Mexico Itinerary changes - Sapphire Princess

[Princess Patches]

[quote=kath00;29405571

 

Maybe they need to redo the itiniary as So Cal to Cabo:

 

LA

Santa Barbara

SFO

Down to Cabo

San Diego

LA

 

I like this itinerary, but I doubt Princess could add Santa Barbara as a regular cruise ship port of call. Santa Barbara has only allowed a maximum of two cruise ships per year to stop here for many years. They are easing up on that rule a little this year due to the weak economy with three visits by Sapphire Princess and three visits by Crystal Symphony. It is also a tender port and cannot really handle the large ships that well.

[senior lady]

Wow, nowhere left to if they drop PV. Manzanillo is REALLY limited in what to do. Ensenada is really uninteresting with weather similar to San Diego so people wanting warmth and sun and swimming won't be getting it.

 

I wonder if this is the end of all MX cruises for a while. I love Cabo but going on a ship for a week just to go to Cabo would be a total waste.

 

Maybe they need to redo the itiniary as So Cal to Cabo:

 

LA

Santa Barbara

SFO

Down to Cabo

San Diego

LA

 

not warm enough during the winter:(

[Cruisin' Chick]

Can't stand Ensenada. And as others have said, if warm weather is important to you, you can't count on that port being warm. When we were stopped there during our Hawaiian cruise in January, it was in the 50s during the day. BTW, just about every passenger stayed on the ship.

[Vexorg]

While on the Sapphire 1-day last month I spent a bit of time talking to our cabin steward, and he seemed to think there was a very good chance Princess would just cancel the Mexico itineraries outright. Im not sure what they would replace them with, but this seems a likely sign that they could do just this.

[Crzn-Life]

Tampa, Ft Lauderdale and Miami. We live in FL and tourists and residents are robbed and killed here. Sad, but it happens here and everywhere. We go to Puerto Vallarta every year for a month and consider it to be as safe if not safer than Tampa and definitely safer than Miami. No matter where you go, there are bad people and if you stop traveling to a destination because someone was killed there you'd never go anywhere. The drug killings primarily happen around the USA/Mexican border and few have occurred in other parts of MX.

 

If Princess wants to eliminate the MX cruises I hope they opt for round trip cruises to Australia!!

 

This has nothing to do with the topic since the MX cruises aren't in the summer, but we would love to have a Princess ship back in FL for the summer. I know we have hurricanes here in the summer, but ships can sail around them easily. We'd love to have a ship to take a cruise on in the summer out of FL that isn't Carnival or the totally overpriced RCCL monsters.

[5:00_Somewhere]

Totally agree with you. He wasn't a tourist, I just find it fishy that they made the change today after this was on the news yesterday.

 

Not to doubt Rick's source(s), but I've looked everywhere online and can find no reference to this change. Princess.com still lists the traditional 3 stops. And, there's a lot of time between now and the sailings (and Final Payment), so you never know what might happen. I would hope they would give ample warning before FP date, though. Keeping my fingers crossed for my folks. They're really looking forward to doing the original MR itinerary.

[Princess Patches]

Not to doubt Rick's source(s), but I've looked everywhere online and can find no reference to this change. Princess.com still lists the traditional 3 stops. And, there's a lot of time between now and the sailings (and Final Payment), so you never know what might happen. I would hope they would give ample warning before FP date, though. Keeping my fingers crossed for my folks. They're really looking forward to doing the original MR itinerary.

 

Yes, there is independent confirmation of the itinerary change. Check out the thread started by Whitearrow entitled "Website Weirdness - my itinerary not the same".

[gdisney]

This is a shame. I can't see myself doing a week cruise if it only did Cabo and Ensenada. Cabo is nice and all, but I like walking around the waterfront areas and I really can't stand not being able to walk three feet without being harassed to buy a tour or arts and crafts. Does anyone know the status of the new aquarium/museum they're building in Ensenada right near the port?

[CulverCityCruisers]

Hmmm... maybe, but he was a resident.

 

http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110608/canadian-killed-mexico-110608/20110608/?hub=EdmontonHome

 

What difference does that make, he was still killed!!

[5:00_Somewhere]

Yes, there is independent confirmation of the itinerary change. Check out the thread started by Whitearrow entitled "Website Weirdness - my itinerary not the same".

 

Thanks for the heads up on that, Princess Patches. I had not seen that thread. This is really disappointing. If it were just about us, I wouldn't care so much; we're flexible and can accommodate changes. But, we JUST got my parents interested in cruising after years of trying to convince them to try it (we took them to the W. Carib last December), and they had their hearts set on the Mex Riv. PV was one of the main reasons they wanted to do the trip. And, I think they've already bought their airline tickets.

 

*sigh* :(

[Princess Patches]

Thanks for the heads up on that, Princess Patches. I had not seen that thread. This is really disappointing. If it were just about us, I wouldn't care so much; we're flexible and can accommodate changes. But, we JUST got my parents interested in cruising after years of trying to convince them to try it (we took them to the W. Carib last December), and they had their hearts set on the Mex Riv. PV was one of the main reasons they wanted to do the trip. And, I think they've already bought their airline tickets.

 

*sigh* :(

 

Holland America, Disney, and Carnival all do one week cruises to Mexico in December from the Southern California area and all appear to still be going to Puerto Vallarta. Since it is still before final payment, your parents could cancel and switch to another cruise line. They might even be able to coordinate it with the airfare they have already purchased.

[RickEk]

What difference does that make, he was still killed!!

 

The point is that he wasn't a cruise ship passenger. People are victims of crime everywhere everyday. But a cruise line drops a port, in general, only when cruise ship passengers are accosted or killed.

[dchip]

We just booked the Star out of San Francisco for April 3, 2012 which is billed as Mexican Riviera although it is partly a California cruise.

 

Our ports are: Catalina, PV, Mazatlan, Cabo and San Diego. I was surprised they were still doing Mazatlan.

 

We are going because it is RT San Francisco. Wondering if they are planning on changing our ports, too. We love PV. There is so much too do!!

 

Cheers, Denise

[5:00_Somewhere]

Holland America, Disney, and Carnival all do one week cruises to Mexico in December from the Southern California area and all appear to still be going to Puerto Vallarta. Since it is still before final payment, your parents could cancel and switch to another cruise line. They might even be able to coordinate it with the airfare they have already purchased.

 

Yeah, that's what I was just looking at. Thanks again, PP. ;)

[ASeaPrincess1]

I have been to the Mexican Riviera many times, but last month I noticed a lot more police and security around the malecon area. I felt quite safe.

 

I like Cabo, but as another poster stated, it wouldn't really be worth a 7-day trip to only go there and Ensenada..........

[RickEk]

If they're going to do this and not go to Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan, I think that I'd rather go to San Diego than Ensenada... or make the Cabo stay one day, then Ensenada, then San Diego (or hey, even Catalina would be okay).

[cruz chic]

We just booked the Star out of San Francisco for April 3, 2012 which is billed as Mexican Riviera although it is partly a California cruise.

 

Our ports are: Catalina, PV, Mazatlan, Cabo and San Diego. I was surprised they were still doing Mazatlan.

 

We are going because it is RT San Francisco. Wondering if they are planning on changing our ports, too. We love PV. There is so much too do!!

 

Cheers, Denise

I'm willing to bet that cruise will be changed too along with my Feb.2012 cruise. I'm not willing to wait and then find out after I've purchased air and made final payment that they are changing the itinerary. On top of it this one was priced higher then my cruise that I took for New Years. I'm going to think about it while I'm on my next cruise but I'll most likely come back and cancel. I'm really disappointed in Princess.

[Coral]

With all the negative info right now in Mexico, I really think Princess is thinking of safety first and I agree with their decision. Better be safe then have a passenger get hurt.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Tampa, Ft Lauderdale and Miami. We live in FL and tourists and residents are robbed and killed here. Sad, but it happens here and everywhere. We go to Puerto Vallarta every year for a month and consider it to be as safe if not safer than Tampa and definitely safer than Miami. No matter where you go, there are bad people and if you stop traveling to a destination because someone was killed there you'd never go anywhere. The drug killings primarily happen around the USA/Mexican border and few have occurred in other parts of MX.

 

If Princess wants to eliminate the MX cruises I hope they opt for round trip cruises to Australia!!

 

This has nothing to do with the topic since the MX cruises aren't in the summer, but we would love to have a Princess ship back in FL for the summer. I know we have hurricanes here in the summer, but ships can sail around them easily. We'd love to have a ship to take a cruise on in the summer out of FL that isn't Carnival or the totally overpriced RCCL monsters.

 

I, for me, would like to see more ships stick around the west coast, rather than going over to the Atlantic. There are plenty of us who don't want to fly to catch a cruise. Maybe more coastal cruises during the summer.

[san diego sue]

Weather in the winter months will not be warm in Ensenada. It is 1 1/2 hours from San Diego. We get some pretty cold days in winter. My idea of Mexican Riviera is to get to warm weather. Ensenada is much more dangerous than beautiful Puerta Vallarta or Mazatlan. In fact that town is ugly. Wouldn't walk around there either. Not a nice beach resort , a dirty town.

[cruz chic]

With all the negative info right now in Mexico, I really think Princess is thinking of safety first and I agree with their decision. Better be safe then have a passenger get hurt.

It can happen anywhere. There has been a lot of crime in the Carribean too. They aren't stopping cruises to the Caribbean. I doubt very much that this has anything to do with safety and a lot more to do with cash. Earlier this year HAL stopped going to Mazatlan for a while. All of a sudden the port charges were dropped and just like that it was safe again. I've heard HAL will be back in the fall. I wonder how many people will "bite" at this new itinerary on Princess. IMO if people wanted to stay in Cabo for days they would have booked an all inclusive. To tender for 2 days is a hassle that I'm not prepared to deal with. It also seems that the locals don't welcome tourists. I get a lot more warm and fuzzies from the locals in PV and Mazatlan.

[whitearrow]

If they're going to do this and not go to Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan, I think that I'd rather go to San Diego than Ensenada... or make the Cabo stay one day, then Ensenada, then San Diego (or hey, even Catalina would be okay).

 

Not for me, not in the winter. I want to get away and relax somewhere I can enjoy the weather and hopefully the beach. Two days in Cabo is more attractive to me, weather-wise, then more time up north. Though I do seriously wonder if there isn't any other point further south that would serve instead of Ensenada, which essentially has San Diego's weather. It could be warm there in Nov./December, but probably not.

[jnc411]

With all the negative info right now in Mexico, I really think Princess is thinking of safety first and I agree with their decision. Better be safe then have a passenger get hurt.

 

Live here in Southern California all my life and have been going to Mexico many many times over the years, but right now I won't go to Mexico, saftey is an issue and the cruise lines are doing this as a precaution I think. I know that all cities , especially big cities everywhere have crime . Untill the situation changes we won't be going to Mexico , it is a shame it has some lovely places. I hope for the people of Mexico , things change soon.

Cori

[critterchick]

What a shame. I love Puerto Vallarta, and was very happy when our Oosterdam cruise overnighted there instead of doing so in Cabo. We're resigned ourselves to flying to most of our cruises for now.:(

[t60]

We´re due to stop in Acapulco March2012 for a day on the reurn leg of our South American cruise, any ideas if this port is being replaced? If so what with?

 

Sandy