We had some sad events today here in Cancun, with shoot outs between drug gangs and Police in downtown Cancun away from the hotels. Not 100% sure of what the death toll is and seeing many conflicting figures so it's best not to speculate until I see official sources. My advice is as follows: A lot of people are asking me if they should still go to Cancun. My answer is Yes but you should take some additional precautions that you might not always take if you are a regular vacationer here. These are the same precautions I and my family will be taking. * I would advise not visiting bars and nightclubs, both hotel zone and downtown for now. My Mum is here on vacation and we were planning on going out with Chinos, Omar, Sara, Oliver etc for a night out downtown. We are putting that under review and have cancelled the plans we had. Omar works for the clubs sometimes and also goes down to Playa a fair bit for the nightclub scene. He has promised me he is going to give it a miss for a while. If he and I are doing that, maybe you should too. * You are perfectly safe in your hotel, you are safe at the airport and your journeys to and from. You are safe to go to Chichen Itza, Xcaret or a boat trip over to the Island etc. My kids, wife and Mum are going to a hotel this weekend for a birthday party. We have not cancelled. * I would advise not going downtown unless you have to and know it well or are with someone who does. There's really no need to go there anyway. We have to go to the supermarket, the bank, my wife to her gym etc but we know the place well, we drive and wont get lost. We wont change our habits. But if you are not familiar with downtown don't go looking for adventures, or you may find one you wish you hadn't. * The shootings are not targeted at you the tourist, me the expat or the regular Mexican local. They are between two rival drug gangs fighting for control and the Police. Keep away from anywhere that may put you at greater risk. * Please don't take advice from Fox News or Martha from the accounts department who has never left Texas. I and others who live here will do our best to let you know the real deal. When you hear of me flying out back to the UK you know you should not come! * Please put it in perspective. Last year Cancun had around the same number of homicides as Toronto, no tourists were murdered here as far as I recall and there are several million visiting annually. Would you not fly via FLL because of the recent airport attack there? Would you stop going to nightclubs because of the fire in Oakland CA? Cancun is what Cancun is and always will be. Don't be scared, go ahead and enjoy your trip. Just don't take unnecessary risks. Safe travels all!
Thanks for the update Steve. We leave Friday morning so if any additional info becomes available please let us know. Thanks!
Thanks Mate, I appreciate your comforting perspective. But still a lil concerned when I read of explosive devices being tossed into buildings as a means of extortion enforcement. We are staying at a regular (non-A.I.) on Fifth Ave in Playa in 37 days, for 3 nights, and it will be hard to avoid the club/restaurants/bars. Seriously considering cancelling the reservations at this point. Afraid to jump the gun, lol, pun intended. Going to wait a week or so and hope things settle down. However, I am having doubts as it seems that the turf war is just warming up. I read that, the Army is controlling the entering and exiting of the Hotel Zone, in Cancun. Is that also happening in Playa?
I will do, things are still unclear. I've been so inundated the last few hours I haven't had much chance to check the local news, local friend reports and determine truth from speculation.
Yep, I would wait a week or two. Don't make any hasty decisions. My honest opinion is that we haven't seen the last of this yet. The explosive devices were a couple of grenades tossed into the Police station in an attempt to spring a drug lord held there... actually a drug lady - she is female. I also feel that PDC is far more of a risk to tourists than Cancun right now, especially around 5th avenue PDC. You cant walk down there for 10 minutes without being offered drugs 20 times. The pushers work for the current cartel and who knows when there is going to be a hit on them from the rival. Cancun HZ can be sealed off in 5 mins because there are only two access points and all the "action" is going to take place either downtown or in the party zone clubs. PDC does not have that benefit, it sprawls with so many access points. It's also a weaker target and wars are won by attrition, you take down your little guys first. This is a war between the Cartel that currently owns the area, and the Cartel (from Acapulco) that wants to own it. Police in the middle, but with Mexican Police they could well be working for one side or another. It's a mess. I don't know, I hate to put the place down but I can say I will not be going out in PDC myself anytime soon. Safety overrides anything else, so I will say what I think. I am disgusted that some local FB groups I am on are saying to play everything down or keep silent because their businesses might lose money. Re Army controlling the HZ that was the case earlier, but I understand that is no longer and normal access has been restored. I'm not going to go out and check for you though. Let's just get the brand new TTR open and spend our nights safely in the new Paty O's (Bash?), where the only thing we have to worry about is a creeper with a camera, or a girl in a skirt that shows too much ass
I'm not worrying about any girl that shows to much ass. Cancun is like most places in the US, be smart and don't go where you shouldn't. We have been to Mexico over 20 times without any incidents. Just be smart and stay safe. Thanks for all the information Steve. You and Janet are our life lines. Thanks again and we will see you in October at the new TTR.
Thanks Steve for keeping all of us tourists up to date. It must be madness for you with so many people asking questions and trying to understand the situation there. Really appreciate your informative updates. Cheers & stay safe!
We are on our way to Cabo now, are booked for Akumal (south of playa del Carmen) in June and booked for Desire/TTR opening in August. This isn't going to stop us from taking any of those trips. We sincerely appreciate the honest advice steve because what it will do is make us more aware. Likely won't walk fifth avenue with the family in June. And we do enjoy EDM and the clubs so will think twice and likely avoid until there is more clarity and things settle. In October we went to Mandala in the hotel zone and felt very safe. Although the scene was odd enough that we paid a bouncer to watch over us and more importantly our sexy ladies which were drawing a lot of attention But it was very easy to tell who was selling the drugs and who were the female and yes male prostitutes. Just takes a little common sense to avoid and if you are polite with them they are polite with you. But now with seemingly higher risk of injury or death by simply being in these places and getting caught in the cross fire we will just have to pass. It is a shame as it is a component of our trip but not even close to the reason we come.
Thanks Steve. We are three weeks out from our trip to Pearl. We will not plan on leaving the resort this trip.
Definitely Would Stay out of the Club Scene in PDC for a While ! This would be worth reading for those who frequent the Blue Parott and other clubs in PDC. Here's the link : Mexican cartel demanded payment from BPM festival ahead of nightclub killings: source - Toronto - CBC News
