Cozumel as Home Port 4 Cruise Ships

[arew+4]

With U.S. Restart Stalled, Cruise Lines Consider Cozumel As Home Port

There goes the neighborhood.

This sounds like a bad idea, any one have local knowledge?

 

[Kimela]

We didn't see any new pier construction when we were there in December. I do remember there being some sort of buoy making oddball sounds when we were there in August or September, and was told it had to do with them building a new pier. I can't imagine Cozumel being a home port for a cruise line. The logistics of getting people onto Cozumel and then onto a boat - from an island that small - would require a MUCH bigger airport and more hotels, with shorter stays. I agree, it sounds like a really bad idea long-term. Maybe @ChuckP knows more?

 

[drrich2]

Interesting idea. A Royal Caribbean Int. ship might carry somewhere in the ballpark of 3,000-5,000+ passengers; I don't know what % they'd fill at present, but there's high demand amongst cruisers. People fly down to take cruises out of Puerto Rico, so it may be doable. A few issues come to mind:

1.) Many people will fly in to cruise, fly out afterward, and not spend much money locally.
2.) If >3,000 people fly in on a single Saturday or Sunday, and the same number fly out that day, over and beyond the normal number who come and go through the airport...can they handle that?
3.) Is it worth it to Cozumel to do this, if RCI pulls out once regular cruising resumes out of the U.S.?

 

[ChuckP]

"In early February, Cruise Radio reported that the mayor of Mexico’s largest Caribbean island, located 12 miles off the coast of Playa del Carmen, was courting cruise companies to use a nearly-completed fourth cruise ship dock as a home port."

Laughable but maybe not - I'm sure the paperwork process is indeed a long process here but they've done nothing more than soil borings in one location, just North of the cargo ferry pier. Drawings showed a pier and elevated walkway to buildings on the other side of the road, much like the downtown pier. Soil borings, nothing else has been physically done.

While all this talk was going on last December, they actually talked about placing it south of the cargo pier, right about where Sunset beach club is and also the Coral Reef Restoration stuff but I think that was all talk.....

I'm told it's election time down here and you hear things from locals about Pedro the mayor and Carlos the gobner - it seems like you'd be a fool to be an elected official here, they could kiss a line of babies and people would complain - it really is a no win situation for any of them.

I just can't see it long term logistically but Pedro seems to be trying everything to sell this island and get it back on it's feet.

 

[gopbroek]

"In early February, Cruise Radio reported that the mayor of Mexico’s largest Caribbean island, located 12 miles off the coast of Playa del Carmen, was courting cruise companies to use a nearly-completed fourth cruise ship dock as a home port."

Laughable but maybe not - I'm sure the paperwork process is indeed a long process here but they've done nothing more than soil borings in one location, just North of the cargo ferry pier. Drawings showed a pier and elevated walkway to buildings on the other side of the road, much like the downtown pier. Soil borings, nothing else has been physically done.

While all this talk was going on last December, they actually talked about placing it south of the cargo pier, right about where Sunset beach club is and also the Coral Reef Restoration stuff but I think that was all talk.....

I'm told it's election time down here and you hear things from locals about Pedro the mayor and Carlos the gobner - it seems like you'd be a fool to be an elected official here, they could kiss a line of babies and people would complain - it really is a no win situation for any of them.

I just can't see it long term logistically but Pedro seems to be trying everything to sell this island and get it back on it's feet.

Trivia question, so Carlos was elected governor in 2016 and Pedro mayor in 2018, how long are the terms of their respective offices and can they serve more than one term? I believe may positions in Mexico are 'one and done' but not sure which ones.

 

[ChuckP]

Trivia question, so Carlos was elected governor in 2016 and Pedro mayor in 2018, how long are the terms of their respective offices and can they serve more than one term? I believe may positions in Mexico are 'one and done' but not sure which ones.

I don't really know but will ask around - I assumed they were elected at the same time