Mexico - Ports - Food - Interesting Warning

[gopher's girl]

I was reading on another board that the ports of Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta are hotbeds for poisoned shrimp. Has anyone else ever heard of this? I figured the information was credible and wanted to pass it along here since I have not seen it here before. They say that they use poisonous chemicals to kill the shrimp and then try to sell the shrimp to cruise passengers and other tourists, poisoning them.

 

I figure that when I am there in a few days I will not eat or drink anything when I am off the ship to be safe, though I know that many people have had no adverse experiences from eating in Mexico.

 

I have a question though - Does Princess pick up food in Mexico? Do they avoid picking up food in Mexico and only do that in the American Ports?

[Lynda90]

I was on the 11/27 cruise to Mexico. Warnings regarding the shrimp were reported in the daily Patters and we were also verbally told not to eat the shrimp in port.

[bdjam]

I have a question though - Does Princess pick up food in Mexico? Do they avoid picking up food in Mexico and only do that in the American Ports?

Although I don’t know for sure' date=' it would be usual for provisioning to occur in [/font']Los Angeles during turn-around.

[catdancers]

Is this shrimp poisoning something new? Has it been going on for a while--because think we ate some shrimp in Mazatlan earlier this year. Yikes!

[Quacker]

Had the same warning on the Diamond Oct 30th cruise. We DIDNOT eat anything off the ship.

[gopher's girl]

catdancers - from the account on the other board it sounded like people were ill shortly after eating the shrimp. good to hear that you didn't have any illness.

[spingal]

I was on the 10/9 Diamond sailing and ate at Pipi's in PV. It was very good and no one in our group got sick. BUT we DID NOT eat shrimp. :eek: Personally I have always had good experiences with both eating and drinking in Mexican ports. I have eaten at restaurants in Cozumel (Pancho's Backyard), Mazatlan (Pancho's in the Golden Zone) and PV (Pipi's in downtown). We always select restaurants with good reputations that use filtered water for ice, drinks and cooking. So far -- no problems!! But maybe we have just been lucky!? :confused:

 

Jamie

[SHayesShip]

The actual true story is that there were people who got sick in Mazatlan (Only) from eating shrimp that had been ILLEGALLY harvested using poisonous chemicals. Because of this there were additional warnings put out regarding all Pacific coast regions because of concern that there MIGHT be other fisheries using the same ILLEGAL chemicals for harvesting shrimp even though there were no more other cases reported outside of Mazatlan. On my 11/27/04 cruise on the Diamond they did make mention of this in the Patters and as such I did not eat any shrimp while in ports. However, I ate other items in restaurants that I have frequented in the past and had no problems at all.

Steve Hayes

 

I was reading on another board that the ports of Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta are hotbeds for poisoned shrimp. Has anyone else ever heard of this? I figured the information was credible and wanted to pass it along here since I have not seen it here before. They say that they use poisonous chemicals to kill the shrimp and then try to sell the shrimp to cruise passengers and other tourists' date=' poisoning them.

 

I figure that when I am there in a few days I will not eat or drink anything when I am off the ship to be safe, though I know that many people have had no adverse experiences from eating in Mexico.

 

I have a question though - Does Princess pick up food in Mexico? Do they avoid picking up food in Mexico and only do that in the American Ports?[/quote']

[Twickenham]

Thanks for the clarification, Steve. Does anyone know of any restaurants where it is safe to eat the shrimp? It would break my heart to go to Mazatlan and not eat shrimp!

[SHayesShip]

I would like to think that the problem has been solved. I know that the Mexican governement has been blind testing shrimp (alot like our USDA in the States) however, I do not know if there are any guarantees.

As far as I am concerned the best shrimp in Mazatlan is at The Shrimp Bucket. However, a couple of months ago even they unknowingly got a bad batch of these shrimp and people got sick. And this is a very reputable restaurant!

Steve Hayes

 

Thanks for the clarification, Steve. Does anyone know of any restaurants where it is safe to eat the shrimp? It would break my heart to go to Mazatlan and not eat shrimp!

[gopher's girl]

Thanks for the clarification Steve :) I appreciate your knowledge.

[steveweese]

What about the Shrimp Factory? We always eat there...it's the whole reason I am going!