Guatemala security alert

[cruzincurt]

Reuters - Wed Nov 3rd, "The United States issued a serious security warning for Guatemala after a series of attacks on US citizens in the Central American nation, including the rapes of children. According to the embassy, the attackers wore police uniforms and used police-like vehicles to trick their victims into stopping. The statement did not come with a recommendation to avoid travel to Guatemala."

 

Our Veendam Nov 13th cruise is now scheduled to stop there instead of Grand Cayman. Please be careful and keep your eyes open.

[jbrob]

Thanks for that info. We are on that same cruise. I think maybe we will just stay on the ship in Guatemala.

[Ziggy7]

Everyone going there should be in groups, safety in numbers :)

[shipgirl56]

We were just in Guatemala in October. I had read a warning too about Guatemala. We stuck to a shore excursion thru the ship and had no problem. The bus was very nice and the guide was wonderful and spoke excellent English. The economy is terrible there right now and the street vendors can be quite aggressive in trying to sell you something. We never felt unsafe.

[garydm]

In January on Statendam we were diverted from Cartagena for security reasons and stopped instead at San Andres Island (also part of Colombia) and had a great time. Maybe you can be as fortunate.

 

Gary

[gagirl789]

I recall that last year sometime in early January some tourist were killed while on some sort of jungle tour. I will try to find a link to the story.

[CtWolfpacker]

The following link will take you a US State Department announcement regarding the situation in Guatemala. Our Veendam cruise in February is scheduled to stop in Guatemala.

 

http://travel.state.gov/travel/guatemala_announce.html

[bepsf]

How sad...

 

I thouroughly enjoyed our Guatemalan port-call in February. Although it is an incredibly poor country, the Mayan ruins and boat trip down the Rio Dulce were amazing, our guides were wonderful and the woven goods that were sold there were beautiful. I didn't feel that the sellers were at all pushy - prices seemed reasonable. I was told I should have bargained, but I just didn't have the heart to as they obviously needed the money so much more than I.

 

I had heard that one of the other tour busses on a different excursion was stopped by police that day, but nothing bad occurred.

 

The funniest thing is that the band at the pier that morning started playing calypso-style music - then played "New York, New York"!!!

 

I'm sure that HAL will keep their ships away until the situation improves.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Our shipped stopped on the Pacific side of Guatemala just last week - people taking tours and using the taxi's from the pier didn't have any problems.