Disney Cruise Line no longer porting in Mazatlan!

[merinski]

Carnival has no plans at this point to pull out of Mazatlan. We go in Feb. and we will just be going to the terminal area & shop in the flea market, then go back on the ship. Maybe things will improve before you go in June. I did like going to the cliff divers last time. Just keep watching. I think that they would notify you before the cruise, but who knows.

 

I wonder how long it will be before they decide?:confused: Do they email you and let you know, or do you just board the ship and they tell you? We do not sail until June, so I will just wait and see, and have back up plans just in case we do not port there. I really wanted to see the cliff divers, and go out to stone island. We have kids too (3) and do not want to put their safety at risk.

[DWofHandicappedCruiser]

Made our decision today. The situation in Mazatlan has deteriorated so fast over the past year. We cruised to Mexico nine times last year. I know Disney's Wonder has stopped porting in Mazatlan and I just found out Norwegian is pulling out of the MR entirely after its April cruises are complete, then relocating to the other side of Mexico for the next winter seasn and RC's Mariner of the Seas has already pulled out. I verified this on their respective websites.

The Mazatlan newspaper office was shot up last fall for failing to comply with the cartel's wishes. There are no longer outlying medical clinics outside of the city limits because the doctors and nurses staffing them refused to go to work. I have a lot of business associates there and the situation is very grave. We here in the States are not getting news of all the shootings, assaults and deaths because they are being quashed by the Tourism Ministry. ATV-riding tourists attacked on the beach over the holidays, for instance. The Canadian tourist shot in the leg last week after pushing his wife to the floor out of harm's way was walking out of a drugstore and hit by assassination crossfire. Just learned a female tourist was raped a day or two ago and yes, in the tourist zone. Along with AK47s - the weapon of choice is now grenades thrown into crowds.

I love Mexico and its people and this breaks my heart. I wanted so much to buy a home in Old Town, renovate it and retire there. I must face facts. I'd rather lose 75% of the fare for our Carnival cruise than lose my life or my husband's.

Until SOMETHING is done, the wonderful people we know in Mexico will continue to suffer and their lives will deteriorate.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

My thoughts are with all the kind folks we met who rely on cruise ship dollars to feed their families each week.

 

Whether it was Mazatlan Frank, or Randi from Randi's Happy Horses, or the various familiar faces in the local shops and restaurants we ate at, they always made sure we had a great visit to Mazatlan.

 

It's a real shame what's happening in Mexico and how out of control things have become.

 

DRUGS = BAD!

 

:(

[Dena]

Made our decision today. Along with AK47s - the weapon of choice is now grenades thrown into ...... I must face facts. I'd rather lose 75% of the fare for our Carnival cruise than lose my life or my husband's.

Until SOMETHING is done, the wonderful people we know in Mexico will continue to suffer and their lives will deteriorate.

 

 

Couldn't you just have stayed on the ship? The port area looks secure, so I assume we will be safe if we stay on the ship.

[realmccoy]

Now there are reports of Princess and NCL not stopping at Mazatlan this week. No confirmations yet, but with all these rumors swirling it does not look good for Mazatlan.

[Wanna_Cruize]

Now there are reports of Princess and NCL not stopping at Mazatlan this week. No confirmations yet, but with all these rumors swirling it does not look good for Mazatlan.

 

Well, the Princess cruise that is underway has taken Mazatlan off the schedule and is substituting Cabo (again). We haven't heard officially for our NCL cruise next week, but I'm not counting on making it to Mazatlan. It's a real shame, I'm sorry for all the people who work in the tourism industry who are the ones who will suffer the most.

[CaseyJr]

Posting here too in case people aren't reading the other thread.

 

Figuring there must be some sort of political unrest, I Googled to find Mazatlan news in English and found:

 

http://mazmessenger.com/2011/01/24/v...ague-the-city/

 

Media reported today that to date in the month of January, 31 people have been killed in violent incidents, three of which occurred last Thursday.

On that day in the early hours of the morning a man showing signs of torture was dropped from a vehicle in front of the D’Gala Hotel in the Golden Zone where he was assassinated on the sidewalk. The gunmen then opened fire on the glass door entrance to the hotel, which is located across from the Canadian Consulate and adjacent to the American Consulate. No one else was injured.

Two separate incidents occurred later that day in the Colonia Ramón F. Iturbe and Colonia Federico Velarde.

On Saturday at 3:20am, two young men were murdered as they left the Dolshe nightclub on Av. Del Mar where a dance organized by supporters of Farid Aún, a Carnaval candidate for the King of Happiness was in full swing. Present at the party were all the Queen of Carnaval candidates and several local bandas.

According to media reports, the attack caused panic among partygoers within the nightclub, resulting in the closure of the club an hour before schedule.

Media also reported that 33 homicides occurred in the municipality in the month of January, 2010.

 

 

 

If this happened on Thursday night, it would explain why Disney decided to pull out of Mazatlan on Saturday and the other cruises are following suit this week.

[Wanna_Cruize]

Thanks for the info CaseyJr, I'll take it back to our Roll Call for this weekend's trip. I guess we're the only ship with Mazatlan still on the table for next week, but I'm guessing we won't be going there either.

[CaseyJr]

Posting here too in case people aren't reading the other thread.

 

Figuring there must be some sort of political unrest, I Googled to find Mazatlan news in English and found:

 

http://mazmessenger.com/2011/01/24/v...ague-the-city/

 

Media reported today that to date in the month of January, 31 people have been killed in violent incidents, three of which occurred last Thursday.

On that day in the early hours of the morning a man showing signs of torture was dropped from a vehicle in front of the D’Gala Hotel in the Golden Zone where he was assassinated on the sidewalk. The gunmen then opened fire on the glass door entrance to the hotel, which is located across from the Canadian Consulate and adjacent to the American Consulate. No one else was injured.

Two separate incidents occurred later that day in the Colonia Ramón F. Iturbe and Colonia Federico Velarde.

On Saturday at 3:20am, two young men were murdered as they left the Dolshe nightclub on Av. Del Mar where a dance organized by supporters of Farid Aún, a Carnaval candidate for the King of Happiness was in full swing. Present at the party were all the Queen of Carnaval candidates and several local bandas.

According to media reports, the attack caused panic among partygoers within the nightclub, resulting in the closure of the club an hour before schedule.

Media also reported that 33 homicides occurred in the municipality in the month of January, 2010.

 

 

 

If this happened on Thursday night, it would explain why Disney decided to pull out of Mazatlan on Saturday and the other cruises are following suit this week.

 

 

I can't edit this but it should read that these events happened on Thursday and Disney pulled out of Mazatlan on Friday around noon PST!

[CaseyJr]

Here is another reference to the shooting: http://neglectedwar.com/blog/archives/1392

[DWofHandicappedCruiser]

Couldn't you just have stayed on the ship? The port area looks secure, so I assume we will be safe if we stay on the ship.

 

Well, that is a thoughtful suggestion but we cruise to Mexico because we have business there. We need to visit a supplier 14K up in the Sierra Madre outside Mazatlan. The local health clinic there has closed because the doctors and nurses are too afraid to go to work. And given the obvious danger, any thoughts of relocating our HQ and retiring in Mazatlan are now off the shelf. So it is pointless for us to go - just a matter of economics. It's better to take a smaller loss than a bigger one if you have no choice, right? I know your ship will be re-routed and you will have a great time on your cruise, though. Have a DOD for us and think of me stuck here in the office. ;)