Thread: Hog Virus ... Mexican Port Stops ....

Someone quoted in the article has a thought:

Russ Armstrong, owner of Armstrong's Seafood, a top-notch restaurant in downtown Avalon, had a more pressing issue on his mind.

"Wouldn't it be great to get some mariachis playing for these people as they disembark?" he asked. "We've got to get some out here immediately."

"After all," he added, "these people had their minds set on Mexico. Some mariachis would put a smile on their faces."

Originally Posted by LuLu

Wonder if this "Hog Virus" will cause cruise ships to cancel port stops in Mexico?

Hello everyone, we got back from Mexico yesterday. We were monitoring the news while we were there and cruise lines have canceled calls to Mexican ports last week. Carnival has canceled calls through May 11. Some airlines have canceled flights and cut capacity to Mexico because demand is weak as a result of the flu. We are fine, no flu symptoms.

Originally Posted by LuLu

Our neighbors were just over and said that they heard on the news US Air would exchange anyone's tickets to Mexico to any other destination US Air flies.

Is this true?

Yes, and not only US Airways, but all others servicing Mexico.

Originally Posted by Cruise Planner

The thing is that, as usual, they love to overexagerte everything! When you consider that they have about 1,600 cases reported in Mexico and the population of just Mexico City is 20 million people, I'm not sure they should be considering it a world-wide pandemic quite yet. Yes, we need to be concerned and we need to take precaution, but when the problem area is one city and they're talking about restricting travel to the whole country, you have to admit it is a bit overreacting. It would be like saying there's a possible major earthquake going to happen in the next couple of days in San Francisco, so tell everyone in the world not to come to anyplace in the U.S. It's as one newscaster said, "People tend to panic in situations like this and there's absolutely nothing to panic about."

Even the CDC has stated that you should NOT avoid travel to Mexico, but to take normal precautions, like washing your hands. They further state that none of the resort areas in Mexico have had any problems.

So, unless things change in the near future, travel to the Mexican cruise ports are not areas of concern - at least not yet. We'll see what happens in the weeks to come.

Pete

Well stated in the first paragraph, Pete. We were in Riviera Maya, took a taxi to Cancun and Playa del Carmen, and not a single tourist it was reported has come down with the flu. You must take all precautions, like washing hands often, using hand sanitizer, covering your mouth when coughing etc.
Since you posted this, cruise lines have canceled calls to Mexican ports. Princess will still stop in Ensenada for their service call, but no crew or passengers will be allowed to disembark while there.

I made another posting about erroneous reporting done by the press on this issue;

http://www.cruiselinefans.com/health...swine-flu.html (Erroneous Headlines - CDC: Woman Just Back From Cruise to Mexico Has Swine Flu)

The problem is that the perception is there are problems in the entire country of Mexico, which is obviously incorrect. Unfortunately, the cruise lines are listening to the their passengers, who have incorrect information, and threatening to cancel their cruises to Mexico. So, the cruise lines are changing the itineraries, not because of any actual problems, but because of their clients - bottom line, it's the money talking. If they don't change their itneraries, passengers will cancel because they have overreacted due to erroneous reports by the press. It's a no-win scenario.

I definitely feel sorry for all those who will suffer by this.

Pete

Originally Posted by Cruise Planner

I made another posting about erroneous reporting done by the press on this issue;

http://www.cruiselinefans.com/health...swine-flu.html (Erroneous Headlines - CDC: Woman Just Back From Cruise to Mexico Has Swine Flu)

The problem is that the perception is there are problems in the entire country of Mexico, which is obviously incorrect. Unfortunately, the cruise lines are listening to the their passengers, who have incorrect information, and threatening to cancel their cruises to Mexico. So, the cruise lines are changing the itineraries, not because of any actual problems, but because of their clients - bottom line, it's the money talking. If they don't change their itneraries, passengers will cancel because they have overreacted due to erroneous reports by the press. It's a no-win scenario.

I definitely feel sorry for all those who will suffer by this.

Pete

Pete I saw this article yesterday morning after I posted and had the same observatiwo areas and their environs are hese ton you made above. Mexico City is shut down completely, and the President wants to reopen all business', schools, etc tomorrow(Wednesday). Business people are already hurting in Cancun and Riviera Maya because of people overacting to press reports. We flew on an A-321 to Cancun, and an A-319 back to FLL, and there were only about 30 - 40 passengers on each segment on aircraft with a capacity of over 100 passengers. I would go back to those two areas in a heartbeat, even Cabo San Lucas and Acupulco. I remember the SARS problem in 2003. I flew a lot during that outbreak, which was far worse than this flu.

Cinco de Mayo may not be as big a celebration as normal this year for those in Mexico depending on tourist!