gold1953 Posted January 6, 2023 #1 Share Posted January 6, 2023 Just read this news story about the cartel in Mazatlan. Tourists are trapped in hotel rooms. Fires set. Does not look good for a port stop in the near future. I was looking forward to this port later in the month. Canadian government tells travellers in Mexico to shelter in place due to violence (msn.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omeinv Posted January 6, 2023 #2 Share Posted January 6, 2023 While there is concern in for Mazatlan, and the airport there has been closed as a precaution, the violence thus far is in other cities in the state of Sinaloa. That being said, I would expect that Mazatlan will likely not be visited by cruise ships until/unless things resolve. However, it is not correct to say "Mazatlan being destroyed". Harris Denver, CO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerelmx Posted January 6, 2023 #3 Share Posted January 6, 2023 (edited) The airport reopen today, life back to normal Edited January 6, 2023 by gerelmx 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerelmx Posted January 6, 2023 #4 Share Posted January 6, 2023 The army catch the Chapo son, it's a reaction from the capture of the drug traffic guys 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swordfish1949 Posted January 16, 2023 #5 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Hate to disagree but at least according to the US State Department, the entire state is listed as Do Not Travel. Hope the authorities get everything under control soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOB999 Posted January 16, 2023 #6 Share Posted January 16, 2023 (edited) Hmm, think I will stick with a Celebrity excursion for my stop there coming up in 2 weeks. At least if something happens my estate will have an insurance policy for liability. ETA: This has me nervous and I'm not one who gets very nervous. Apologies if my attempt at humour offended anyone. Edited January 16, 2023 by BOB999 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbelshaw Posted January 16, 2023 #7 Share Posted January 16, 2023 (edited) The last time the cartels got frisky on the coast, July 2022, I became curious about how the bad press/State Department alerts had affected Mexican Riviera cruise fares. I knew the Mexican government would not permit such shenanigans to adversely affect its tourism trade. So, I was able to book a seven day RS on Soli for early November at $3600, all in, with $600 OBC. As a solo. The cruise was perfect and ruined (spoiled) me. My only regret was that I did not grab the Penthouse, also available, at $5000. I am again checking fares daily. Edited January 16, 2023 by rbelshaw Missing negative 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NMTraveller Posted January 16, 2023 #8 Share Posted January 16, 2023 The Pacific side of Mexico used to have more cruise ships that it does now. There is a reason for that. This is a reoccurring episode. Check the state department for travel recommendations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NutsAboutGolf Posted January 16, 2023 #9 Share Posted January 16, 2023 54 minutes ago, NMTraveller said: The Pacific side of Mexico used to have more cruise ships that it does now. There is a reason for that. This is a reoccurring episode. Check the state department for travel recommendations. X, CCL, RCL, NCL, Princess and Disney all have on-going Mexican Riviera sailings and just about any other cruise line we can name is scheduled to have a stop in one of the Mexican Riviera ports 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare zgscl Posted January 16, 2023 #10 Share Posted January 16, 2023 1 hour ago, rbelshaw said: The last time the cartels got frisky on the coast, July 2022, I became curious about how the bad press/State Department alerts had affected Mexican Riviera cruise fares. I knew the Mexican government would not permit such shenanigans to adversely affect its tourism trade. So, I was able to book a seven day RS on Soli for early November at $3600, all in, with $600 OBC. As a solo. The cruise was perfect and ruined (spoiled) me. My only regret was that I did not grab the Penthouse, also available, at $5000. I am again checking fares daily. Very good advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NMTraveller Posted January 16, 2023 #11 Share Posted January 16, 2023 (edited) 5 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said: X, CCL, RCL, NCL, Princess and Disney all have on-going Mexican Riviera sailings and just about any other cruise line we can name is scheduled to have a stop in one of the Mexican Riviera ports Not as many as they used to quite a few years back. And not as many as Cozumel... Edited January 16, 2023 by NMTraveller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NutsAboutGolf Posted January 16, 2023 #12 Share Posted January 16, 2023 2 minutes ago, NMTraveller said: Not as many as they used to quite a few years back. And not as many as Cozumel... Didn't know and that makes sense as south florida is the cruise capitol of the world Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NMTraveller Posted January 16, 2023 #13 Share Posted January 16, 2023 9 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said: Didn't know and that makes sense as south florida is the cruise capitol of the world Cozumel does not seem to have the cartel problems like the Mexican Riviera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NutsAboutGolf Posted January 16, 2023 #14 Share Posted January 16, 2023 4 minutes ago, NMTraveller said: Cozumel does not seem to have the cartel problems like the Mexican Riviera. This is a pretty fascinatingly read: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2022/08/25/tourists-beware-popular-mexico-getaway-plagued-by-violent-drug-cartels/65417543007/ 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NMTraveller Posted January 16, 2023 #15 Share Posted January 16, 2023 5 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said: This is a pretty fascinatingly read: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2022/08/25/tourists-beware-popular-mexico-getaway-plagued-by-violent-drug-cartels/65417543007/ Thanks. That is a change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare abbydancer2003 Posted January 16, 2023 #16 Share Posted January 16, 2023 5 hours ago, Swordfish1949 said: Hate to disagree but at least according to the US State Department, the entire state is listed as Do Not Travel. Hope the authorities get everything under control soon. The date on this is a week old. Is it still active? My quick search didn't come up with anything later, but it was quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WonderMan3 Posted January 16, 2023 #17 Share Posted January 16, 2023 I wrote Mexico off as a cruise stop years ago. The only one I would feel comfortable visiting at this point is Cozumel and maybe walk around the port in Costa Maya. Have done multiple visits to both locations in past cruises and had some wonderful experiences to see nice beaches and ancient ruins like Chichen Itza. Had always wanted to see some of the western towns like Puerto Vallarta but if I don't get there at this point I'm good with that. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hcat Posted January 16, 2023 #18 Share Posted January 16, 2023 We stopped at Mazatlan yrs ago on a cruise. Saw a show and a few other highlights. Our gen observation was it was not such a great port....even back then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swordfish1949 Posted January 16, 2023 #19 Share Posted January 16, 2023 6 hours ago, abbydancer said: The date on this is a week old. Is it still active? My quick search didn't come up with anything later, but it was quick. Look at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/mexico-travel-advisory.html#Sinaloa state State of Sinaloa is noted as Do Not Travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NMTraveller Posted January 16, 2023 #20 Share Posted January 16, 2023 2 hours ago, hcat said: We stopped at Mazatlan yrs ago on a cruise. Saw a show and a few other highlights. Our gen observation was it was not such a great port....even back then... We went there maybe about 8 or 10 years ago when there were no state department recommendations. The local police would say we know where the banditos are. I think that they did a better job of protecting their tourist destinations back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising89143 Posted January 16, 2023 #21 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Sad to read about Mazatlán. We were there last month and walked downtown and back to the ship with no issues. There was expats along the walk giving info and directions. Felt very safe at that time. No issues with PV either. Cabo was another story. We were constantly offered drugs, sex and tours along our walk to eat dinner at a local restaurant. I’m used to people trying to sell things in other ports but Cabo took it to a new level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lais Posted January 16, 2023 #22 Share Posted January 16, 2023 I just returned from there. Did a salsa and salsa shore excursion. There were no problems in the tourist zone. Did not feel unsafe at any time. It’s still not my favorite port but the tour was fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Eli_6 Posted January 16, 2023 #23 Share Posted January 16, 2023 I grew up part of my childhood in Laredo. Our youth director at my church (Jim Smiley) was killed by youths supposedly with possible cartel links...but one of them was also living in his house or had lived in his house at one point. My family later moved away, but my friends and I would still go to South Padre as teenagers and go over to Matamoros many times with no incidences. This was the late 90s and about a decade after the Adolfo Costanzo killings of the 80s so there was a history there. Despite all of these terrifying incidents, I have traveled to Mexico many times and never felt any concern. My understanding is that *most* of the cartel retaliation is usually targeted at people or their families who are believed to have helped authorities...or are authorities themselves. I.e. In Laredo, either one of the DA's or the police chief was killed once, I believe. I would have no fear of going there so long as you went with a large tour group and stayed in the tourist zones. I doubt they are going to kidnap tourists in a large tour group in the middle of the day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare AstoriaPreppy Posted January 16, 2023 #24 Share Posted January 16, 2023 6 hours ago, Swordfish1949 said: Look at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/mexico-travel-advisory.html#Sinaloa state State of Sinaloa is noted as Do Not Travel. Sinaloa has been classified as do not travel for... years now? And the State Dept. explicitly carves out tourist areas in Mazatlan as not being banned for federal employees. 5 hours ago, cruisingator2 said: Cabo was another story. We were constantly offered drugs, sex and tours along our walk to eat dinner at a local restaurant. The same thing happens on Las Vegas Boulevard! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NutsAboutGolf Posted January 16, 2023 #25 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Let me try to oversimply this... El Chapo's son was recaptured in the Cartel-stronghold city of Culiacán which he lived in which is where the LOCALIZED retaliatory violence took place. It is about 135 miles away from the city Mazatlán. This happened coincidently just days before the US President was visiting Mexico City Should be noted they captured him in the same city in 2019 and there was even worse localized retaliatory violence in the aftermath. Cartel Leadership only have so many "enforcers" so to "deploy" them to a cruise port tourist city to commit random acts of violence against tourists doesn't serve them any purpose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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