cruisin’ the hood

When Captain Stubing and Julie McCoy start dissing Mexico, you know the world is just not quite right.


The headline was not new: “Mexico still not safe says cruise line.”  After all, Royal Caribbean pulled all of its ships off of the Pacific Mexico circuit last year – for reasons never adequately explained.  But everyone knew why.


This year it is Princess Cruise Lines – the Love Boat line itself – saying nasty things about the strip of Mexico I call home.  It is almost as if Mary Poppins showed up to tell us she is not practically perfect in every way.


According to Princess, the parts of Mexico that are not safe are Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta.  "As the safety and security of our passengers and crew is our highest priority, and based on the continued violence in these areas, we've made the decision to cancel our calls to Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán."  No punches pulled there.


I am not certain what to make of it.  Cruises are not the standard by which adventure should be measured.


Most of you know I enjoy a good cruise now and then.  But I am convinced that people who restrict themselves to cruising do so for a very good reason.  They are not adventurers.  They like the idea of their house following them around on their travels and having the ability to be herded from place to place with others of their own kind when they are in port.


They are certainly more adventurous than their neighbors who do not venture out of their homelands.  But  de Gama and Cabot they are not.


That does not make the Princess cancellation any easier for the cancelled ports.  After all, herds spend dollars.


When I was in Puerto Vallarta earlier in the month, the absence of cruise ships was apparent.  Where there was once a sea of faces that easily could have been in Calgary, there were now half-empty parking lots.


The irony is that both ports have spent the last year in attempting to reduce theft crimes.  Of course, no identify theft ring breakup is going to remove the image of decapitated bodies a thousand miles away.  It is almost as if Princess announced that it would no longer stop in Astoria because of the high crime rate in Chicago.


Nancy of countdown to méxico recently announced she is part of a project called “México Today.”  In her words, the “program is about generating positive, interesting, and informative pieces about México and using their website as well as social media (Facebook & Twitter) to share the México we know and love.”


I wish the group well.  Mazatlán is her home.  She has a right to take Princess’s cop-out personally.  Maybe someone should start by telling Hilary Clinton to knock it off with those hysteria-induced travel advisories.


As for me, I am going to be heading to San Miguel de Allende in just over a week to celebrate a different life style for a month.  No matter what Gopher and his gang have to say.