Sapphire heading to cabo,where's Mazatlan

[Dena]

We have no complaints about the climate in Ensenada. If it is the same as San Diego, that is plenty warm, ideal really. It will make a nice day on the ship. We are mainly sailing for the sunlight and weather....and the food...and the beautiful views of the ocean...and the fresh sea air that we will (hopefully) enjoy from our balcony or at least from the starboard promenade deck.

[Pam in CA]

I like the HAL itinerary change better but then they sail out of San Diego, which makes a difference. They are going to Manzanillo, PV and a full day in Cabo.

 

I have no idea whether there will be cruises to the Mexican Riviera in the future. I bet the cruise lines are asking themselves the same question and creating Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. It'll all depend on passenger safety.

[jewopaho]

Do you think Mexican Rivera cruises will continue after 2112?

 

It doesn't look all that promising. Disney has brought in a ship, but all the others are either pulling out completely or running the route only part-time. It actually has little to do with the situation in Mexico ... the primary reason is the economy (or lack thereof) in California.

[Putterdude]

I can't find anything in the way of an announcement that Princess has drop Mazatlan for the rest of the season (as yet) here is a link to a story in the Dallas News dated just after noon today.

 

http://dallaslifeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/01/concerned-about-safety-here-ar.html

[Pam in CA]

I can't find anything in the way of an announcement that Princess has drop Mazatlan for the rest of the season (as yet) here is a link to a story in the Dallas News dated just after noon today.

 

http://dallaslifeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/01/concerned-about-safety-here-ar.html

Thanks. My sister might have thought she was hearing that it was dropping for the season and I specifically asked her if the news story said that because I was already aware of it being changed for this week, but she insisted it was the season. Oh well. I haven't seen or heard anything on the news myself.

 

Just checked the HAL boards and there's a post about HAL canceling Mazatlan for the rest of the season. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=27688338&postcount=1 If HAL is doing it, Princess will too.

[Putterdude]

Being a Canadian who has a winter home in AZ, I also have a Canadian TV satellite dish attached to the house (for the hockey games) and I watched the news from Vancouver this evening. The man who was shot in Mazatlan is now at home and was interviewed from his hospital bed. He was quite interesting, he holds no malice toward the Mexican people and says he was an just unfortunate victim caught in a crossfire. He went on to say that he would sincerely hope that what happened to him would not hold people back from visiting Mexico.

[JLC@SD]

I would welcome San Diego weather right now :) Heck, we are happy to get above freezing this week.

 

....we love it in SD.....:)

 

Check out our weather on the Golf Channel, we have the PGA tournament in town this week.

[stretchcruz]

I feel so badly for Randi and other vendors...I sent her an email a few days ago to see how she is doing, but no response yet.

We have done probably well over 15 Mexican Riviera cruises over the years....but won't now. We live in Tucson and unfortunately have heard way too much about what is going on in Mexico. We will not be going back in the near future. We feel really badly about the vendors and folks that make their living from tourism, but really have no desire to be caught in the crossfire somewhere. We're saving money and are saving for our next vacation away from Mexico.

[2fercruzin]

The attached link was posted on our roll call's board. Looks like we will all have to watch for a week by week assessment.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4335

Sure hope they keep it as we're looking forward to riding along the beach again with Randi's Happy Horses. But, we know Princess will only stop there if we'll be as safe as possible.

You bet, we have the best weather here in San Diego. We're looking at the golf channel with the beautiful views of the coast and Torrey Pines. This will be a great weekend for all golf lovers. ;)

[GBarrontine]

I'm sailing on the Feb 12th sailing as well. I've been on this trip once before so if we skip Mazatlan and go somewhere else that would be fine. More time in Cabo is always good.

[BassettMom]

I'm booked for the MR cruise in April. I've never been and if cruise ships all pull out, then won't be able to in the future either, so I'm glad I'm going now before that happens.

 

Had a resort stay in Mexico, but decided to go on a cruise instead and I'm so glad I did since I'll feel much safer going on the cruise than staying at a resort for a week (especially since I'm travelling solo).

[avalong]

I would welcome San Diego weather right now :) Heck, we are happy to get above freezing this week.

 

Just off the Sapphire. Had a great day in Ensenada -- stayed on the ship sunning ourselves. It was "only" 65 degrees, but in the full sun it was nice and warm on deck. Even went in the pool. :)

[Northender]

I am truly sorry to hear that the MR cruises may be a thing of the past:(

The Cruise Lines have to keep passenger safety as one of their first considerations.

 

Now I could think up a few good itins to replace these.:):)

[lookayellowbird]

One major contributing factor to drug-related crime is prohibition, especially of marijuana. Look at it this way: how many booze bootleggers are shooting up Chicago these days?

 

We already have the highest incarceration rate in the entire world, and fully half those in federal prisons are serving time for drug-related crimes. So perhaps the punitive approach isn't working all that well?

 

I disagree with this logic. There wasn't a problem with people hanging around school playgrounds selling grain alcohol in the prohibition years. This goes far beyond marijuana; meth, heroin, crack, cocaine; all highly addictive substances that are in the hands of cartels who are threatening law enforcers and their families in Mexico. Perhaps legalization of marijuana in America can help clear out our prisons but we have to take these other substances very seriously. Innocent people are not being attacked because of someone is "jonesing for a joint". These are junkies who have become victims of widespread availability of killer narcotics, and they will do anything to get their next "fix".

I have been going to Mexico weekly every winter since 2007 and there are things a passenger can do to be safe; travel in groups, don't go off the beaten path, never ask about or buy illegal substances, use common sense.

Mexico is a beautiful country and I have made several wonderful friendships with Mexican citizens of Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, and Mazatlan, and all of them recommend these things for passengers. They don't want to lose the tourism business any more than we want to quit visiting their ports.

I feel avoiding Mazatlan was a good thing and a wake-up call to local authorities to tighten their squeeze on irresponsible locals who are causing harm to the rest of their community (as well as visitors). The same was true in Jamaica. Perhaps there will eventually be a majority effort to oust the powerful cartels who are creating this ultimately.

We can help by strengthening our own borders from societal disease; which is why I disagree with this post about prohibition being wrong. I say we prohibit drugs from entering our country...period. My son is 7. Enough said.

[cruiserbryce]

certainly understand why the lines are doing it but hopefully it wont cause a permanent change. The MR is the only real easy itinerary for us to go on and with the cost and pain of air travel it would certainly cut into our cruising

[shepp]

We can help by strengthening our own borders from societal disease; which is why I disagree with this post about prohibition being wrong. I say we prohibit drugs from entering our country...period. My son is 7. Enough said.

 

Well, this is, I realize, somewhat OT, but last I looked, we already do prohibit illegal drugs from entering our country. You think it's working? You think that anyone who wants to get high on anything won't be able to do it? And you think that scarcity of drugs doesn't drive up prices, which results in an increase in property related crimes, or that the increased riches don't pay off handsomely for drug cartels?

 

The U.S. takes a strictly prohibitionist, rather than medical/harm reduction approach. (The feds even make research on the pros and cons of medical marijuana near-impossible.) Huge amounts of resources are devoted to locking up not just big-time dealers, but small-time users. About a billion dollars are spent annually on locking up prisoners for marijuana-related offenses. Meanwhile, treatment options are woefully underfunded. A relative tried to get himself into a VA program for methadone addiction, but while he was on the waiting list, he OD'ed.

 

I'm not advocating for the use of any illegal substance, simply arguing for a bit of sanity. I'm not sure what "enough said" means, precisely. Because you have a 7-year-old son, adults who want to smoke a joint in their living rooms should be hauled into jail?

[dresch25]

But a heck of a lot warmer than from where they are coming from. :D

 

Very true we have had our fair share of cold and snow in New York this winter so anything warmer than below freezing will be welcomed!!!!