Pullmantur Announces New Cruise Ship Schedule

(Acapulco, AN 22 October) Spokesmen for the Spanish company Pullmantur, which operates a weekly cruise ship from Acapulco to Mazatlán, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo and return, have announced plans to add an additional season. “Mexico continues to be a very important market for us,” they state, in spite of the violence that has hurt tourism in Acapulco and the other Pacific coast destinations. The cruise ship “Ocean Dream” is now slated to inaugurate a second season in 2011, starting in July 3. This will be in addition to the normal season, which starts in late September or early October. The commercial director in Mexico of Pullmantur, Judith Palleiro Nayar, announced that the positive results obtained from the 13 outings made so far this year in the inaugural season have encouraged management to increase the frequencies with a summer season next year. She explained that the average occupancy on the vessel has been 96%. The capacity is 1,400 passengers. Thus, gross revenues per outing have exceeded a million dollars. “Interestingly,” she added, “73% of passengers board the vessel in Acapulco.” The sales director in Mexico for Pullmantur, Pablo Cornejo Enríquez, affirmed that his cruise ship passengers were not frightened by recent reports of violence in Mexico, as he had not received any comments on the subject. “The recent violence in Acapulco has not affected us,” he said.