Really scary thing happened in PV

[sparkle56]

This happened last week when we sailed on the Sapphire Princess. We took the tequila, tiles, city tour of PV. When we got to the tequila place we saw one of our tablemates and he and his wife were getting ready to go horseback riding. The office for that excursion was located at the factory.

 

These tablemates were late to dinner that evening. When they arrived they were still in jeans and looked stressed. They had been held up at gunpoint on their Princess horseback riding excursion!! They said there were five guests and two guides. They were attacked by banditos (wearing bandannas) hiding in the bushes--they had guns, knives, and pepper spray. :eek: The bandits took one of the guides to the ground with a gun to his head and ordered the guests to hand over their money, their cameras, their jewelry, and their passports. The bandits then stole the two guides' horses so the guides left the guests and walked back to the office to report this.

 

Princess told our tablemates they would refund the money, the value of their cameras, and would not charge them for the excursion. They said there was nothing they could do about the passports. Excuse me, that's pretty lame if you ask me. What about compensation for their trauma? That whole cruise should have been free if you ask me.

 

So be warned about this horseback riding excursion in PV.

[luvcdays]

Wow! Anyone else want popcorn?

[karatemom2]

That's really horrible!!! I can't imagine how frightened they must have been. I'm sure Princess will be dropping that excursion from their list. However, I think that Princess probably did what they could for the passengers and did reimburse them for their losses. It's not within the power of Princess to replace passports and I don't really think it's completely fair to hold them responsible for a random act of criminal behavior. Any time you travel in a foreign country you take certain chances and unfortunately crime can happen anywhere. I think if I were them I'd just be thankful I came away unharmed.

[Starlaker]

It seems to me that it would not be good to carry your passport in Mexico, given that passports are so valuable to the banditos. Is there any requirement to? I would think that carrying a copy of the front sheet would suffice. When we were in Europe, we left our passports locked in the safe in the room and took a copy with us in case of emergency.

[basil1]

I usually only carry a paper copy of my passport into port as well. And, of course, it's not the fault of Princess that these people were victims. I am sure they took the guests to an area that was considered safe. How scary would that be...how awful.

[Eeyoregon]

MANY will argue with me but my passport stays in my safe on the ship!!!

 

A "good" passport can go for as much as $25,000 on the Mexican black market. I ain't taking any chances and will only take a copy of my passport off the ship with me.

 

There was another thread on here warning tourists NOT to try the free tequila samples in some of the stores as they were tainted and 2 passengers were assaulted while under the influence of the mystery drug and robbed of everything, luckily not their lives!

[bobnsofi]

funny, I googled it, and nothing yet. It would seem an incident of this magnitude, in this industry, in this international environment, at this time, would make some kind of news

[sparkle56]

This happened a week ago so my guess is it is a little early for it to appear on Google.

 

Princess does put a notice in their Princess Patters (several times) about the spiking of drinks in Mexico, and they explain how it is done. They advise only drinking bottled drinks (water, soft drinks, beer) and not accepting tequila, etc. We did have tequila shots at the tequila factory and that was the Princess excursion.

 

The incident was not Princess' fault but I certainly hope they include a warning about such things having happened to people who are venturing into the wilderness areas on horses. I just felt they were a little "cold" about the whole thing. We once had delayed luggage as we were about to embark a Princess ship and they were much more sympathetic and helpful to us with that issue than they were with our tablemates who had been robbed.

 

They also tell you that in these ports you MUST have I.D. with you. We have copies of our passports with us whenever we travel and keep the originals and the copies in separate places.

[jillmar]

That's awful! I am supposed to leave Feb. 21 and now I'm a little freightened!:eek:

 

Is it necessary to bring I.D. into the city at the port? I always left my passport in the ship and didn't take any I.D. I guess that is not a wise idea. Would a driver's license be OK to take?

 

We were planning to take the tequila tour with a private driver. It would just be me, my husband and the driver. Do you think that would be safe? Should we NOT drink the tequila samples they give us??:confused:

[sparkle56]

I think if you are going to the Tequila Factory the samples are fine. They give tours there and the way they do the samples is very organized. Do you know the name of the Tequila Factory? The one we were at had a little restaurant next to it (wonderful tacos!) and of course, the horseback riding office. :eek:

It will take all of 15 minutes to do that Tequila Factory tour, by the way--it is very small.

 

My husband just had his driver's license, I had my passport. But they definitely want you to have a photo I.D. when you are in these ports.

[jillmar]

Thank you. That's helps a lot! I don't know which tequila factory we are going to. But I would think our driver would not take us somewhere that is not safe. I will start carrying my I.D.;)

[ERTHDOG]

that stinks, i am glad they were unharmed :(

 

just goes to show ya, never ever take your actual passport with you (leave it in the safe), we ONLY take a photo copy for these exact reasons. imagine trying to re enter the us without it:eek:

 

dave

[karatemom2]

Unless it is your only form of photo ID you do NOT need to take your passport or even a copy of it with you when you visit the ports on the Mexican Riviera. Your drivers license is fine for a photo ID. That is all we ever take with us. Our passports stay in the safely on the ship.

[Hlitner]

Interesting story,,,if its really true. We live in PV during the winter months (am there now) and watch the ships come and go with their "cruise people." We are also frequent cruise people so are always willing to help passengers we see here who have questions. But, crime is not a big problem in PV and a major incident such as is described here would generally become well known around town and probably be in the local English newspapers (we have 2). Since it has not been mentioned here, not been mentioned on cruise critic in the news, and not been mentioned anywhere else on the internet just call me a skeptic.

 

Hsnk

[Bucky3]

This is an alarming post. It seems Princess generously did what they could to reimburse losses. I don't think you can put a $ figure on the anxiety caused those passengers. I think the contract "fine print" states you are on your own on excursions. I would just be very happy that I was visiting by cruise ship and wasn't spending the night in PV! Sounds like this was a very unfortunate situation beyond anyone's control.

 

You must take your cruise card and a personal ID of some kind when you go ashore It can be required to reboard the ship when you go through security. Sometimes it is asked for and sometimes not. Better to be safe and always carry it. I wouldn't want to be left in Mexico!! We always take our DL but never our passports. We needed our ID even in Hawaii where we think they do the best job with security.

[Bemidji Ty]

PV is one of my favorite places to go for land vacations. I asked on a PV message board if anyone had heard of this incident. Here's what was posted:

 

"I happen to know Doña Engracia, she lives across the street from me.

She told me that she paid an out of court settlement (from her own pocket) to the people who had personal items stolen.

She has been hospitalized lately with back problems and stress caused from this incident.

I think it was an unfortunate incident but a rare occurance to happen on tours here in PV."

 

Smooth sailin'

[T-2]

We spent a week in PV last year and went on a couple tours without ever a hint of trouble. We've also been twice as a port stop. Bad things can happen anywhere in the world, I'm sorry their day turned out so horrible and glad no one was seriously harmed. We would return to PV anytime- wonderful city, best zip lines, we've gone horseback riding. Hope they don't let this incident keep them from traveling- there are a lot of good people in the world and this is normally a wonderful port of call. Best wishes.

[Hlitner]

I am sorry to be a contrarian, but this entire thread sounds somewhat fishy. First we get a post about an incident that happened last week! And than we get another post supporting that story and talking about an "out of court settlement." So we are to believe that an incident that happened a week ago has been resolved by a settlement? Really? In Mexico (and the US) an issue like this would drag on for years...not days.

 

Hank

[MSN-Travelers]

I am sorry to be a contrarian, but this entire thread sounds somewhat fishy. First we get a post about an incident that happened last week! And than we get another post supporting that story and talking about an "out of court settlement." So we are to believe that an incident that happened a week ago has been resolved by a settlement? Really? In Mexico (and the US) an issue like this would drag on for years...not days.

 

Hank

 

... at least the robbery part. This from the local board, The Vallarta Scene, down there:

 

Banditos rob horse tour

 

by freeeye on Fri Jan 23, 2009 8:44 am

Seven tourists were robbed at gunpoint by heavily armed cowboys while on a horse ride tour at Hacienda Doña Engracia, a popular tourist attraction outside of Vallarta yesterday, January 22. No one was injured but all valuables, including passports, were stolen. The banditos rode off on their horses into the mountains. The police arrived too late to do anything.

 

And I agree with you that nothing happens so quick that anybody could have reached a settlement about anything.

[gertz]

We are doing the MR cruise in April. So reports of crime in Mexico catches our attention.

It seems like there is a big increase in crime in general in the past several months weather in PV, or ML, or Cabo I don't know?

We also did that very same excursion last year and bought probably over priced tequila but it is good. I do question if they actually produce tequila there though.

[CowPrincess]

Not to diminish what happened to the horseback riders, or any victim of crime, but crimes occur virtually everywhere. It gets more attention and more press if it is tourists involved.

 

To the OP -- suggesting that Princess should have comped the entire cruise is in IMHO ludicrous. How could Princess have done anything to prevent this, other than not offering that specific shorex? And how could Princess reasonably have anticipated such a thing occurring, when there have been hundreds or thousands people doing this shorex for years, without incident?

[geospyder]

This is something I posted on a couple other non-travel forums I belong to. While it doesn't pertain directly to the OP's post, indirectly it is a good safety habit in case your wallet "disappears." BTW - when going ashore I only bring my DL, cash and a copy of my passport. The real thing stays on board along with any credit cards.

 

"This is the month I do my semi-annual copy what's in my wallet routine. I take everything out and copy both the front and back. This also goes for all the odd ball credit cards, membership cards, etc. that are not in my wallet. These copies are then kept in the safe with other important papers. Do you know what's in your wallet?"

[UpYonder]

"This is the month I do my semi-annual copy what's in my wallet routine. I take everything out and copy both the front and back. This also goes for all the odd ball credit cards, membership cards, etc. that are not in my wallet. These copies are then kept in the safe with other important papers. Do you know what's in your wallet?"

 

:D Nice to see I'm not the only one who does that! :D

[sparkle56]

I'm glad someone found the report from the local PV boards. That does appear to be the same incident. It is very disturbing to have a poster say that my original post was "fishy."

 

These boards are a way to discuss what things are good and bad about all aspects of cruising. It's a wonderful way to travel but it's not perfect all the time. Things happen. It was a sad story and caused trauma to innocent people who were on a special getaway for their anniversary, leaving their three little kids at home with their grandma.

 

The event happened, the people who were our tablemates were completely honorable people, very sweet, and to have what happened to them, and my reporting of it questioned is truly troubling.

 

I could have reported the incident the very evening our friends described it because I had my MacBook in the cabin and the Sapphire Princess now has internet access in the cabins. So the timing of the report as having happened only "a week ago" makes no sense.

 

I do agree that a settlement being reached is questionable, but perhaps the Dona Egracia, which is a main tourist stop, did offer some compensation to the group. It did happen on their property.

 

I said nothing negative about the port of Puerto Vallarta, which we enjoyed a lot. Several people went that direction, defending this port. We loved the tile factory and the tequila factory. I even had fun being chased down the street by a jewelry salesman who had a bargain on tanzanite that got better and better the closer I got to our tour bus! The people we met were fabulous. We would go back, and plan to soon. We also loved Mazatlan and Cabo, our other two stops.

 

All I was doing was saying something unfortunate happened and be "smart" at all times.

 

For example, there are posts all the time about pickpockets in places like Barcelona. We personally know several people who have had this happen to them. (I carry a PacSafe bag because of that and made sure it was completely zipped when we were in Barcelona.) But the stories aren't "fishy", they are true, and they appear here to help others know the culture, including possible crime, in any particular port.

[Hlitner]

Ok, pardon me for being a skeptic, but since we live in PV 2 months a year we do have some interest in the post. Over the past year there have been several posts on various BBs telling of crimes committed in PV (somebody recently posted that they were held up by machine guns on Basillo Badillo (unlikely since its a major street in the Romantic Zone). Stories about bandits on horseback have been around here for years...but again with no news support or facts. Perhaps these tales are true, but than you would have to believe there is a conspiricy to cover up these crimes by the more than 50,000 American/Canadian residents, 2 English newspapers, the Mexican papers, and the cruise lines (do you think they would run tours if there was a high risk). So, until I can confrim these kind of tales through legit newsmedia or through local contacts, I am a doubter. Does crime happen here,,,,sure. We know a young lady that was mugged two years ago (the police caught the muggers within minutes). Just because anyone can post anything on the internet does not mean every post is accurate.

 

Hank