Judge Lifts Environmental Shutdown on Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day Project in Mahahual

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — A federal judge has lifted a temporary environmental shutdown on Royal Caribbean’s “Perfect Day” project in Mahahual, allowing the cruise line to resume preliminary demolition and debris disposal work.

Following a hearing on March 27 and a review of evidence, Judge Eugenia Maritza Valencia Hernández, the First District Judge based in Chetumal, ordered the removal of the closure imposed by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa). The injunction against the shutdown was filed on February 26 by Promociones Turísticas Mahahual, the company that requested the land-use change for the Perfect Day project, along with the legal entity Cielo Asoleado, which submitted the project’s Environmental Impact Statement (MIA).

Profepa executed the closure on January 31, citing inspection file PFPA/29.1/3S.4/0001-2026. Inspectors visited the site on January 28 and 29, finding work on an approximately 79,426-square-meter area without the required federal environmental authorization. The work included filling and compacting a rustic road in a coastal low-forest vegetation zone with mangroves, as well as demolition, infrastructure dismantling, and collection of debris and metal materials.

Due to these irregularities and the lack of proper federal authorization for the intervened area, Profepa imposed a total temporary closure of the works and activities related to the Perfect Day Mahahual project, based on current environmental legislation.

Royal Caribbean stated that work on the Perfect Day project had not yet begun, as they were awaiting authorization for the MIA submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat). The company argued the closure only affected previously human-impacted plots containing a building that posed a risk.

The injunction proceedings continue, with the next hearing scheduled for April.