During the weekend, a close friend who regularly keeps track of Cruising Done Right alerted us to more never-ending tourism fears about Mexico. In digging a little further, we found what we always seem to find — the fear factor is being blown out of proportion.
It started with Mazatlan, a year or so ago, and now the fears — real or imagined — have 
spread to Puerto Vallarta. It was inevitable. What was not as inevitable is that Princess would drop Puerto Vallarta through the end of the year because of safety concerns.
Here’s why it’s blown out of proportion:
1. Canceling means three 7-night sailings over six months, by one ship, the Sapphire Princess.
2. The move is in reaction to the robbery and murder of a Canadian man who was living in Puerto Vallarta, nowhere near where cruise ships dock.
3. Resort areas and tourist destinations don’t experience the same level of crime as the “Mexico crime reports” that emanate from border towns and drug-trafficking routes.
4. These fears are never put in context by comparing them to similar statistics in other cities of the same size.
Princess has to respond to what the customers say, and clearly the customers are worried about visiting the once-popular Mexican ports. This time, the local government is responding, by hiring an independent international security company to do a safety assessment.
Even if the results are positive, it’ll never get the same play the fear did, because that’s just the way it is. But maybe it will at least help to, if nothing else, give the situation a more legitimate perspective.
And you think they’re not worrying that the third amigo down the coast, Cabo San Lucas, might be next?