Cruise ship dock, town near Cancun heavily damaged

Although the popular resort of Cancun was mostly spared by Hurricane Dean when it roared over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula this week, the storm smashed into the town and cruise ship port of Majahual to the south.

Nearly everyone in the small town of Majahual, about a four-hour drive south of Cancun, fled or was evacuated ahead of the storm. The fierce winds demolished hundreds of houses, crumpled steel girders and splintered wooden structures. Waves washed away parts of concrete dock that had transformed what once was a sleepy fishing village into a busy cruise-ship stop, luring more than one million passengers a year.

The specially built dock area, called Puerto Costa Maya, can accommodate three ships at a time and includes pavilions with shops and restaurants. Excursions offered at the port for passengers range from speedboat rides to jungle tours and daytrips to nearby Mayan ruins.

Carnival Cruise Lines said that damage was extensive and "the port will be out of commission for an indeterminate period."

A spokesman for Royal Caribbean Cruises, Michael Sheehan, said the company may have to find an alternative for a ship that has a port call scheduled at Costa Maya on Aug. 30.

Information is still sparse about the many remote, inland Mayan Indian communities in the area where people living in simple huts in the jungle rode out the storm.

Majahual became popular in the last five years, transforming the area (see www.puertocostamaya.com) Other major ports, including Mexico's nearby Cozumel and the neighboring country of Belize, where cruise ships also call, appear to have sustained little damage from the hurricane.

Kristin Jackson of the Seattle Times travel staff contributed to this report.