12 passengers from cruise ships from Miami and Fort Lauderdale dead in Mexico bus crash

sun-sentinel ^ | 12/19/2017

[BenLurkin]

At least 12 passengers from cruise ships that departed from South Florida died when a bus carrying them to Mayan ruins in eastern Mexico flipped over on a highway early Tuesday, officials said.

Seven Americans and two citizens of Sweden are among the injured, according to Quintana Roo state Civil Defense spokesman Vicente Martin, who said authorities haven't yet established the nationalities of the dead.

Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises said in a statement that passengers from two of its ships, the Celebrity Equinox and Serenade of the Seas, were involved in the crash. The company expressed its sympathies and said it was assisting with medical care and transportation.

The Serenade of the Seas departed from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale Friday and the Celebrity Equinox departed from Port Miami Saturday. Both ships are on seven-night Caribbean cruises.

[Dagnabitt]

Good post. Nice to have a reality check from someone actually there.

[hanamizu]

Karl Pilkington did a show a few years ago called ‘An Idiot Abroad’ featuring him as the idiot. The premise was that the producers would put him into all sorts of crazy situations and see how he dealt with them. The Mexico segment featured him learning to do bull fighting, Mexican wrestling, that sort of thing. One bit featured a Mexican holiday featuring lots of fireworks attached to ‘floats’ carried by people. Lot’s of injuries, of course. Karl really liked Mexico, but said their ‘Health and Safety’ had a lot to be desired. Mexican roads, Mexican buses, and Mexican truck/bus drivers all part of the ‘charm’.

[libstripper]

"Reason #376 why I’ve never set foot in Mexico.And never will." As with anywhere in the Islamic world, I'd happily pay not to go.

[mylife]

Shoulda taken the train

[SharpRightTurn]

I’ve driven in Meh-he-coh a few times.

It can be a real heart-stopping experience.

[dragnet2]

I’m really impressed. Next time I’m in good ‘ol Mexico, I’ll be sure to admire their bus stations. Right after I master the art of juggling flaming chainsaws while riding a unicycle.

[sheana]

Might as well give up. You can’t tell some of these people anything. They have their biases and will stick to them no matter what. We’ve been all over the Cancun area all the way down to Belize with absolutely no problems. It’s a gorgeous area. Our fav spot is Paamul.

[yetidog]

I agree. Hazards generally ascribed to Mexico are largely imaginary and misinformed.

[BwanaNdege]

We’ve never been to Paamul. We usually stay at Plaza Playa in Playa del Carmen. Nothing fancy, but reasonable, clean and relatively close to the beach & shopping.

We rode the ‘collectivo’ down to Akumal back in March to see the turtles. Unfortunately, the World Wildlife Fund had “worked their magic” and you were not allowed more than 50 meters from the beach, no swim fins, etc.

Bummer! Mrs BN did get to see three, though.

BTW, the ‘collectivo’ (ubiquitous mini-van taxi) was clean, safe & polite driver & fellow passengers.

[George from New England]

There’s more than meets the eye here. No ship has docked at Costa Maya since this incident. Friday the Holland Rotterdam ship was due to go there and went to Grand Cayman island instead.

Big Hmm ...

[af_vet_1981]

We visited a Mexican port - Encinata (sp?) in 2000 when on a Carnival cruise. As the ship turned to enter the port there was a thick yellow/orange haze hovering over the entire coast. A massive flag pole peeked through the haze like piercing a cushion with the massive flag waving clearly above the pollution.

An alternative is to walk of the ship in Ensenada, go to the public bus stop, and book a La Bufadora (Blow Hole) tour to the yourself. The bus I took was modern, in good condition, and the tour guide was competent.