Cruise ship aground off of Playa

[Critter]

[b][i][color=green][b]

[monicay]

There is a picture and James feelings about it on the gossip, news area of the forum. It still puzzles me how this could happen. We'll be there in about 24 hours.

[Michael]

And for the linguistically challenged:

http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=40930

Apparently this is not a unique or even an especially rare occurrence. It would appear to be much more frequent than a severe hurricane.

[Michael]

As recently as March this year another embarrassed Cruise ship Captain was having his ship pulled of a sand bank near Cuba.

And that is just a recent event in that part of the world. If you look world wide a Cruise ship will be beach somewhere every three or four months.

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/events.html

Hello everyone, I was aboard that beached cruise ship and the news is not totally correct in this http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=40930 website.
The ship arrived in Playa De Carmen on Tuesday Morning and no word was announced to passengers untill we all arrived back at the ship that Tuesday evening. They told everyone that the ship was stuck and most passengers were freaked out as they wanted to be back in New Orleans port on Thurs at 8:00 am to spend the holidays with family. To calm some down they offered a measly 25% discount on a future cruise(yeah right) and they also opened all bars for free drinks for 1 hour and they offered some walking tour excursions to anyone who wanted, since we had an extra day on the playa. (nobody cared.) They turned off the water at night to conserve water since it was beached and we could not take showers or brush teeeth. No one was Housed anywhere so that news is incorrect. After spending another day among the bothersome store owners we headed back to the ship only to find that it was still stuck and at a 20 degree list tot he left which made walking and eating on the ship miserable. We alos found that we would have to be flown back home the next day. Most people on the ship DO NOT FLY! This was a horrible vacation. I WANT MY MONEY BACK!

[Peggy Sue]

Do any of you have information regarding plans to build a cruise ship pier at Xcaret? When I was in Playa last month, there was something of an anti-pier movement among divers and other locals, but efforts don't seem to be terribly well-coordinated at this point. (Forgive me, activists, if I just didn't look in the right places.) And I don't have enough details to suggest what actions our PlayaInfo community might take to help prevent what could be an environmental disaster-in-the-making.

Here's my understanding of the situation: As most of you know, there's already a pier and plaza (only a couple of years old) at Calica, the limestone quarry that's between Playa and Xcaret -- maybe 3 km in each direction. But ... by building a pier at Xcaret, the cruise lines and Xcaret will have a captive audience dumped directly into the "ecopark," which will effectively cut out opportunities for the taxi drivers and local businesses to divert paying customers elsewhere. Worse, another huge hole will be ripped through the reef.

(I believe local divers and fishermen are fined if they should accidentally hit the reef with their boats; I'd sure like to know what happened to Carnival as a result of the latest grounding debacle. But I digress.)

I think this forum could be a real force for pressuring Xcaret, in particular, to reconsider its involvement in what looks like nothing more than a huge greed-fest ... but we'll need to have the facts. If you've got 'em, please share ....

[Munichchick]

This just sucks big time! As far as I heard the Xcaret cruise ship dock is a sure thing and it will be built or is already under construction. Can't these floating trash cans dock at the excisting docks in Progresso, Calica, Cozumel and Majahual down south close to the Belize border? It is bad enough that there are so many cruise ship facilities in that area already.

[thebatchfile]

Im a country boy, so what exactly is the reef all about and why is it important?

[james]

Reefs are homes for fishies (and corals and invertebrates and and and) that swim in the sea. It's where people typically dive. They sometimes provide protection by breaking waves. Reefs are dying all over the world.

Save the reefs.

After spending another day among the bothersome store owners...

I find people to pretty nice on the average.

[Peggy Sue]

According to the Coral Reef Alliance, "Coral reefs have existed on earth for more than 350 million years, but over a quarter of the world's reefs have been destroyed and up to 60% of the reefs may be lost within our lifetime if we don't take action now."

Here's a link to a page on the group's website that offers some good reasons why we should care about coral reefs:

http://www.coralreef.org/coralreefinfo/care.html

If you click on "coral reef information" on that page, you'll find more facts about coral reefs and the many ways they're being threatened, including destructive coastal development practices.

Come snorkel or dive with us in Playa, and you'll be able to see for yourself why it's so important to save the reefs.

[thebatchfile]

When I said "After spending another day among the bothersome store owners..." I meant that as a tourist the little stores were annoying as heck. Everyone want you to come buy something and they were trying to be to high with the prices too.

[Ally]

Yes! Save the Reefs AND the dolphins! (sorry, I could not resist)

As for the 'bothersome store owners', yes I agree one can get sick of all the catcalls etc. to get you into their stores, but I've always found a simple, "no gracias" will get them to leave you alone. In their defense, there are many shops that sell the same things so they have to try and get you into 'their' store...so much competition demands it!

Sorry, I'm off topic...back to the dolphins!! :wink:

[thebatchfile]

YEs there is a ton of comp so I agree hole hartedly. I often said no gracias to not offend anyone.

[thebatchfile]

When was the boat unstuck from the coast of PDC?
Was it late that Thursday eveing or later that weekend?

[mindz]

The reef near Xcaret is fairly shallow, and a popular destination for scuba divers as it is close to Playa del Carmen. Dive shops would certainly lose business and divers would certainly be disappointed, as there is no way, despite what the pier proponents say, that this will not harm the reef.