Is the Mexican Riviera Cruising's Comeback Kid? Chris Gray Faust - Cruise Critic
go to original May 24, 2014

In cruising's early years, it didn't get much more glamorous than a cruise on the Mexican Riviera. The popular TV show “Love Boat” showed Princess ships and the B-list celebrities they carried stopping at then-exotic ports such as Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco.

Today, you'd be hard-pressed to find Acapulco on a mainstream cruise itinerary; in 2014, only a handful of luxury lines such as Regent Seven Seas, Silversea and Oceania, planned stops at the Pacific Ocean resort town. Concerns about the safety in some ports, along with negative perceptions and increased competition from destinations elsewhere, moved Mexican Riviera itineraries off some cruise line's calendars all together.

The numbers tell the story. Puerto Vallarta went from having a banner year in 2008, when 180 ships arrived, to a mere 82 in 2013. Mazatlan suffered a significant financial hit when a string of violent incidents prompted cruise lines to pull out completely in 2011, losing all of the 520,000 passengers that had visited in 2010.

Even Cabo San Lucas, which experienced a boom in tourists drawn to its hotels, resorts and bars, has seen its cruise business falter. In 2008, nearly 400 ships visited Cabo; this year, that number is down to 112.

Those figures sound dire. But this week, the region received a major boost when Carnival announced it would be sailing in the Mexican Riviera year-round in 2015, including several stops at Mazatlan. The ports have also been taking significant steps to attract more cruise business.

Read the rest at Cruise Critic

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