Cruise Bruise Blog
April 29, 2009
April 29, 2009
Cruise Lines Ignore CDC Travel Warning To Mexico

When the CDC Issued their travel warning for Mexico yesterday, one could just assume it would mean the cruise lines would pull all calls in Mexican ports. Such was not the case.
April 27, 2009
CDC Recommendations

"At this time, CDC recommends that U.S. travelers avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico."

While the CDC issued a travel advisory that specified "avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico", apparently the cruise industry finds their voyages to Mexico are quite essential.


View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map
Carnival Cruise Lines, which serves 13 ports in Mexico, said it didn't anticipate that "our guests' cruise experience will be impacted by this type of illness" and therefore it wouldn't make "any adjustments to our itineraries."

This total disregard for the safety of cruise ship passengers, and the American public has whole has enraged at least one politician.  The Palm Beach (Florida) Post is reporting that Commissioner Shelley Vana wants to stop cruise ships from entering our leaving the Palm Beach port where Mexico is a destination.

As this blog post was under preparation, around 1700 hours on Tuesday
April 28, fresh news has come in on the RCCL decision to cut all calls in Mexico. RCCL has broken away from other cruise lines with a decision that is both prudent and necessary.  Their press release:

"The suspension involves the company's Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises brands. Royal Caribbean International has four ships currently making regularly scheduled port call in Mexico - Enchantment of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and Mariner of the Seas. Two additional Royal Caribbean International ships were scheduled to make upcoming Mexican port calls as they repositioned - Serenade of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas. Celebrity Cruises had one ship scheduled to make upcoming Mexico port calls as it repositions - Celebrity Infinity.

All but one of the affected ships will either make alternative port calls or spend additional time at sea. Royal Caribbean International's Mariner of the Seas will sail a fully revised itinerary, visiting Canada and the U.S. West Coast. The temporary suspension takes effect immediately and will be in effect for the immediate future. It will be regularly reviewed in light of any Swine Flu developments."

Meanwhile, in  New York City (NYC) officials are now indicating that figures just now being tallied are showing over 100 school-age children have the Swine Flu in their city alone.

Students at St. Francis Prep in NYC, which has an enrollment of 2,700, told The Washington Post on Monday that hundreds of students had become ill and taken sick days last week. But only 45 students were tested specifically for swine flu and confirmed to be suffering from the virus. The school has been shut down.

St. Francis is only one of four schools with large numbers of children sick with Swine Flu. Others are Queens High School and Queens Public School For Autistic Children.

Given Canada is currently counting a handful of ill that went from four confirmed to thirteen confirmed cases of Swine Flu overnight, I can't help but wonder how long it will be before Canada shuts down cruise ship calls arriving from New York City.

Current Swine Flu cases are on the map below. Bookmark this page to stay updated. Legend: Pink markers are suspect Purple markers are confirmed or probable, No dot in marker are deaths, Yellow markers are negative