More news about Playa del Carmen

[kmarks]

That may well be, however it appears that the US Department of State has not updated their advisories:

Mexico Travel Advisory


"Quintana Roo state – Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution

Exercise increased caution due to crime.

According to Government of Mexico statistics, the state experienced an increase in homicide rates compared to the same period in 2016. While most of these homicides appeared to be targeted, criminal organization assassinations, turf battles between criminal groups have resulted in violent crime in areas frequented by U.S. citizens. Shooting incidents injuring or killing bystanders have occurred.

There are no restrictions on U.S. government employees for travel in Quintana Roo state, which includes tourist areas such as: Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, and the Riviera Maya."

It seems something isn't being updated on the usembassy.gov website:

On March 7, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City received information about a security threat in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Effective immediately, U.S. Government employees are prohibited from traveling to Playa del Carmen until further notice. The U.S. Consular Agency in Playa del Carmen will be closed until further notice.
​

Security Alert - U. S. Embassy Mexico City, Mexico (March 7, 2018) | U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Mexico

 

[gopbroek]

Yes, military style patrols with federal officials. Saw one go by my house today loaded with men in helmets, camo gear and artillery. But that's mostly just for show, I think. What they need to do, IMO, is root out the corruption that is behind all of this and allowing the drug/crime rings to operate. There has been a HUGE increase in robberies/break-ins/thefts in the past few years. I keep all of our gates pad-locked now, even when we are at home. It is all connected, I think. Problem isn't as bad as Playa del Carmen or Cancun, but it's definitely not the Cozumel I first came to 15 years ago.

A friend (permanent resident) had his dive gear stolen from the back patio of his house several years back during the low season while it was hanging up to dry in the middle of the afternoon. The iron fencing was locked but there was a 18 inch gap on top of the gate in the breezeway He lost several thousand dollars worth of equipment including a computer in his dive bag. He did everything correct and spent hours down at the municipal police stations making a report.
Several weeks later a DM showed up at the marina with a reel from the bag. He spoke with the DM who told him that he had just bought it. The DM readily gave him the name of the individual whom he bought it from and also offered the reel back. So off to the police station my friend went with the identity of the guy selling his equipment. Turns out the original police officer never bothered to file any theft report and they really didn't care about the theft or the identity of the thief, nothing ever came of it.

 

[Guitarcrazy]

My wife and I are going back to COZ in early April. We were planning on doing the bag drag as the airlines we fly no longer have direct flights to Cozumel that we can make in one day of travel. I am hopeful that there will be some sort of resolution by then.

Barring that, can someone who has flown Mayair give some information about the experience? Last year my wife and I flew into CUN and tried to get a shuttle to the other terminal to catch a Mayair flight and weren't even successful in finding the correct terminal. (we didn't purchase ahead of time) We ended up taking a taxi to PDC.

How busy are the flights? I hesitate to buy a ticket ahead of time as the flights from Montana to Cancun often are delayed at one stop or the other and there is no guarantee we would make the flight if we purchased ahead of time. Thanks.

 

[JamesBon92007]

A friend (permanent resident) had his dive gear stolen from the back patio of his house several years back during the low season while it was hanging up to dry in the middle of the afternoon. The iron fencing was locked but there was a 18 inch gap on top of the gate in the breezeway He lost several thousand dollars worth of equipment including a computer in his dive bag. He did everything correct and spent hours down at the municipal police stations making a report.
Several weeks later a DM showed up at the marina with a reel from the bag. He spoke with the DM who told him that he had just bought it. The DM readily gave him the name of the individual whom he bought it from and also offered the reel back. So off to the police station my friend went with the identity of the guy selling his equipment. Turns out the original police officer never bothered to file any theft report and they really didn't care about the theft or the identity of the thief, nothing ever came of it.

The first VRBO I stayed at in San Miguel warned us not to leave our gear outside, even though it looked like it would be extremely to climb over the 10 foot high walls with spikes on the top. Apparently things had gone missing in the past. The people across the street have glass shards mortared to the top of their wall but I don't know if anyone ever made it over the glass. Two AirBnbs I stayed at (one not on Cozumel) looked like they would be impossible to transverse so we did leave our stuff outside in those locations. When you consider how low the income probably is for many of the residents they might consider all of us foreigners extremely wealthy and able to easily replace our losses. What they may not know is that some of us make many sacrifices in order to visit their piece of paradise for a week or two and spent all of our money on airfare and airport parking and diving and a place to stay. Meanwhile, since the current travel alerts are likely to reduce the tourism for a while, the percentages for likelihood of potential theft probably just went up so extra caution may be in order.

 

[JamesBon92007]

My wife and I are going back to COZ in early April. We were planning on doing the bag drag as the airlines we fly no longer have direct flights to Cozumel that we can make in one day of travel. I am hopeful that there will be some sort of resolution by then.

Barring that, can someone who has flown Mayair give some information about the experience? Last year my wife and I flew into CUN and tried to get a shuttle to the other terminal to catch a Mayair flight and weren't even successful in finding the correct terminal. (we didn't purchase ahead of time) We ended up taking a taxi to PDC.

How busy are the flights? I hesitate to buy a ticket ahead of time as the flights from Montana to Cancun often are delayed at one stop or the other and there is no guarantee we would make the flight if we purchased ahead of time. Thanks.

We flew MayAir on our first trip to Cozumel in 2015. You need to get to the FBO terminal which is not with the other terminals, it is across the runways to the East. We contacted Lomis (?) Travel when we arrived and they picked us up quickly and shuttled us to the FBO terminal. The name of the travel agency is on the MayAir web site, but don't just go by the color of their shirts--read their company name on their shirts MAKE SURE they are the right people. MayAir has luggage restrictions so you are limited to the usual carry-on luggage allowed for most airlines. If you want to bring more luggage I think you can pay extra, but it is probably a LOT extra.

Edit: They sell, I think, three different classes of tickets so if you want to wait and see if there is room on the plane you might get it a little cheaper but they only fly something like every two hours and sometimes it is a small Cessna and no luggage is allowed. At all, except for maybe a small personal bag. I have no idea what the policy is if you don't make your flight but we had great results using their online chat. We even got 1/2 price on our return flight. Not sure why but didn't argue with them

MAYAir: Flights from Cancún to Cozumel, Villahermosa, M?...


Correction: It's Lomas Travel Group. Also, it's now called the "New" FBO Terminal. I don't know if they moved it but they now have a Terminal 4 at the regular airport. The last time I drove down to PDC (Nov, '17) they still had the same signs for the FBO terminal but when we flew out of CUN in December we used Terminal 4 but arrived at Terminal 2 in November. Hopefully someone with more up-to-date knowledge will chime in.

 

[ReefHound]

Turns out the original police officer never bothered to file any theft report and they really didn't care about the theft or the identity of the thief, nothing ever came of it.

Heard that story many times. The story I never seem to hear is police make arrests in such cases, much less courts convict and sentence them. I've seen stats that only about 2% of violent crimes result in a conviction, and nearly 0% for petty crime. Do convicted criminals have a hard time getting a job? Why wouldn't a young person try to steal something? There seems to be no consequences. Maybe locals can tell me otherwise but from the outside it appears Mexico has constructed a society where crime pays.

 

[flyboy08]

Well, when those paid to protect you are often culprits to crime, you Have no chance at justice...it's still a third world there, but I do like it still

 

[ChrisM]

Maybe I'm just stupid, but I'd still go to Coz and do that bag drag thing thru PDC. And take my wife too

 

[MMM]

A friend (permanent resident) had his dive gear stolen from the back patio of his house several years back during the low season while it was hanging up to dry in the middle of the afternoon. The iron fencing was locked but there was a 18 inch gap on top of the gate in the breezeway He lost several thousand dollars worth of equipment including a computer in his dive bag. He did everything correct and spent hours down at the municipal police stations making a report.
Several weeks later a DM showed up at the marina with a reel from the bag. He spoke with the DM who told him that he had just bought it. The DM readily gave him the name of the individual whom he bought it from and also offered the reel back. So off to the police station my friend went with the identity of the guy selling his equipment. Turns out the original police officer never bothered to file any theft report and they really didn't care about the theft or the identity of the thief, nothing ever came of it.

Sort of like how traffic accidents are never in favour of the tourist. I heard a similar story about a washing machine theft. The owner was unable to produce proof that the stolen washing machine was his via serial number (in spite of having filed a report) and so the police kept it.

 

[Hoag]

From Global TV News:

25 injured in Playa del Carmen ferry explosion, Mexican government says