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Costa Maya News- someone posted this on FB


JG1209

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Thanks for posting this.  Such a shame.  Costa Maya had been pretty immune from this kind of "unrest" in the past.  It's a shame to see that it is creeping ever southward.  CM has always been very safe and very tourist-friendly.  It would be  total shame if it becomes like some of the other locations in Mexico with drug and cartel influence.

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12 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I recently booked 2 cruises JUST b/c they were going to CM.  Not the end of the world, but will be disappointed if we cannot get off the ship there.

@WAAAYTOOO I have never been on a cruise where RC has cancelled a stop- what happens during these cruises? Is any portion refunded? I have a stop in CM upcoming....very curious 

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39 minutes ago, RCIDreamer96 said:

@WAAAYTOOO I have never been on a cruise where RC has cancelled a stop- what happens during these cruises? Is any portion refunded? I have a stop in CM upcoming....very curious 

Not much, if anything, is refunded.  They will refund port fees for the missed port and of course, any excursions that you had booked through Royal would be fully refunded.  The only time you will likely see any of your cruise fare refunded is if the cruise itself is actually cut short due to weather or other extenuating circumstances.  We went through this recently on Anthem when the ship was stuck in Bayonne for 3 days waiting for health test results.  Most likely, if they cancel CM, they would simply add another sea day or maybe extend the stay in Cozumel.  They actually have a lot of choices in that area of the Caribbean/Gulf.  I wouldn't look for much of a rebate on price though.

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On harmony right now and we are at Costa maya. Almost all of the royal Caribbean booked excursions were cancelled. We didn’t have one planned anyways as this was our walk around the port for a couple of hours then get back on the ship early stop. Everyone we saw was happy to have us there. We were the only ship in port today. Lots of people in the port area but it is a very nicely done up port. Also lots of people booked their own excursions and were fine. There were also excursions you could book in the port area with no issues. I saw people getting into cabs and there were no problems there either. Other than it being crazy humid it was a great day! 

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1 minute ago, Kelslovestocruise said:

On harmony right now and we are at Costa maya. Almost all of the royal Caribbean booked excursions were cancelled. We didn’t have one planned anyways as this was our walk around the port for a couple of hours then get back on the ship early stop. Everyone we saw was happy to have us there. We were the only ship in port today. Lots of people in the port area but it is a very nicely done up port. Also lots of people booked their own excursions and were fine. There were also excursions you could book in the port area with no issues. I saw people getting into cabs and there were no problems there either. Other than it being crazy humid it was a great day! 

Thanks so much.  Great news.  Maybe it was a flash in the pan, and is done.

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36 minutes ago, Kelslovestocruise said:

On harmony right now and we are at Costa maya. Almost all of the royal Caribbean booked excursions were cancelled. We didn’t have one planned anyways as this was our walk around the port for a couple of hours then get back on the ship early stop. Everyone we saw was happy to have us there. We were the only ship in port today. Lots of people in the port area but it is a very nicely done up port. Also lots of people booked their own excursions and were fine. There were also excursions you could book in the port area with no issues. I saw people getting into cabs and there were no problems there either. Other than it being crazy humid it was a great day! 

Were the transfers to Mahahual affected?

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Bah.....business as usual in Latin America. Ive seen much, much, MUCH worse. Watched people burn down a Popeyes Chicken in Tegucigalpa, Honduras after the coup in 2009.....ill gladly take some disgruntled taxi drivers. ? Im sure theyll get this resolved quickly. Too much money involved. 

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I have always enjoyed Costa Maya (and Mahahual even more), but the owners of the port complex do have a history of playing hardball.

You must walk the convoluted path completely thru the complex in order to get "outside" (they want you to stay in the port).  There are a couple shortcuts ive learned over time but its still more difficult than it should be.

You must walk outside their fence in order to get a taxi, as they want you to use their shuttles.  They do allow the taxis to come in to drop people back off, but they can't let someone get in.

They extended their concrete fence all the way to the water.  On the southside this was to keep people from simply walking to town (relatively short, straight shot).  This means a long walk thru the streets of "new town".  On the northside it was to prevent people from heading to the little beachbar that used to be there, Chach Chi.  you can still see the remains of it.  nice little place, good food/drinks/service.  10 -15 years ago there was a whole section on CruiseCritic devoted to letting people know where the latest hole in the fence was to a path thru the brush to get there.  Taxi drivers, if caught by port owners taking people there, were blackballed from business with the port.

It is what it is, just another day south of the border.  I still get out as fast as possible, grab a taxi to town, and hit one of my favorite places depending on which is less crowded if multiple ships in port.

 

 

 

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22 minutes ago, PRC said:

I have always enjoyed Costa Maya (and Mahahual even more), but the owners of the port complex do have a history of playing hardball.

You must walk the convoluted path completely thru the complex in order to get "outside" (they want you to stay in the port).  There are a couple shortcuts ive learned over time but its still more difficult than it should be.

You must walk outside their fence in order to get a taxi, as they want you to use their shuttles.  They do allow the taxis to come in to drop people back off, but they can't let someone get in.

They extended their concrete fence all the way to the water.  On the southside this was to keep people from simply walking to town (relatively short, straight shot).  This means a long walk thru the streets of "new town".  On the northside it was to prevent people from heading to the little beachbar that used to be there, Chach Chi.  you can still see the remains of it.  nice little place, good food/drinks/service.  10 -15 years ago there was a whole section on CruiseCritic devoted to letting people know where the latest hole in the fence was to a path thru the brush to get there.  Taxi drivers, if caught by port owners taking people there, were blackballed from business with the port.

It is what it is, just another day south of the border.  I still get out as fast as possible, grab a taxi to town, and hit one of my favorite places depending on which is less crowded if multiple ships in port.

 

 

 

We are about to go there. Is there anything you can tell us to help get to a taxi smoothly. We are going to Krazy Lobster.

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Best i can offer is to follow the green path in the attached map.  If that exit is blocked (it frequently is), then continue along the red path.  Walk out the gate and there will be tons of taxis waiting.  plenty waiting to return also.

 

The Lobster is a great place.  You'll enjoy it!

 

Costa-Maya-Port-Map-b.jpg

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8 minutes ago, PRC said:

Best i can offer is to follow the green path in the attached map.  If that exit is blocked (it frequently is), then continue along the red path.  Walk out the gate and there will be tons of taxis waiting.  plenty waiting to return also.

 

The Lobster is a great place.  You'll enjoy it!

 

Costa-Maya-Port-Map-b.jpg

Thank you!

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4 hours ago, RCIDreamer96 said:

@WAAAYTOOO I have never been on a cruise where RC has cancelled a stop- what happens during these cruises? Is any portion refunded? I have a stop in CM upcoming....very curious 

We had a port cancelled in the Caribbean last year and I was surprised at how small the refund was to our account. It was less than $8 each. 

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thank you for alerting us to the Costa Maya news.   We are headed there next week (Thursday I think) but have no excursions planned.   Hopefully all will be settled down by then but I will report back if there is any news to report. 

Krazy Lobster?!!  Might have to check that out.   How far from the port?

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It's correct about what happened on the 18th,  the main affection was for the shore excursions, you know, the ones offered by the ships, passengers were even in the buses at the gate waiting for departure and couldn't because of the blockade.

On the 19th, Costa Maya had 3 cruises scheduled, Celebrity Reflection, Norwegian Escape and Harmony OTS, all together had nearly 50 tours to the ruins, beach, water park etc. and every single one got cancelled as a precaution. Only Harmony confirmed that it would dock but didn't sell any of the shore excursions.

Today, the 20th apparently things go back to normal, there is a total of 35-40 official tours scheduled and people was just called to work. For today we have Empress OTS, Rhapsody OTS and MSC Meraviglia. Even if the situation eased, we as locals had an affection. If you don't come out of the port complex, a lot of locals work there and rely on commission or tips. If you go to town, you're also helping, If you get on any of the shore excursions from the ship, you'll also be helping locals because everyone from waiters, to tour guides and staff at locations is also local. So when a shore excursion from the ship is cancelled, that means that some people won't see any income for the day. 

I'll update this depending on what happens later today.

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