Puerto Vallarta will close the year with 20 cruises less than scheduled, although this was not due to a factor of insecurity but to the rescheduling of routes, according to the director of the Port Administration Integral (API) Vallarta, Miguel Ángel García Beltrán.
He acknowledged that not all is good news in the international cruise sector, because at the end of this year there will be a reduction in the arrival of 20 cruises that represent around 10 thousand passengers.
This year some shipping lines decided to cancel a part of its schedule of arrivals to Puerto Vallarta, which will stop receiving 20 cruises of the 157 that were scheduled for this 2018.
Among them, he explained that shipping companies such as Norwegian Cruise Line canceled 10 arrivals and Princess Cruises canceled four arrivals, while the passage of hurricane “Willa” through the Mexican Pacific prevented four more cruise ships from arriving; In addition, two other shipping companies, including Disney Cruise Line, canceled one cruise each.
“At the beginning of the year we had a schedule of 157 cruises, which was a significant increase against the 145 cruises we had in 2017, but in the second half of this year, Norwegian Cruise Line modified its itineraries in various areas, canceling 10 cruises to Puerto Vallarta. ”
He pointed out that in compensation, Norwegian operated the Bliss cruise ship to Puerto Vallarta, which was not scheduled and that has a capacity for up to 4,500 passengers in such a way that the ship made four visits to this beach destination.
“Norwegian changes things a lot, but we see that the cruise program Bliss for Puerto Vallarta, which was not considered initially, is part of the strategy that they have to operate their ships, it brings more cruises, which helps; the Bliss cruise is practically two ships in one, because it brings 4,500 passengers, taking into account that sometimes we have cruises of 1,600 or 1,800 passengers “.
The director of API Vallarta clarified that the reason for the cancellation of international cruises had nothing to do with security issues of the maritime terminal or the city, nor with Puerto Vallarta as a tourist destination, but rather it was a decision by the company to reschedule its ships on other routes.
2018 will conclude with a total of 138 cruise arrivals with 328,800 passengers, compared to 145 cruises and 338,000 passengers that arrived in 2017.
Miguel Ángel García-Beltrán said that by 2019 the arrival schedule of boats is best seen for Puerto Vallarta, with a schedule of 170 international cruises.
