Cruisers robbed on Carnival sponsored Puerto Vallarta tour

[DandyDon]

See Cruise line: 22 passengers robbed in Mexican seaside resort - CNN.com

This can't be good for business. Looks like these passengers trusted the cruise line to take them places safely and ignored the US State Department warnings, as did Carnival when they continued to dock there. Excerpting form the article...

The robbery comes two weeks after the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning to Americans to avoid all but essential travel to all or parts of 14 Mexican states, including the state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the sixth-largest city in Jalisco.​

 

[Qnape]

The CNN report is somewhat misleading; the travel advisory more specifically states:

"You should defer non-essential travel to areas of the state that border the states of Michoacán and Zacatecas. You should also exercise caution when traveling at night outside of cities in the remaining portions of this state."

The italics are added and mine. The cruise line DID NOT ignore the warnings. Puerto Vallarta is very far from the border with either state and is on the border of the state of Nayarit. I returned from 8 nights at Puerto Vallarta (more specifically staying in Nueva Vallarta, which is in Nayarit just down the coast) last night and certainly experienced no issues. There were three cruise ships in the harbor including a Disney cruise ship at one point. A Mexican Navy cruiser and coast guard cutter were in port at the same time, and on the day we dove Los Arcos a navy patrol boat seemed to shadow us all day. We did hear that excursions way away from the main tourist areas could be a bit riskier (trail rides on horseback or ATV) but felt safe ziplining near the city, walking in the shopping areas, as well as diving the Mariatas and Los Arcos. The locals I spoke with (shopkeepers, taxi drivers and bartenders) were very pleased that the cruise ships were there and very concerned about how we in America view the risks of traveling in their region. I'm sure they were very upset at this news.

As has been said many times, I live near NYC and work in Newark. My daily commute feels riskier than the time I have spent in Puerto Vallarta , the Playa del Carmen area or Cozumel.

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks Qnape. Silly me for believing a new article. :blush: Your quote from Mexico is more accurate.

 

[Mike]

Wow, getting robbed in the jungles near Puerto Vallarta, that is going to hurt tourism there.

We spent an awesome 10 days there about 5 years ago. Did a lot of adventuring off the beaten path, hiked along remote jungle trails, hiked on a remote sea side trail south of Puerto Vallarta, discovered isolated beaches of such beauty you would have thought you were in Bora Bora, ate and drank at tiny local beach bars, explored quite a bit outside of the tourist areas.

Glad we have the memories. Won't be doing that again for awhile.

 

[nimoh]

It appears that taking a guided shore excursion in Mexico is similar to taking a guided dive in Mexico with respect to the "trust me" factor

 

[fdog]

I wonder if the Board of Directors for Carnival Cruise have to be kept away from sharp objects lately?

What with their ships running aground, drifting powerless off the Saychelles...ooff.




All the best, James

 

[Mossman]

The jungles of Mexico have always been filled with revolutionaries and banditos. When I drove down to Puerto Vallarta over 20 years ago, AAA warned against taking certain highways because of the bandits. This is hardly news.

Fortunately I live in safe Southern California where no one ever gets carjacked, but I wouldn't hesitate to travel to Puerto Vallarta again if the diving were better (we were just there in November, did two murky frigid dives with Chico's, lots of eels and a few nudibranchs but nothing else of note).

 

[leslieinpv]

I actually live in the little town that this happened in. It is called El Nogalito. The long dirt road which this happened on, I drive on it everyday and ride our bikes on that road to my daughters school all the time. Every one I talked to in town was as shocked as I was to hear about the news. I have lived in pv since 1995 and never felt threatened or scared . I have lived in El Nogalito since 2001. I have only had 2 home breakins, and that has been within the last year. There are no more buses from the cruise ships that come into the little town since the hold up, I am a little glad because the buses always drove very fast on the dirt road with no concern for the people walking or riding there bikes. Now it is a little more quiet here. Too bad something like this had to happen in order to get the buses off the dirt road. I dont feel scared living here, it is a beautiful little town with lots of natural beauty and birds.

 

[Mike]

I actually live in the little town that this happened in. It is called El Nogalito. The long dirt road which this happened on, I drive on it everyday and ride our bikes on that road to my daughters school all the time. Every one I talked to in town was as shocked as I was to hear about the news. I have lived in pv since 1995 and never felt threatened or scared . I have lived in El Nogalito since 2001. I have only had 2 home breakins, and that has been within the last year. There are no more buses from the cruise ships that come into the little town since the hold up, I am a little glad because the buses always drove very fast on the dirt road with no concern for the people walking or riding there bikes. Now it is a little more quiet here. Too bad something like this had to happen in order to get the buses off the dirt road. I dont feel scared living here, it is a beautiful little town with lots of natural beauty and birds.

Dang, only 2 break ins to your home in the last year. What's considered unsafe, when they break in once a month?

 

[leslieinpv]

lol yes very funny, i just meant only 2 breakins in 11 years, i thought that was pretty good. the first time was about a year ago, and the second time was just a couple of days ago, my window was left open and my camera is missing.