22 Carnival Cruise Passengers Robbed in Puerto Vallarta

[cdamion]

Obviously, the odds are that nothing will happen to you in these ports, but personally I would stay on the ship if I was going to a MR port in the near future. I wouldn't feel good about taking children with me into the ports. I've read a lot of posts on CC about people staying on the ships. The cruise lines make a lot of money on shore excursions. If everyone stays on the ship it's not that lucrative for the cruise line to go there. I enjoy this route, but I won't be booking it anytime soon.

 

I am on it in 4 weeks and with my children. We will definitely be going into the ports, even PV assuming we still call there. I probably will not go up onto the mountain road where the incident occurred (yes, I was planning to take a private tour there).

[Rottweiler Puppy]

About 10 years ago there were several carjackings targeting rental cars right outside Miami airport

A couple of German tourists were killed

An advisory was put out by German gov

It was front page news here in Florida for weeks

The rental co stopped put obvious signs that the cars

we're rentals.

Miami dads set up task forces , stepped up police presence

Went after the gangs that were doing it

Many were captured , in fact those gangs are not in exsistance today

It's not about the crime but how the gov / municiples in charge react

In the Us it's treated aggressively , in Mexico while I'm sure they want it to stop

The gov is loosing the battle as its been going on for years

Very news worthy

 

That was in the 90's. The Germans got smart and started buying and carrying guns. The gangs knew the Germans were packing and that helped as well. I also agree that the government handled it well also.

 

Whats truly classless was we had a local band called "Dead German Tourist"

[NotWthOutablcony]

Oh dear :rolleyes:

This was a horrible event, BUT, nothing will keep us from cruising to Mexico. This will be our 6th cruise to Mexico, all being at least a week long and we have NEVER felt unsafe. We have taken many ship sponsered shore excursions as well as venturing out on our own over the years. Know that you are in a foreign country, keep your wits about you. Unfortunately for these cruisers, this event was unavoidable, though had I been the bus driver, they would have all been hood ornaments, I would not have pulled over to let armed gunmen get on :confused:

[CWcruisers]

Doubt I would ever book tour that needed armed guards or a tour guide that was packing.

 

In order to see the pyramids in Egypt, it is done this way, or at least it was when I saw them off a ship in 2000.

 

The guards are there to give you a sense of security, not necessarily because there will be a problem. It's a preventive measure.

[H82seaUgo]

Here is factual data on what I have posted (just to save you the trouble of coming after me next):

 

Tour bus in St. Kitts with 16 Celebrity passengers (plus mention of the poor girl killed in St. Thomas): http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2010/11/celebrity-passengers-robbed-on-st-kitts/131080/1

 

Tour in Jamaica (Carnival): http://www.travelblog.org/Topics/5764-1.html

 

3 incidents in St. Lucia (NCL+ from cruising's biggest fan): http://www.*****************/St_Lucia_Tourist_Robberies_Continue_August_9_2010.html

 

Not unheard of unfortunately.

 

EDIT: Oh the guy's site is blocked. Just google St. Lucia cruise robbery or something similar and you will find some stories of passenger robberies. NCL ended up yanking the port after several incidents back in 2010.

 

i didn't even realize these locations had even moved to the broward county zip codes.

[Cindy]

They bring us to St Thomas daily. A 14 year old girl was killed in the crossfire of a drug gang. And they never stopped going to St Thomas.

 

Laura S, I dont understand why this was front page news?:confused:

 

 

I don't understand why you think it shouldn't have been front page news. An incident involving cruise passengers on a cruiseline excursion is news on a cruise board!

[deena26]

Before we went on this cruise last november, my hubsand was soooo harrassing me about booking us for 'mexico' all his buddies were telling him how dumb it is to go there (he's been 4 times), I kept telling him thats why we are booking excursions for safety, etc. blah blah blah. My sister acted 'truly concerned' about me going too which drove me NUTS!! A week before we left there was a midday shooting in Cabo too. I could not imagine how he would have reacted to this incident before our trip. I was more paranoid in Long Beach precruise walking around with a buncha cash. There are so many shootings and awful areas of L.A. nearby where the murder rates are outrageous. He does say now 'no more mexcio' for us, which makes me so sad- i would go back in a heartbeat honestly, but i would now skip the excursion, i would feel like a moving target. This truly is so awful and I too have wondered how they got on the bus in the 1st place.

[mousey]

I hope there is more information regarding this matter that comes out soon so I can make an educated decision as to if I want to take my DS and his friend on the Splendor cruise for spring break or not. I have the freedom of choice here since we haven't booked our cruise yet. I understand all the posters that say bad stuff can happen anywhere, I'm totally aware of that fact. I live in So. Cal. and we have our fair share of crime here. I'm lucky that the DH and I worked hard to get our family into a "relatively" safe area to live. I know no place is 100% safe, but when I tell you that there is very, little crime where we live, I am not kidding anyone and not myself either. However, there does seem to be more and more incidents happening in Mexico lately as anyone can tell from reading the newspapers or seeing the news on T.V. If I have the freedom to make a choice about where I will or won't take my child, which I do, you can bet I'm going to make the best decision I can given the information that I have. We are having a family meeting today to decide if we still want to take this cruise or not.

 

My family's safety trumps offending anyone who claims people that are making a big deal about going to Mexico now are overreacting. I'm not over reacting, I'm trying to make the best decision for my family that I possibly can. There are parts of L.A. where I would never take my child and where I myself have never been because I know there are many instances of gang problems there. Why would I take my kid to a foreign country where there is a recent history of problems? It doesn't make sense to me that anyone would say I was wrong for wanting to take a wait and see attitude about traveling to somewhere where there seems to be a lot of problems lately. Whatever! My motto is better safe than sorry.

 

I wish everyone that is cruising to Mexico has a great and safe cruise. We may be joining you in the near future, just not sure right now.

[Carnivaluver]

You are being naive to think this is only happening in Mexico. Crime is EVERYWHERE. If you want that sterile of an environment, you better find a cruise that just goes to the cruise lines' private island.

 

I have traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean and most islands have a pretty high crime rate - sometimes it spreads to tourists. One van of robbed tourists frankly does cause me concern because I was planning to be in that very same area via taxi, but I can't be scared of PV as a port - yet. If more things start happening in PV, then who knows.

 

It doesn't take much of a search to find out about very high crime and murder rates in many Caribbean countries that ships make regular calls to.

 

Crime does happen everywhere but it is the type and volume in Mexico that is disturbing. We live on an island with almost no violent crime. The LA Times has cited an estimate of at least 38,000 people murdered in Mexico since the start of the Drug Wars in 2006 and it keeps getting worse.

 

In most cities or countries people are not tortured, hung from overpasses, beheaded, burned or other vicious act such as is done to people in Mexico. I think it is an Apple to Oranges argument and I do hope they start sending the ships to Hawaii. :cool:

[kyrisong1]

I love Mexico, but I prefer the Carribean side. I wasn't in love with the cities we visited on our Mex Riv cruise and we probably won't go back.

Nothing about feeling unsafe, but mostly about the beauty, I'm in love with the clear blue, warm waters of the Carrib, probably because I come from a landlocked, cold place. The Mex Riv didn't do it for us.

I found the cities kinda dirty and gross on the west coast of Mexico.

I will say that I've felt a lot less safe here in the US than I ever have out of the country. The person from KC that says they will not go to Mexico has never been to their own bad parts? I have a best friend from KC and I've felt very unsafe when I've wandered off the beaten path there, also Dallas and Atlanta.

Point being, you can find danger anywhere, if you live your life in a bubble and never go anywhere you will probably avoid danger. I prefer to explore and hope that good sense and good research will keep me safe.

One cruise on X we visited Columbia, it was a little tense when in our talks they suggest we don't look any of the vendors in the face, but just pretend they are not there.

But I'm so glad I went, it was an awesome trip and I enjoyed every moment, even if we were escorted by automatic machine gun (looked like) toting military guys!!!

Living is full of danger, but I'm going to keep on living instead of just existing!!!

Carole

[cdamion]

Crime does happen everywhere but it is the type and volume in Mexico that is disturbing. We live on an island with almost no violent crime. The LA Times has cited an estimate of at least 38,000 people murdered in Mexico since the start of the Drug Wars in 2006 and it keeps getting worse.

 

In most cities or countries people are not tortured, hung from overpasses, beheaded, burned or other vicious act such as is done to people in Mexico. I think it is an Apple to Oranges argument and I do hope they start sending the ships to Hawaii. :cool:

 

I think Coz to Roatan is apples to apples - just for the fact that they are islands remote from high crime mainlands. Honduras isn't as public about their murders - those people just end up disappearing after saying the wrong thing about the wrong person. Some towns there are safe as anywhere can be - others, you probably won't make it walking down the street at night.

 

It is a true shame what is happening in Mexico - but what is happening in Juarez is not what is happening in Cozumel, Cancun, PV, Cabo, etc.

 

I do sometimes go to risky places when I travel. I have no concerns traveling via cruise next month, nor heading to the Mayan Riviera side land-based in June. I won't, on the other hand be heading to Juarez or the border cities any time soon.

[aidansaunt2004]

Okay, so I'm going to share my thoughts on everything that's been discussed.

 

First off, I would like to express my sympathy to the unfortunate people that had to go through this horrible experience. I would probably need counseling after something so horrific and yes I believe it's a very traumatic situation.

 

I'm not going to attempt to downplay the situation because I believe it's very serious. Being robbed at gunpoint would be terrifying and I hope I never have to experience it. For the people saying it happens all the time etc. put yourself in their shoes. Imagine having a gun pointed at you. Nobody said they had on Rolex watches etc. The thieves had no idea what these people were or were not carrying with them.

 

As far as the comment that the bus shouldn't have stopped... I've thought about this and I think it could have ended up worse if the bus didn't stop. The first though that comes to my mind is that the robbers may have opened fire and people would have been hurt/killed. If someone is bold enough to rob someone with a gun, they're probably brave enough to shoot someone.

 

The comments regarding the crime rate in Mexico... I think Mexico has one of the largest drug problems in the world. It's well documented and openly discussed. People are killed every single day and those people include tourists. The military members carrying guns are on street corners for reasons and it's not to make you feel safe. They're around because of the high crime rate. I'm not sure where some of you live but we don't have any crime where I live. I live in a small farming community where everyone knows each other so going to Mexico is certainly different for me. I've been to Cozumel and I felt safe in the port but when we got in that taxi and went downtown, it was another story. Over the last few years I've heard so many horror stories about Mexico from numerous outlets. People are losing their lives for many different reasons. Maybe they're trying to buy drugs, maybe they're traveling with someone buying drugs, they're in the wrong place, they are an easy target etc. Facts are facts. Mexico has a very serious problem that is harming a lot of different people. I personally would prefer not to go back to Mexico. If I stop in Cozumel, I won't leave the port.

 

The comment about Honduras... we cruised to Isla Roatan before the new "port" was built. We went to Tabayana beach. It was beautiful but there were a few things that were noticeable. There were children and adults "scouting" the beach looking for items that could be grabbed. Sure, most of the places cruise ships go have crime but some places are worse than others. Shortly after we returned from Honduras a story made the news. A body double for an actress (I forget which one) was murdered in Honduras.

 

My thoughts about the bus robbery... Carnival excursions are sold by Carnival as "safe, guaranteed excursions". I wonder if the bus driver wasn't somehow involved with this robbery. When we've looked at excursions we've always thought the Carnival excursions were worth the extra money because they aren't going to leave without you and reputable companies are used.

 

Whether or not we (fellow cruisers) want to admit it, we are the perfect targets for criminals. The majority of us don't fit in with the locals so it will be pretty easy to spot us. The ships generally arrive at the same time every week so after about a month of watching, a criminal will know the schedule and they will know which tours/activities are popular with the tourists. They have the upper hand because they know which roads are less traveled etc.

 

I choose not to go on vacation wearing jewelry or anything worth value. The only exception to that is my camera. Not wearing jewelry and high dollar clothing etc. will help you fit in and hopefully will avoid marking some people as a target.

 

Unfortunately, I don't believe this robbery could have been avoided. I don't think these people were handpicked. I think the criminals knew there would be a large amount of people on the bus which is a better payday for them. Luckily, nobody was hurt physically.

 

I imagine there will be a decent amount of people that will think twice before booking a Mexican cruise. Then again, there will always be people with the "it won't happen to me" attitude. I will disagree with everyone that says Mexico is safe and this is in isolated incident. The poor girl that lost her life in St. Thomas was an isolated incident. People being robbed & murdered is an everyday occurrence in Mexico.

[itravelalot]

I have always been a big of everything Mexican.. Even with the drug violence I have stood up saying stay away from borders etc... I love Cancun and Cozumel...

 

Does it now seem that you are a big target riding around on a Big White Tour Bus... it almost seems obvious that they would pick a tour bus... A bunch of Americans/Canadians on holiday with (probably) money in their pockets, cameras, watches and other theft worthy items...

 

I am now not so sure about Mexico. :(

[cdamion]

Okay, so I'm going to share my thoughts on everything that's been discussed.

 

First off, I would like to express my sympathy to the unfortunate people that had to go through this horrible experience. I would probably need counseling after something so horrific and yes I believe it's a very traumatic situation.

 

I'm not going to attempt to downplay the situation because I believe it's very serious. Being robbed at gunpoint would be terrifying and I hope I never have to experience it. For the people saying it happens all the time etc. put yourself in their shoes. Imagine having a gun pointed at you. Nobody said they had on Rolex watches etc. The thieves had no idea what these people were or were not carrying with them.

 

As far as the comment that the bus shouldn't have stopped... I've thought about this and I think it could have ended up worse if the bus didn't stop. The first though that comes to my mind is that the robbers may have opened fire and people would have been hurt/killed. If someone is bold enough to rob someone with a gun, they're probably brave enough to shoot someone.

 

The comments regarding the crime rate in Mexico... I think Mexico has one of the largest drug problems in the world. It's well documented and openly discussed. People are killed every single day and those people include tourists. The military members carrying guns are on street corners for reasons and it's not to make you feel safe. They're around because of the high crime rate. I'm not sure where some of you live but we don't have any crime where I live. I live in a small farming community where everyone knows each other so going to Mexico is certainly different for me. I've been to Cozumel and I felt safe in the port but when we got in that taxi and went downtown, it was another story. Over the last few years I've heard so many horror stories about Mexico from numerous outlets. People are losing their lives for many different reasons. Maybe they're trying to buy drugs, maybe they're traveling with someone buying drugs, they're in the wrong place, they are an easy target etc. Facts are facts. Mexico has a very serious problem that is harming a lot of different people. I personally would prefer not to go back to Mexico. If I stop in Cozumel, I won't leave the port.

 

The comment about Honduras... we cruised to Isla Roatan before the new "port" was built. We went to Tabayana beach. It was beautiful but there were a few things that were noticeable. There were children and adults "scouting" the beach looking for items that could be grabbed. Sure, most of the places cruise ships go have crime but some places are worse than others. Shortly after we returned from Honduras a story made the news. A body double for an actress (I forget which one) was murdered in Honduras.

 

My thoughts about the bus robbery... Carnival excursions are sold by Carnival as "safe, guaranteed excursions". I wonder if the bus driver wasn't somehow involved with this robbery. When we've looked at excursions we've always thought the Carnival excursions were worth the extra money because they aren't going to leave without you and reputable companies are used.

 

Whether or not we (fellow cruisers) want to admit it, we are the perfect targets for criminals. The majority of us don't fit in with the locals so it will be pretty easy to spot us. The ships generally arrive at the same time every week so after about a month of watching, a criminal will know the schedule and they will know which tours/activities are popular with the tourists. They have the upper hand because they know which roads are less traveled etc.

 

I choose not to go on vacation wearing jewelry or anything worth value. The only exception to that is my camera. Not wearing jewelry and high dollar clothing etc. will help you fit in and hopefully will avoid marking some people as a target.

 

Unfortunately, I don't believe this robbery could have been avoided. I don't think these people were handpicked. I think the criminals knew there would be a large amount of people on the bus which is a better payday for them. Luckily, nobody was hurt physically.

 

I imagine there will be a decent amount of people that will think twice before booking a Mexican cruise. Then again, there will always be people with the "it won't happen to me" attitude. I will disagree with everyone that says Mexico is safe and this is in isolated incident. The poor girl that lost her life in St. Thomas was an isolated incident. People being robbed & murdered is an everyday occurrence in Mexico.

 

It is now sounding like the people were not on the bus, but on a trail and robbed by a single gunman.

 

Let me ask you this: you will not go to Mexico or leave the port in Coz, but will you go to New Orleans and the French Quarter? Anywhere in Miami before a cruise? New York? Los Angeles? Tourists can and do get robbed in these places - pretty frequently in some cases.

 

I am the one who keeps on bringing up Honduras because I have familiarity with that particular country. Your point about it being an inside job is an interesting one - a luxury bus the size of a greyhound bus was robbed there a couple years ago. That turned out to be an inside job, so it is entirely possible.

 

As others have said, determine your risk tolerance for any given area you travel to and stay within your comfort zone.

[FightOnRon]

Read the other thread with the same title. Now part two of the story seems to be maybe they were actually hiking on a jungle trail and ambushed by one guy with a gun. Two different stories are coming out. Even our local news here in LA have put out the story all jumbled up by interviewing people that actually hadn't been on the excursion but had "heard" on the ship what had happened.

[angelndscz]

I wanted to post a quick story that happened to my friend two years ago on her cruise to Jamaica. At one of the ports they got off ship and was planning on walking around. A lady came up to her and wanted to braid her daughter hair and just started braiding it. My friend kept telling her "no braid, no braid" and she kept braiding. My friend as fun-loving as she is is probably laughing at this, turned to her hubby and when she turned back the lady was putting her 8 year old daughter into a taxi. My friend ran and jumped into the taxi and her husband and 12 year old autistic son followed and they drove them around for a while. My friend is freaking out at this point. They stopped at an ATM and made my friend withdrawl money, then they drove around some more and took them to another ATM and asked for more money. It was around $500 later they took them back to ship. My friend did report this incident and will never cruise again. (FYI - taxi driver was with them.)

 

My husband is 100% Mexican. I have never been to Mexico. When booking our first cruise my husband said, well, with everything going on in Mexico, its probably not a good idea. We are going to the Bahamas instead. I am really afraid my kids will be kidnapped in Mexico and they are half Mexican.

 

My husband and my younger son with to a God-Son's communion in El Paso and I told my hubby he should take my son into Mexico and he would get a kick out of it. Our friends (also 100% Mexican) said no way they would cross the boarder with everything going on and this was a few years ago too.

[Texaslandshark]

This whole incident really is a non-issue. Nobody got hurt. And if one is stupid enough to not leave their Cartiers and Rolexes, credit cards and documents other than a drivers license in their safe on the ship... When I go on a shore excursion, I have my drivers license, $40, a cheap casio watch and a $150 camera on me. Anything happens, I hand it over and get over it. Let's move on.

Think about it for a minute..why can't you take those things with you? Answer: You know good and well you've spent your vacation dollar going to a knife-and-gun club of a country where army types (no 2 with the same uniform) run around with automatic weapons in the daytime because why???

I know, I've seen it in PV. If you ain't looking over your shoulder all the time, you are clueless. 50,000 murders in the past 5 years in that country kinda gives one a hint as to what's going on down there and those that compare it to the USA need to get real.

That having been said, we'll be in Cozumel in May.

[RVman]

Remember this one? this happened a few years back

 

"On June 10, 2007, my wife, 12-year old son, 10-year old daughter, and I set sail on the Carnival Conquest from Galveston, Texas. Being that this was our first cruise, we were looking forward to spending some quality time together as a family. The first stop was Jamaica, when we opted for a Carnival excursion, “Lethe Village Tour”. We selected this tour to show the kids traditional Jamaican culture. We had no idea how this decision would change our lives forever.

 

I am a 17-year police veteran. Before my current profession, I proudly served in the U.S. Army. Safety and protection is my number one goal with anyone, especially with my wife and children. With this in mind, I attended the excursion meeting that was held on the ship by the Cruise Director, Mr. Price.

 

During that excursion meeting, the Director's words were… “In order to see the true Jamaica, you have to take a Carnival Shore Excursion." He added, “The Carnival Shore Excursions are guaranteed safe." He explained that in the port city, we may encounter some undesirables, attempting to sell marijuana or pressuring us to take their cab. He explained that the Red-Tag cabs were the only registered cabs. He continued to persuade us to take a Carnival Excursion. There were no other warnings mentioned, other than the marijuana and high pressure taxi-sell. After the meeting, I was confident in my decision to take the Carnival Excursion, because of the “guaranteed” safety.

 

We arrived in Montego Bay on June 13th, where my family and I boarded the excursion bus, along with 13 other passengers. Two of the passengers were my father and step-mother. My father, who is 67 years old, has had two major heart attacks with the last one in July of 2006. This was the perfect relaxing excursion for him.

 

We drove approximately 30-40 minutes into the country of Lethe, Hanover. Along the way, we observed extreme poverty. The people looked at us as though they were angry with us for some reason.

 

We arrived at the plantation and we learned a few things about bananas and coconuts. Then, we boarded a green and yellow trolley, connected to an old John Deer tractor. The excursion tour guide had turned us over to an elderly Jamaican plantation worker, Dalton, who pulled the trolley further into the plantation, surrounded by lush, thick jungle vegetation. I was relaxed and felt secure, as my family and I observed the flowers and tropical plants. Dalton had given a presentation on the banana plant and was pulling us through the plantation, towards a botanical garden to view some flowers and listen to a kindergarten class sing to us.

 

As we traveled further through the plantation, we approached a side-road to our right that was also surrounded with vegetation. It was here that our world came crashing down… Two men ambushed our trolley, approaching with guns and a knife. They immediately took control of our lives, pointing a pistol at the driver and ordering him to stop. Visibly shaken, Dalton exited and pleaded for the men not to hurt anyone.

 

The two gunmen began yelling, "F_ _king foreigners. Give us your f_ _king money, man. Don't f_ _k with us, man. We're f_ _king crazy." They approached on opposite sides and were either madmen or on some form of drug. My two children were sitting behind my wife and me, next to my stepmother and my father.

 

One of the gunmen placed an 8" revolver in my 10-year-old daughter’s face. My daughter was crying and pleading with the gunman not to kill her. I have never felt so helpless in my life! I still get physically sick thinking about this. As visions of my daughter’s life passed before my eyes, all I could think of was how badly I wanted her in my arms. The gunman kept the gun in her face, as he stole her disposable camera and all the belongings of the other passengers.

 

These gunmen were jerking passengers around, as they removed the valuables. One gunman took his knife and cut a camera strap from around the neck of one of the passenger. There was no doubt that these guys were violent and on the verge of hurting one of us. They continuously called us “F_ _ king foreigners” and it appeared as though they were angry about us being there. Once they had stolen everything, both gunmen disappeared back into the jungle, leaving my family and all the other victims visibly shaken, violated, and terrified.

 

The driver brought us back to the starting point of the plantation, where we exited the trolley and told other tourists of our nightmare. They all loaded back onto their buses, and were taken back to the Carnival Conquest, leaving us at the plantation still in fear and shock.

 

The other plantation workers were upset about us being robbed and grabbed their machetes and some sharpened cane poles. They wanted to go back to the robbery site to search for the gunmen. I had never seen the sharpened cane poles, but later, I figured that they knew it was dangerous around there or they never would have had the weapons. As a police officer, it was easy to tell that these guys must have known this area was dangerous and they needed these weapons on-hand for protection. Carnival should have known, as it was a Carnival Excursion.

 

Approximately 20-minutes later, the Jamaican police arrived. One officer took shorts statements from all of us; however, I wrote out a statement for him. He kept saying that more officers were supposed to come and help with statements. They never showed, but I believe all available officers were out searching for the robbers. The officer told me that they were notifying the local villages to look out for the suspects. I did find out that the owner of the Lethe Village Tour Plantation was running for the Ministry of Tourism.

 

After approximately 3 ½ -hours, we were transported back to the Carnival Conquest, where some of the crew shuffled us back onto the ship and into a debriefing room.

 

After the debriefing, we were released back to the cruise. We began hearing from Carnival employees, regarding their knowledge of how dangerous Jamaica can be, and their reason for not leaving the ship. Every crewmember to whom I spoke stated that they do not leave the ship, because they fear for their safety; yet, Carnival allowed us and other passengers to leave the ship, guaranteeing our safety?

 

The next day, I was told that the two gunmen tried to exit the jungle approximately 2 miles from the plantation around 10:00PM, where they encountered the Jamaican Police and tried to shoot their way out. One gunman was shot and killed and the second one got away.

 

Carnival brought a Crisis Intervention Therapist onboard, who met with us. She remained on the ship, all the way back to Galveston, Texas. At the end of the cruise, she recommended that our family seek further counseling, in order to deal with this traumatic event. My wife and I agreed. A letter was also delivered to our cabin from the CEO of Carnival, apologizing for the incident. It also stated that Guest Relation Supervisor, Dorothy Georges, would be standing-by for our phone call on Monday morning, June 18th. When I called on Monday to inquire about the additional counseling, Ms. Georges was not available. I left a message.

 

When Ms. Georges returned my call, I expressed my concerns and asked how we would go about having Carnival pay for our counseling. She stated that she could not confirm whether or not Carnival would pay for the counseling, and would not have an answer on this for a few days. This infuriated me even more, thinking that if it had been THEIR 10-year old girl, who had a gun shoved in her face and forced to plead for her life, they would have immediately said, “Yes” to my counseling request. At this point Carnival began handling this incident as ‘strictly business’. There was no compassion whatsoever!

 

My wife continues to shake at times, so much that she has been unable to return to work. My son claims that he sometimes sees one of the gunmen in our house. My daughter has broken out in hives. I, for one, get so angry and upset that I physically shake and then cry. I go back and forth. I am nauseated just writing this story. We all have nightmares in relation to this incident. It is ridiculous and totally neglectful on the part of Carnival that we were not given the true facts and information about Jamaica. I would never have subjected my family to this if I had received this valid information, in advance, and I will now live with that decision forever.

 

I wish to strongly encourage anyone, who is considering traveling to Jamaica, to STOP! It is not worth the risk. They prey on the tourists, knowing that they carry money and other valuables. Unfortunately, the local citizens earn approximately $50-$100 dollars a week. The two gunmen, who robbed us, escaped with approximately two to three thousand dollars. This is the equivalent to someone robbing a bank in the USA. This will only continue. They have no choice. The poverty is too bad.

 

I am hoping to get this information out to the public and caution all tourists, who are contemplating a cruise or trip to Jamaica. It’s not safe! I want to warn you, because Carnival will not"

[mousey]

Remember this one? this happened a few years back

 

"On June 10, 2007, my wife, 12-year old son, 10-year old daughter, and I set sail on the Carnival Conquest from Galveston, Texas. Being that this was our first cruise, we were looking forward to spending some quality time together as a family. The first stop was Jamaica, when we opted for a Carnival excursion, “Lethe Village Tour”. We selected this tour to show the kids traditional Jamaican culture. We had no idea how this decision would change our lives forever.

 

I am a 17-year police veteran. Before my current profession, I proudly served in the U.S. Army. Safety and protection is my number one goal with anyone, especially with my wife and children. With this in mind, I attended the excursion meeting that was held on the ship by the Cruise Director, Mr. Price.

 

During that excursion meeting, the Director's words were… “In order to see the true Jamaica, you have to take a Carnival Shore Excursion." He added, “The Carnival Shore Excursions are guaranteed safe." He explained that in the port city, we may encounter some undesirables, attempting to sell marijuana or pressuring us to take their cab. He explained that the Red-Tag cabs were the only registered cabs. He continued to persuade us to take a Carnival Excursion. There were no other warnings mentioned, other than the marijuana and high pressure taxi-sell. After the meeting, I was confident in my decision to take the Carnival Excursion, because of the “guaranteed” safety.

 

We arrived in Montego Bay on June 13th, where my family and I boarded the excursion bus, along with 13 other passengers. Two of the passengers were my father and step-mother. My father, who is 67 years old, has had two major heart attacks with the last one in July of 2006. This was the perfect relaxing excursion for him.

 

We drove approximately 30-40 minutes into the country of Lethe, Hanover. Along the way, we observed extreme poverty. The people looked at us as though they were angry with us for some reason.

 

We arrived at the plantation and we learned a few things about bananas and coconuts. Then, we boarded a green and yellow trolley, connected to an old John Deer tractor. The excursion tour guide had turned us over to an elderly Jamaican plantation worker, Dalton, who pulled the trolley further into the plantation, surrounded by lush, thick jungle vegetation. I was relaxed and felt secure, as my family and I observed the flowers and tropical plants. Dalton had given a presentation on the banana plant and was pulling us through the plantation, towards a botanical garden to view some flowers and listen to a kindergarten class sing to us.

 

As we traveled further through the plantation, we approached a side-road to our right that was also surrounded with vegetation. It was here that our world came crashing down… Two men ambushed our trolley, approaching with guns and a knife. They immediately took control of our lives, pointing a pistol at the driver and ordering him to stop. Visibly shaken, Dalton exited and pleaded for the men not to hurt anyone.

 

The two gunmen began yelling, "F_ _king foreigners. Give us your f_ _king money, man. Don't f_ _k with us, man. We're f_ _king crazy." They approached on opposite sides and were either madmen or on some form of drug. My two children were sitting behind my wife and me, next to my stepmother and my father.

 

One of the gunmen placed an 8" revolver in my 10-year-old daughter’s face. My daughter was crying and pleading with the gunman not to kill her. I have never felt so helpless in my life! I still get physically sick thinking about this. As visions of my daughter’s life passed before my eyes, all I could think of was how badly I wanted her in my arms. The gunman kept the gun in her face, as he stole her disposable camera and all the belongings of the other passengers.

 

These gunmen were jerking passengers around, as they removed the valuables. One gunman took his knife and cut a camera strap from around the neck of one of the passenger. There was no doubt that these guys were violent and on the verge of hurting one of us. They continuously called us “F_ _ king foreigners” and it appeared as though they were angry about us being there. Once they had stolen everything, both gunmen disappeared back into the jungle, leaving my family and all the other victims visibly shaken, violated, and terrified.

 

The driver brought us back to the starting point of the plantation, where we exited the trolley and told other tourists of our nightmare. They all loaded back onto their buses, and were taken back to the Carnival Conquest, leaving us at the plantation still in fear and shock.

 

The other plantation workers were upset about us being robbed and grabbed their machetes and some sharpened cane poles. They wanted to go back to the robbery site to search for the gunmen. I had never seen the sharpened cane poles, but later, I figured that they knew it was dangerous around there or they never would have had the weapons. As a police officer, it was easy to tell that these guys must have known this area was dangerous and they needed these weapons on-hand for protection. Carnival should have known, as it was a Carnival Excursion.

 

Approximately 20-minutes later, the Jamaican police arrived. One officer took shorts statements from all of us; however, I wrote out a statement for him. He kept saying that more officers were supposed to come and help with statements. They never showed, but I believe all available officers were out searching for the robbers. The officer told me that they were notifying the local villages to look out for the suspects. I did find out that the owner of the Lethe Village Tour Plantation was running for the Ministry of Tourism.

 

After approximately 3 ½ -hours, we were transported back to the Carnival Conquest, where some of the crew shuffled us back onto the ship and into a debriefing room.

 

After the debriefing, we were released back to the cruise. We began hearing from Carnival employees, regarding their knowledge of how dangerous Jamaica can be, and their reason for not leaving the ship. Every crewmember to whom I spoke stated that they do not leave the ship, because they fear for their safety; yet, Carnival allowed us and other passengers to leave the ship, guaranteeing our safety?

 

The next day, I was told that the two gunmen tried to exit the jungle approximately 2 miles from the plantation around 10:00PM, where they encountered the Jamaican Police and tried to shoot their way out. One gunman was shot and killed and the second one got away.

 

Carnival brought a Crisis Intervention Therapist onboard, who met with us. She remained on the ship, all the way back to Galveston, Texas. At the end of the cruise, she recommended that our family seek further counseling, in order to deal with this traumatic event. My wife and I agreed. A letter was also delivered to our cabin from the CEO of Carnival, apologizing for the incident. It also stated that Guest Relation Supervisor, Dorothy Georges, would be standing-by for our phone call on Monday morning, June 18th. When I called on Monday to inquire about the additional counseling, Ms. Georges was not available. I left a message.

 

When Ms. Georges returned my call, I expressed my concerns and asked how we would go about having Carnival pay for our counseling. She stated that she could not confirm whether or not Carnival would pay for the counseling, and would not have an answer on this for a few days. This infuriated me even more, thinking that if it had been THEIR 10-year old girl, who had a gun shoved in her face and forced to plead for her life, they would have immediately said, “Yes” to my counseling request. At this point Carnival began handling this incident as ‘strictly business’. There was no compassion whatsoever!

 

My wife continues to shake at times, so much that she has been unable to return to work. My son claims that he sometimes sees one of the gunmen in our house. My daughter has broken out in hives. I, for one, get so angry and upset that I physically shake and then cry. I go back and forth. I am nauseated just writing this story. We all have nightmares in relation to this incident. It is ridiculous and totally neglectful on the part of Carnival that we were not given the true facts and information about Jamaica. I would never have subjected my family to this if I had received this valid information, in advance, and I will now live with that decision forever.

 

I wish to strongly encourage anyone, who is considering traveling to Jamaica, to STOP! It is not worth the risk. They prey on the tourists, knowing that they carry money and other valuables. Unfortunately, the local citizens earn approximately $50-$100 dollars a week. The two gunmen, who robbed us, escaped with approximately two to three thousand dollars. This is the equivalent to someone robbing a bank in the USA. This will only continue. They have no choice. The poverty is too bad.

 

I am hoping to get this information out to the public and caution all tourists, who are contemplating a cruise or trip to Jamaica. It’s not safe! I want to warn you, because Carnival will not"

 

I am so sorry to hear about what happened to your family. I hope that someday soon you can all be well again. What a terrible experience. Did Carnival ever get back to you and pay for your family's counseling? I certainly hope so. Thank you for your warning about Jamaica. I've been there several times with no incident but I have been hearing lots of people lately saying that it isn't really safe in some places there. Thank you for sharing your story even though it made you ill. My heart goes out to you and your family. May you all find peace soon.

[LisaH]

Count me in as one who has no desire to visit Mexico. CYA warnings or not, I've read about more bad junk going on in Mexico, and a government that is either too inept or too corrupt to effectively deal with it. Yes, bad stuff can happen anywhere, but part of my personal responsibility is to make sure I stay out of situations/places where the probability of bad stuff happening is higher. I can't always assume that someone else is always going to be vigilent of my safety.

 

A busload of tourists getting robbed at gunpoint, and no one is apprehended? This tells the robbers that they can probably repeat the same thing with the same result. Sure, it may be just an isolated incident, but even one is enough to generate enough bad publicity for a cruiseline. I look for more cruiselines to pull out of questionable ports. Maybe with the loss of that tourist revenue, will the government take a harder line about violence against their cash cow.

 

I'm not going to scoff at people who still wish to visit these places. I believe folks are generally grown-up enough to make their decisions. However, it is my choice not to visit questionable places. And it's no one else's place to tell me I'm wrong.

 

I agree with you. The public has been educated and they can make the choice that is best for them. After our last Panama Canal cruise and another "tour of duty" in the Acapulco airport, that was enough for me.

 

There is a reason for all these warnings. When you are warned about areas to stay out of in certain cities, either you heed the warnings or go anyway. It is your choice. But at least you had the knowledge to make a decision.

[LisaH]

It is now sounding like the people were not on the bus, but on a trail and robbed by a single gunman.

 

Let me ask you this: you will not go to Mexico or leave the port in Coz, but will you go to New Orleans and the French Quarter? Anywhere in Miami before a cruise? New York? Los Angeles? Tourists can and do get robbed in these places - pretty frequently in some cases.

 

I am the one who keeps on bringing up Honduras because I have familiarity with that particular country. Your point about it being an inside job is an interesting one - a luxury bus the size of a greyhound bus was robbed there a couple years ago. That turned out to be an inside job, so it is entirely possible.

 

As others have said, determine your risk tolerance for any given area you travel to and stay within your comfort zone.

 

I thought the same thing about the bus and it being an inside job.

[sabercatsmom]

FYI: confirmed by a passenger involved with the incident it was one man with a pistol and a knife and they were on the hiking trail not the bus so reports or suggestions that they bus should have just sped off or not stopped could not have happened since they were actually not in the bus but on the hiking trail.

[aidansaunt2004]

The story posted from 2007 is beyond sad. All I could think about the entire time I was reading it is my 7 year old nephew. I can't imagine anyone ever harming a child. That's so horrible. I'm not sure I could have sat there and let someone put a gun in a child's face. That's one of the saddest things I've heard. Children are so innocent. :(

[rudechuck]

I love Mexico. I think it's a beautiful country and the people are friendly and hard-working. I spent a week in Puerto Vallarta last year with my wife and kids. We convinced our friends who are Mexican, but have never been to Mexico to go with us. I spent months convincing the wife-friend that PV was completely safe, very family oriented and a wonderful city.

 

Long story short, we had an awesome week. No problems, no hassles. Even the "pushy" vendors, once they realized we weren't going to buy anything, pleasantly offered us directions to where we were going and greeted us with smiles and a "buenos dias" daily.

 

Sadly, with escalating violence spreading further and further throughout the country, it may be awhile before we return. The odds are nothing bad will happen, but I have a great many other options to choose from, so why take a chance? I will miss Mexico, but for the next two years, we've made other vacation plans.

[relic937]

If the Mexican government wants our tourist dollars i P V they should issue us weapons to put us on an even playing field with the bad guys . tHen we could enjoy our excursions in safety.