State Department issues advisory of crime in Mexico cruise ports after deaths of tourists

State Department issues advisory of crime in Mexico cruise ports after deaths of tourists
Everywhere in the Caribbean from Cozumel to Aruba, there is plenty to do on a bargain cruise. When you save and travel on the ship and eat the same food as folks who paid two or three times as much as you did, you have won. THE PRIVATEER CLAUSE photo

From Journal Sentinel 

Four days before Abbey Conner was found floating face down in a pool at a Mexican resort, Mary Jo Kuhn waded over to a swim-up bar in the same complex.

On her second drink, she blacked out.

Four days after Conner was pulled from the water, Meghan Gordon and her boyfriend were sitting on stools at the same swim-up bar where Conner and her brother had been drinking tequila on a family vacation.

Throughout the afternoon, a friendly bartender served Gordon and her boyfriend a couple of mixed drinks, then two rounds of tequila shots.

Neither can remember what happened next — vomiting and being escorted away by hotel security.

The two incidents are among more than three dozen that have surfaced in the wake of a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation this month into the death of 20-year-old Abbey Conner at the Iberostar Paraiso del Mar in Playa del Carmen in January.

 From Travel Weekly

‘Illicit alcohol’ seized at Mexican Caribbean bars and resorts

Authorities in Mexico temporarily shut down two bars and seized 10,000 gallons of “illicit alcohol” from an unnamed supplier to tourist destinations, according to media reports.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last month published reports about tourists that allegedly blacked out at all-inclusive resorts after only a few drinks. The most serious incident was the death of 20-year-old Wisconsin woman Abbey Conner, who drowned in the pool at the Iberostar Paraiso del Mar.

Sol Beer on beach at Cozumel THE PRIVATEER CLAUSE photo

Kukulkan, the lobby bar at neighboring resort Iberostar Paraiso Maya, was one of the bars that was temporarily shut down, according to the Journal Sentinel. The other was Fat Tuesday in Cancun. A total of 90 gallons of illicit alcohol was seized from both bars.

In a statement, Iberostar said Kukulkan was closed because the bar wasn’t compliant with sanitary regulations (“a trash container lid missing, leak from ice machine, etc.”).

However, authorities said they found expired and unlabeled alcohol as well as unsanitary conditions at Kukulkan, the Journal Sentinel reported.

Several other establishments in Playa del Carmen and Cancun were cited by authorities for “lack of maintenance, cleanliness, order and documentation,” according to the report. In Playa del Carmen, they were the Hotel Iberostar Paraiso Lindo, Hotel Iberostar Grand Paraiso, La Choperia, Los Forgotten, McCarthy’s Coco Bongo, Mexico Loco and Guy Fieri’s. In Cancun, they were the Iberostar Cancun, Hooters, La Vaquita, Blue Gecko, Dady’O, Mr. Frogs, Crab House, Fred’s House, Porfirio’s Cancun, The Distillery, La Casa del Habano and Carlos ‘n’ Charlie’s.

Iberostar said it was “working to resolve the issues pointed by the inspector” at Kukulkan.

“All other bars and restaurants in Iberostar Paraiso Maya and the remaining nine Iberostar hotels in Mexico remain open and operating normally,” the resort company said.  MORE

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