Thursday, January 27, 2011

Cruise Lines Pull Out of Mazatlan

Mexican Riviera
Itinerary Changes
Prompted by
Recent Violence

Three cruise lines: Holland America, Princess, and Disney Cruise Line, have announced modifications to their Mexican Riviera cruises in the wake of recent violence against cruise passengers.

Update January 31st - Some cruises returning to Mazatlan, but situation is still being monitored.
Norwegian Star, Carnival Spirit and Holland America's Oosterdam will call there this week.


Disney Wonder's scheduled calls in Mazatlan, now through April, have been replaced with extra time in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.   The ship will not stay overnight, but rather will leave port and then return in the morning for a second day in picturesque Cabo San Lucas.

HAL Oosterdam in Mexican Riviera
The incidents over the past two weeks involved passengers and crew from the Azamara Journey and Holland America's Oosterdam.  News reports indicated a necklace and a laptop were stolen.   There wasn't any mention of injury related to the attacks, but cruise lines have taken these steps as a precautionary measure to keep passengers and crew safe.

Perhaps this is the final nail in the coffin for the region as cruise lines had already begun pulling out of the Mexican Riviera sighting decreased demand.   At a panel discussion, during our National Conference last October, cruise line executives had reported the decreased interest causing them to redeploy ships.   West coast agents, as well as those across the country, expressed disapproval but the executives reiterated their decisions had been made, and would that they would not be reassessing the situation in the near future.

For those traveling to Mexico, please consult the U.S. State Department's Travel Warnings at:

At the time of this article's publication, there were no updated bulletins specifically addressing violence in Mazatlan, but there has been increasing drug-related violence in the region causing travel companies to keep a close eye on changing conditions.

1 comment:

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