A petition asking the Mexican government to bar Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day Mexico project recently hit five million signatures.
Published on the Change.org platform, the petition was created in late May and asks Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo to stop the development.
First announced in late 2024, the project aimed to build a new private destination at the Costa Maya Cruise Port in Mahahual.
In addition to enhancing the existing structure at the facility, the development included the construction of a large water park, an extensive retail area and various beach clubs.
Despite Royal Caribbean’s plans Perfect Day Mexico in late 2027, the project was recently stopped by the Mexican government.
As reported by Cruise Industry News, the country’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources stopped the project in May.
The authority cited environmental concerns about damage to the Mesoamerican Reef and coastal ecosystems as the main reason for the decision.
Calling Perfect Day Mexico a “destructive project,” the petition claims that Mahahual is a fishing town inhabited by local communities and “not an amusement park.”
The document adds that the region is “one of the last places where the jungle meets the sea, where coral reefs still pulse with life, and where sea turtles return each year to nest,” noting that nearby Tulum and Playa del Carmen have “already succumbed to the logic of profit.”
The petition also compared the project with Royal Caribbean’s private island of CocoCay, saying that the development in the Bahamas caused the “exclusion of local populations, massive destruction of biodiversity and near-exclusive enrichment of a multinational corporation.”
The petition adds that the project “threatens the very existence of Mahahual,” bringing risks to the region’s protected mangroves and coral reefs.
“Royal Caribbean plans to receive up to 20,000 tourists per day, bringing with them tons of chemical sunscreen, plastic waste, mega-cruise ships polluting the water, and absurd levels of freshwater consumption in a region already suffering from water scarcity,” the petition said.
With a size comparable to Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Perfect Day Mexico was expected to welcome more guests than Perfect Day at CocoCay.
The company’s private island destination in the Bahamas hosted approximately 3.5 million passengers in 2025.
Royal Caribbean and the Mexican government are now in discussions to move the development to a new location in the country.
The Perfect Day Mexico project included the construction of a water park with over 30 waterslides and what was said to be the world’s longest lazy river.
Plans also called for large retail and dining areas, with nearly 40 bars and regionally inspired dining options.
