For NCL Maya Chan Lovers (Costa Maya)...and who isn't

[roger001]

I copied this off their FB blog.  Dated June 20th.    Love that place.  

 

 I am trying to believe the recent deluge of liquid sunshine is trying to console us.  We are being wrapped in a stifling, wet blanket by Mother Nature, perhaps as a reminder that Costa Maya is currently in our storm season.  As if we didn’t already know it.  The little “X’s” and “O’s” are already showing up on the National Hurricane Center website.  In comes the rain, in comes the sargasso, and the universe seems to be saying “it’s ok.  This too shall pass”.  Why would the rain be trying to console us?  Because we made the difficult decision not to open Maya Chan Beach until September.  We are all bummed.

     There is so much uncertainty everywhere these days.  No guarantees are being offered by the cruise lines and the US seems to still be playing hard ball.  Ok, I get that nobody wants to be the first cruise ship with an outbreak of Covid and no port wants to host the first cruise ship with Covid, but there are a lot of vacations and businesses hanging in the balance. We only get spotty news down here and a lot of it comes from the Coconut Telegraph, but we started with cheering Governor DeSantis in Florida for opening the ports to cruising again.  Now we are booing him due to his insistence on charging any business that requires proof of vaccination $5,000.  That’s per incident.  I have read the first cruises may be able to depart without paying this fee, and I’m hopeful for that.  I really don’t want to get into the whole “to vaccinate or not to vaccinate” war, I just want somebody to make up their mind.  Either let the cruise ships sail from US ports, or don’t let them sail from US ports.  BOOM!  Problem solved.

     In the meantime, we continue to receive reservation requests for this coming fall, not knowing for certain if guests will be allowed to visit.  Mark and I are actually booked on a cruise in July that stops in Costa Maya.  We thought we would check on the property as we’ve been trying to dig out of inactivity for quite a while now.  We learned that yes, we are allowed to book outside excursions.  We also learned that if we choose to do anything outside a ship-sponsored excursion we will risk the chance of not being allowed back onboard.  It’s at the ship’s discretion.  Let me ask, with all those people onboard adhering to the rules, does anybody think that one renegade couple, who may or may not have been exposed to the virus, be barred from the ship?  One side of my brain is saying “of course you can get back onboard!”  The other side is saying “Is it really worth the risk?”  I’m also reading that guests must follow the Covid requirements of the country they are visiting.  Mexico still has a mask mandate. And Mexico is still only vaccinating 35+. No matter how many times somebody has been to Maya Chan, and even though we are all vaccinated, I wouldn’t want anybody to be left standing on the pier.  We simply do not have enough beach beds.  

     We have been in contact with all the cruise lines to the point that they are sick of us.  We’ve used all the “connections” we’ve made over the years and pulled in all the favors.  Simply put, nobody seems to know anything about what will happen with outside excursions.  I did notice that most cruise lines are not offering a sponsored beach day in Costa Maya.  This doesn’t really surprise me as there is absolutely no way of knowing who is vaccinated on a public beach and who is not. Seriously, I’m only 24 years old and I’ve never colored my hair. (was that lightening I just heard?) The first ship to visit us will be on June 29.  The Coconut Telegraph is reporting only a minimum of shops will be manned in the port area, (what will visitors do without six Diamonds International?). With current weather, high winds, and plenty of sargasso, nobody is even sure the port will be able to open.  These exciting times are rimmed with a thick layer of lime and salt.  

     Will all this be decided by September?  We certainly hope so.  We’ve all been playing by the rules in anticipation of receiving guests.  Hand wash stations are abundant, restaurants have expanded seating areas to comply with the 6-foot rule, more people are wearing gloves, and everybody wears a mask.  Businesses have spent real money trying to comply.  Money that is not coming in.  Money that can only be anticipated.  We are on the cusp of the perfect wave, only we have no surfboard.  For us, the US, the cruise lines, and Mexico have two and a half months to figure the work-around on this.  In my opinion, ports must open in the US, cruise lines must stop scaring people about getting off their ships, and Mexico needs to step up its vaccine rollout.  Of course, nobody asked me.  And we all have seen that this is not a perfect world.

     A big “Bezos y Abrazos” to all of you for continuing to support us.  Notes from “our family” always perk us up.  We hope there will be more than a handful of brave cruisers willing to join us in September.  Your Mexican friends from San Diego as well as your Mexican friend from Mexico, sure do miss everybody. Even the rain misses you.  And just to show how much we miss you; we haven’t had beach tacos since you left.  It just wouldn’t be right.

 

 

[billslowsky]

I stopped reading after the second sentence.  Did I miss anything?

[ColeThornton]

1 minute ago, billslowsky said:

I stopped reading after the second sentence.  Did I miss anything?

 

 

No.    🙂

[crewsweeper]

So basically, hoping to be open but still not sure.  Maybe they'll have an update in July if they sail.

 

Sure hope they'll be around. But we're not in the area until 2023/24.☹️

[Loucat]

And Celebrity Edge is on their way to Costa Maya and should arrive tomorrow. Odd, this  OP provided information not seen previously. The Edge sailing is featured daily on TV with a CBS anchor onboard reporting.

[saltshell]

Oh what I would give for a Maya Chan fish taco ! Pray that we'll all be back soon. I love those people.