on the news all the time about the thousands of tourists who are shot in the line of fire every day on Hollywood Blvd! :rolleyes: No? Could it be there might be a teensy little bit of exaggeration about the Mexican threat, too?

Yes, it definitely is exaggerated.

Rumors, rumors, travel fast. The press often doesnot give the correct information. Nobody was killed in the Marina. NO INJURIES in Puerto Vallarta during the problems on the morning of May 1. It is so sad that the us tv stations and press continue to give wrong information.

This morning Carnival Miracle docked in Vallarta as usual.!!!

Is not it strange that gangwars in Canada and the US, shootings like this morning in Santa Barbara hardly get attention and tourists travel there as usual?

Again tourists Never had problems in Vallarta . Apart from cruise passengers thousands and thousands of snowbirds from Canada and the US stay in winter and enjoy every moment.

There are 2 weekly charters from the UK ,the airport never stopped opersting.

Isnot it strange that people that never were in Vallarta seem to know better?

It is a terrible liability to put tourists in....literally....the line of fire. Gang/drug cartel shootings that happen to hit and wound or kill cruise ship passengers doesn't look good in court. I love Mexico, and Tunsia.....and have lived in the Middle East for years....but I don't go where I am more likely to get killed than to just have a good time.

This realy is such a big lie! No tourists were in the line of fire! On the contrary, banks ere closed, it was a holiday. nobody there. GASstation attendents were warned, nobody there.

So your information isnot correct.

This realy is such a big lie! No tourists were in the line of fire! On the contrary, banks ere closed, it was a holiday. nobody there. GASstation attendents were warned, nobody there.

So your information isnot correct.

Thanks for the update Ine. I appreciate the information you post Regarding this much more than what comes over the Television news. As you can see We are headed there in December but I am not worried.

Please take the time to keep the CC board updated with the real information. You certainly have better access to it than most.

Dixon

Guess you better stay out of Los Angeles. Gangs, shootings, drug dealers. I know you hear on the news all the time about the thousands of tourists who are shot in the line of fire every day on Hollywood Blvd! :rolleyes: No? Could it be there might be a teensy little bit of exaggeration about the Mexican threat, too?

Ships can't stop in Santa Barbara, CA either. 2 people were shot to death last night in Isla Vista (where UC Santa Barbara is located). This violence is closer to downtown Santa Barbara than the violence that took place near Puerto Vallarta.

2weeks ago while in Santa Barbara a Princess ship was anchored off shore tendering passengers to the pier.

Like Ine, I spend my winter months in Puerto Vallarta. I'm a senior and live alone. People generally eat late in PV, so I am often walking or bicycling home at midnight. I live in an apartment on the beach in Centro. I generally do not lock my door although there is a locked gate to get into the building.

I have never felt threatened or worried at any time including May 1. Actually on May 1 I had taken a taxi from a friend's house south of town because he had lent me a computer monitor and I couldn't negotiate it on the bus. I then left my wallet in the taxi, but didn't realize it until that night. I luckily had the number of the taxi and called...and the driver told me right away that he had my wallet and that all the money and both of my debit cards were safe. He had his brother bring it all the way back into town for me that night...because he had already taken it home as his shift was over. That kind of honesty is typical in PV.

But, back to May 1. The preceding week, the federales had commenced an operation to rid the state of Jalisco (a very big state) of a new drug cartel. They had captured one of the gang leaders. In retaliation and on Labor Day weekend (May 1 here), a typical time for protests around the world, the cartel set off molotov cocktails around Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. First, let me say that I don't condone property destruction. But the 'bad guys' took great care to make sure there were no innocent bystander injuries. First, they fire bombed 4 banks that were closed for the holiday, after telling anyone in the area to please move back. They also set fire to some buses, but first they went onto the bus, apologized, made everyone get off the bus and THEN they set it afire. The gas stations were open and so they called and warned the stations to close; then they made sure noone was standing around, and THEN they set them afire...I think 5 gas stations, 2 in PV and the rest nearer Guadalajara.

The police and federales asked the public...tourists from all over Mexico because of the holiday and gringos and locals...to stay home or in their neighborhood so that the feds could catch the 'bad guys'. There were 7 Humvee vehicles with manned machine guns on the back just 2 blocks from weher I lived as they were part of the federale Operation. The fires were quickly put out, the banks boarded up and repaired by the next day. The airport was secured and also the border north to Nayarit state. No one of the many Ex Pats living in PV saw or heard any gunfire. Not one person was injured. And it was over in one day.

That night the news was fun of the rioting in Seattle (evidently for May Day celebrations???????) and Baltimore. There were injuries, damage in the millions, and gunfire. Yet no one is blockading Seattle. Go figure.

There was an incident outside of Guadalajara where a federale helicopter was forced to land and there were 7 deaths which is very sad. But it seems that here in southern Mexico, that the fights between the cartels and the federales stay between the cartels and federales. Both are sensitive to the tourist industry and neither want to see that industry ruined.

The other 6 months of the year I live in a very small ski resort town in Colorado. I've lived in LA, Maui, Aspen, Dillon, Denver, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and San Francisco and I feel safer here than I did in any of those places.

I don't work for the tourist trade and never did. In fact, I guess that if tourists stop coming to PV, I'll find my dollar goes even farther! But this town is safer than most any US city of same size. And both it and its people are beautiful.

Come see for yourself:D

Thank you, ColoradoBelle. Don't know you, but I trust your information more than that of the media.

Thank you, ColoradoBelle. Don't know you, but I trust your information more than that of the media.

I second that!

I never would trust the media with regards to news in Mexico.

Thank you Colorado Belle for that information. Glad to hear you got your wallet back from the honest taxi driver.

So many people are overreacting to the inaccurate accounts of what happened in Puerto Vallarta. So glad you have clarified the situation and hope that the cruise lines don't cancel their port stops there. All the innocent people in PV that try to make a living will be hurt by the lack of tourism.

I plan to spend my usual three months there next winter as I usually do.

Thanks Coloradobelle!

Had a similar report from my elderly neighbors who just returned from a 2 week stay in PV. Other than the May 1st problems, they weren't impeded from traveling about during the rest of their stay.

Can't wait to take my next trip to PV!