Key Elements:
- Mexico has formally banned the advertising and marketing, importation, and sale of vapes and digital cigarettes.
- Cruisers who carry these gadgets ashore could also be seen as illegally importing these merchandise.
- Penalties for violations may embrace confiscation, detainment, hefty fines, and even jail time.
When you’re cruising to Mexico, you could wish to go away your vaping system at house. As of January 17, 2026, a brand new regulation banning the importation, sale, and distribution of vapes and e-cigarettes has gone into impact.
This comes after authorized reforms relating to this matter had been handed by Mexico’s Senate in December 2025.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo printed a constitutional reform to the Basic Well being regulation within the Official Gazette of the Federation on January 16, 2026, noting that the decree can be efficient the next day.
“The regulation will penalize all actions associated to digital cigarettes, vaping gadgets, and different analogous digital techniques or gadgets specified by regulation, in addition to the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of poisonous substances, chemical precursors, the illicit use of fentanyl, and different unauthorized artificial medication,” the modification states.
This builds upon a smoking ban that was applied in 2023, which prohibits smoking and vaping in all enclosed public locations, in addition to seashores, parks, and public transportation.
What This Means for Cruisers
If a cruise visitor had been to carry a vape or e-cigarette ashore throughout a port name, even for private use, they might nonetheless be in violation of Mexico’s new regulation.
The problem is that when cruisers undergo the Mexican customs course of to enter the nation with their vapes, they’ve technically simply illegally imported the product.
“As of January 16, 2026, Mexico is implementing a nationwide ban on the importation and sale of vapes and e-cigarettes,” Margaritaville at Sea has suggested friends booked on Mexico-bound sailings.
“Whereas non-public possession throughout the nation should still be authorized, the important thing challenge for vacationers is getting into Mexico by means of customs—together with airports and cruise ports,” the cruise line continued.
The ban additionally applies to all varieties of vapes, together with disposables, refillable fashions, pods, and even non-nicotine gadgets.
Potential Penalties For Lawbreakers
If friends are caught, they might see their gadgets confiscated, face hefty fines of as much as $12,500, and/or detainment. The crime can be punishable by as much as eight years in jail.
Some cruise followers have already reported that their vapes had been confiscated once they tried to carry them into the nation.
“I used to be stopped on the airport and misplaced my vape. Was value a strive however didn’t work out for me. Not gonna strive it on my December Panorama cruise with 4 Mexican ports,” one Carnival cruiser shared on social media.
Others did say that they’ve managed to sneak their vapes into Mexican ports, however doing so is an enormous threat.
Can Visitors Nonetheless Vape on Cruise Ships?
For probably the most half, passengers ought to nonetheless have the ability to have their vapes onboard cruises to Mexico so long as they don’t carry the gadgets ashore.
Whereas each cruise line has barely totally different insurance policies, friends typically are allowed to smoke and vape in designated areas throughout their sailings.
Often, solely common tobacco-based vapes are permitted and friends should nonetheless be of authorized age (21 within the US) so as to use them onboard. Nevertheless, it’s at all times essential to substantiate the insurance policies to your particular crusing with the cruise line straight.
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