On Thursday, February 23rd, 22 passengers from the Carnival Splendor were returning from an excursion in Puerto Vallarta, when they were robbed at gun point by masked muggers. They were returning from a Carnival sponsored excursion to El Nogalito. As there tour bus was leaving El Nogaito, 2 masked muggers stopped the bus and robbed the passengers of their money, watches, jewelry, and cameras.
All of the passengers returned to the ship. Authorities have been contacted and are currently searching for the muggers. Carnival’s Care Team is currently giving support to the affected passengers by reimbursing them for their valuables and helping them to obtain identification such as passports. The El Noglaito nature tour has also been suspended indefinitely.
Today, we received a statement from Puerto Vallartas’ Tourism Board regarding the incident…
The Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board is sad to learn about this extremely rare incident that is not part of the experience our historic international tourism destination offers our guests.
We are pleased that our destination’s officials, and the US Consulate, took swift action to ensure the health and safety of all our guests involved. Minutes after we learned of the incident representatives from the local and state government, tourism leaders and tour operators to provide assistance to those who involved and police and the district’s attorney office started their investigation.
As one of Mexico’s leading destinations, we have high regards for the security and safety of our visitors and we are constantly working on enhancing the safety measures employed by our local police and private security officers who work at our many tourism attractions, including new international standardized training. We are also making renovations to the city’s streets and popular tourist zones which will better serve our guests and their safety.
We think our efforts are fruitful as this past June Thomas Dale & Associates (TDA), a leading global investigative and security firm hired by Puerto Vallarta to complete a security/threat assessment study of the destination found that the number of negative events involving foreigners or non-foreigners is fractional compared to the large ex-pat resident population and the millions of visitors that come to vacation each year in Puerto Vallarta. The study also found that visitors to the destination feel safe and continue to visit Puerto Vallarta numerous times throughout their lifetime.
In addition, highly regarded media and their readers have continuously voted Puerto Vallarta as one of their favorite destinations, giving it numerous accolades and awards, including, Conde Nast Traveler Magazine: “Favorite Destination” for 5 years in a row; Travelocity: one of 10 top “Summer Family Destinations” in 2011, and AARP: one of the “Top 10 Best Places to Retire.”
After cancelling calls in both Acapulco and Mazatlan due to safety concerns, will Puerto Vallarta be the next port cruise lines will stop calling at?
Photo Credits:
Header: http://militarytimes.com/blogs/scoopdeck/files/2010/11/splendor.jpg Side Logo: Wikipedia
7 replies on “22 Carnival Passengers Robbed At Gunpoint”
This is ridiculous. I understand that some people need to make ends meet, but it should never be done through unethical means such as robbery. I hope security can be beefed up so that Puerto Vallarta doesn’t become a port casualty.
There’s a good reason why the volume of cruise ships that used to go to Mexico has reduced to a small trickle.
I had a bad experience in Cancun last month where I was shaken down by a police officer who pulled me over and took my money. I’m just avoiding travel to Mexico for the time being.
Wow, I can’t believe that James! Mexico is a somewhat scary place, and besides Cozumel I haven’t been back there since like 2007 and I really don’t plan on going back now!
Same thing happened to us in Cozumel. We went back to the hotel manager and told them what happened. We cruised by the perps and the police made them give our money back. In retrospect we could have ended up in a Mexican prison.
Saw the story on MSN- they couldn’t pull it fast enough.
This is terrible. I hope they don’t eliminate Puerto Vallarta from itineraries!
I Love it there!