Carnival will resume Mexico cruises before end of May

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The world’s largest cruise operator, Carnival Cruise Lines, has announced that it will resume calls at ports in Mexico, after the US lifted travel advisories.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) no longer advise against nonessential travel to Mexico, lifting the advisory issued on fears about the H1N1 flu outbreak.

Carnival has said that its first cruise ship to return to Mexican ports will be Carnival Holiday, departing Mobile, Alabama on May 28, and stopping in Cozumel, Mexico on a four-day sailing.

At this time, no other major cruise operator has said that it will return to Mexico during the summer season.

Officials at Norwegian Cruise Line have said that cruises will not return to Mexico until September at least, as summer sailings have been repositioned to Alaska, the East Coast of the US and Europe. Holland America has indicated that it will return to Mexico in October at the earliest.

Late last month, with the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico, five of the largest cruise lines in the world suspended calls at Mexican ports, substituting calls in California instead.

Although the switch to calls at California ports has helped merchants in those locations who have been hurt by the recession, it dealt a heavy blow to tourism operators in Mexico and upset many passengers as well.

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