Royal Caribbean International 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 impression vacationers.
Mexico is likely one of the cruise line’s high locations, with a number of ships making calls in numerous 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, accommodations, and different public areas, together with areas fashionable with cruise vacationers.
It needs to be famous that personal seashores, resembling these related to independently-run resorts, can nonetheless allow smoking on the seashore or inside their very own areas, however particular person insurance policies could fluctuate. Designated smoking areas can also be obtainable, relying on the vacation spot and native ordinances.
Royal Caribbean International is making certain that each one friends on their vessels are conscious of the ban and its doable penalties, by offering letters onboard previous to reaching ports of name in Mexico.
“As you go ashore in Mexico, please keep this in mind, as failure to comply may result in steep fines and/or being detained up to 36 hours,” a duplicate of the letter from Adventure of the Seas reads.
Adventure of the Seas is presently homeported from Galveston, Texas and is providing 4- and 5-night sailings, all of which go to at the least one port of name in Mexico.
Penalties for violating the general public smoking ban will be fines as much as $550 (USD), whereas an older regulation, enacted in 2008, might entail jail time of as much as 36 hours. Exactly how strictly the ban can 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 resembling Ensenada, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Costa Maya, Progreso, and the preferred cruise port in Mexico, Cozumel.
In reality, with greater than 3.6 million passengers visiting every year, Cozumel is the preferred port of name on the earth.
The smoking ban, nevertheless, is not going to diminish the recognition of visits to Mexico, and hundreds of cruise ship calls will go to the nation in 2023 alone.
“We look forward to enjoying this destination and the rest of our time together!” the letter from Adventure of the Seas concludes. At this time, no cruise strains are adjusting their itineraries or altering ports of name as a result of smoking ban, and such adjustments are unlikely.
Local Laws Always 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 applies to ingesting ages, pace limits, gown codes, trespassing restrictions, and comparable legal guidelines, and now in Mexico, the smoking ban.
Should friends violate native legal guidelines in any port, they’re topic to the identical penalties as any resident or different customer can be. This signifies that a cruise ship is not going to watch for friends who could also be detained for violating the smoking ban, nor will any journey insurance coverage cowl fines imposed because of breaking the regulation.
Buying and transporting cigarettes and different smoking merchandise is just not prohibited and has not been modified, although cruise friends could have a harder time discovering the merchandise or manufacturers they like. Part of the brand new regulation additionally restricts promoting all tobacco merchandise, and cigarettes can not be brazenly displayed.
While the smoking ban is a brand new regulation and total enforcement could also be uneven as native authorities change into accustomed to the ordinance, it could be finest for cruise vacationers to be further 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 chosen smoking space.