Mexico Cruise Traffic Rises 17% as Pacific Ports Lead Gains

Mexico received 6.5 million cruise passengers on 1,839 ship calls in the first half of 2026, a double-digit increase that put both passenger volume and cruise arrivals ahead of the same period last year. The Ministry of Tourism released the figures July 28. Pacific ports posted the sharpest percentage gains, while Cozumel and Progreso extended growth on the Caribbean side.

Passenger arrivals rose 17.1% year over year, outpacing a 12.2% increase in ship calls and lifting passenger volume per visit. The result also exceeded earlier expectations for 14.8% passenger growth and 10% growth in calls.

“Mexico is in fashion,” Josefina Rodriguez Zamora, Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism, said when announcing the figures.

Rodriguez Zamora tied the higher cruise count to local spending around shore tours, retail, restaurants and attractions. “Each cruise ship that arrives at our ports represents more opportunities for Mexican families who depend on tourism,” she said.

Pacific ports produced the largest percentage gains

Puerto Chiapas recorded the fastest growth among the ports named in the tourism ministry’s first-half figures, with passenger traffic up 90.2% and ship arrivals up 71.4%. The port sits on Mexico’s Pacific coast near the Guatemala border and operates as a purpose-built dockside cruise terminal, with onward transport to Tapachula.

Princess Cruises and Holland America Line both have Puerto Chiapas calls planned in the next several months. The berth can take ships up to 311 meters in length.

Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas also posted large first-half gains, with passenger counts up 69.2% and 64.5%, respectively. Across Mexico’s Pacific cruise ports, traffic reached nearly 2.3 million passengers on 680 ship calls, up 36.4% in guests and 19.9% in calls from the first half of 2025.

Caribbean volume grew from a larger base

Caribbean ports accounted for 4.3 million passengers on 1,159 cruise ship arrivals during the six-month period. That was an 8.9% increase in passengers and an 8.1% increase in calls from the same period last year.

Progreso led the Caribbean-side percentage gains, with passenger volume up 21.6% and ship arrivals up 12.9%. The Progreso cruise terminal can accommodate two ships at the same time and is listed with capacity for up to 1 million cruise passengers annually; a port presentation put its 2024 cruise traffic at 317,579 passengers.

Cozumel, Mexico’s highest-volume cruise port, increased passenger arrivals by 10% and cruise calls by 8.5%. Recent official figures put Cozumel’s 2025 cruise traffic at roughly 4.6 million to 4.7 million passengers on 1,300 ship calls, and the island regularly handles multiple ships in a single day.

Royal Caribbean’s Costa Maya project is still unresolved

Local petitions and ecological concerns over Royal Caribbean’s planned Perfect Day Mexico development near Costa Maya led to the project’s cancellation in May 2026.

The Mexican government has been working with Royal Caribbean on either a different location or revised plans with stronger environmental compliance. No alternative site or modified project has been confirmed.

Compare current Mexico cruise fares on Cruise Lookup.