Royal Caribbean Worldwide is informing all friends crusing on relevant cruises of the not too long ago enacted smoking ban in all public areas in Mexico, and the way it can influence vacationers.
Mexico is without doubt one of the cruise line’s high locations, with a number of ships making calls in varied Mexican ports year-round.
Mexico Bans Public Smoking
All types of public smoking and consumption of nicotine merchandise, together with e-cigarettes and tobacco, have been banned in all public areas in Mexico. This contains on seashores, in parks, city squares, pier areas, resorts, and different public areas, together with areas fashionable with cruise vacationers.
It needs to be famous that personal seashores, equivalent to these related to independently-run resorts, can nonetheless allow smoking on the seaside or inside their very own areas, however particular person insurance policies could range. Designated smoking areas can also be accessible, relying on the vacation spot and native ordinances.
Royal Caribbean Worldwide is guaranteeing that each one friends on their vessels are conscious of the ban and its attainable penalties, by offering letters onboard previous to reaching ports of name in Mexico.
“As you go ashore in Mexico, please hold this in thoughts, as failure to conform could end in steep fines and/or being detained as much as 36 hours,” a replica of the letter from Journey of the Seas reads.
Journey of the Seas is at present homeported from Galveston, Texas and is providing 4- and 5-night sailings, all of which go to no less than one port of name in Mexico.
Penalties for violating the general public smoking ban may be fines as much as $550 (USD), whereas an older regulation, enacted in 2008, may entail jail time of as much as 36 hours. Precisely how strictly the ban might be enforced is but to be decided, because it simply went into impact on Sunday, January 15, 2023.
The ban is country-wide, together with fashionable ports of name on each the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Mexico equivalent to Ensenada, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Costa Maya, Progreso, and the most well-liked cruise port in Mexico, Cozumel.
In truth, with greater than 3.6 million passengers visiting annually, Cozumel is the most well-liked port of name on this planet.
The smoking ban, nonetheless, won’t diminish the recognition of visits to Mexico, and hundreds of cruise ship calls will go to the nation in 2023 alone.
“We sit up for having fun with this vacation spot and the remainder of our time collectively!” the letter from Journey of the Seas concludes. At the moment, no cruise traces are adjusting their itineraries or altering ports of name as a result of smoking ban, and such modifications are unlikely.
Native Legal guidelines At all times Apply
All Royal Caribbean friends, in addition to cruise vacationers from any cruise line, are required to obey all native legal guidelines whereas in ports of name. This is applicable to consuming ages, pace limits, gown codes, trespassing restrictions, and related legal guidelines, and now in Mexico, the smoking ban.
Ought to friends violate native legal guidelines in any port, they’re topic to the identical penalties as any resident or different customer can be. Which means a cruise ship won’t anticipate friends who could also be detained for violating the smoking ban, nor will any journey insurance coverage cowl fines imposed as a consequence of breaking the regulation.
Shopping for and transporting cigarettes and different smoking merchandise shouldn’t be prohibited and has not been modified, although cruise friends could have a tougher time discovering the merchandise or manufacturers they like. A part of the brand new regulation additionally restricts promoting all tobacco merchandise, and cigarettes can now not be overtly displayed.
Whereas the smoking ban is a brand new regulation and general enforcement could also be uneven as native authorities change into accustomed to the ordinance, it might be greatest for cruise vacationers to be additional cautious and all the time ask if they’re permitted to smoke, or else abstain till again on board their cruise ship and in a delegated smoking space.
