El Salvador Caps Leisurely Days Sailing Down Mexican Coast

Days 123-126, 2026 Grand World Voyage

Wednesday to Saturday, May 6-9, 2026; Manzanillo and Puerto Chiapas, Mexico, and Acajutla, El Salvador.

Tiny El Salvador isn’t even a blip when it comes to cruise visitors in Central America. El Salvador accounted for just 0.1 percent of total cruise ship arrivals in the region during the past decade. During the past year, El Salvador is hosting about 24,000 passengers. (Mexico, by comparison, had 11.2 million cruise visitors in 2025.)

So it’s no surprise that this is my first visit to this small country, where reports of violence hampered tourism earlier this century. And with only a Pacific Coast, El Salvador is not close enough to San Diego to be on a seven-day Mexican Riviera itinerary.

Even though I’ve never been here, I seem to have adopted the same laid-back (dare I say lazy?) approach as in our two Mexican ports earlier this week. Most of the shore excursions go to ruins, coffee plantations and chocolate factories. I’ve visited similar places on previous cruises and vacations.

This year I decided the best way to experience Mexico is from a cantina, drinking a local cerveza and munching on chips and guacamole. So I repeated the habit in Acajutla, El Salvador, rather than take a tour.

Acajutla is the country’s major port. There is little tourism infrastructure, so we docked on a commercial pier and had the choice of two shuttles; one to the market in a town about 30 minutes away and another to a closer beach resort. We joined friends Tom and Monika who had opted for the latter.

By arriving early, we snagged Adirondack chairs in the shade overlooking what was a small beach when the high tide wasn’t covering it. We enjoyed a morning of reading, sleeping and simply being lazy.

Most of the resort guests were locals, with families and children enjoying the two pools, cabanas and covered patios. We left around noon, as the ship was leaving at 3 p.m.

Our first Mexican port of Manzanillo offered more options. It was an easy walk from the pier to the malecón, or esplanade, along the shore. It sits in a huge bay that represents Mexico’s busiest shipping port, but the city also is known for its sport fishing – especially sailfish. Appropriately, a statue of a giant sailfish sits near the base of the pier.

After sketching the sailfish, I browsed the shops, only purchasing a simple white shirt with colorful embroidery along the yoke. I’ll bring it on my next world cruise for the Cinco de Mayo party (which was the previous night in the Lido).

If you go a block or two from the waterfront, you face steep hills. I saw many locals making their way up with bags from the market.

On my way back down the malecón to the pier, what looked like an interesting local bar wasn’t yet open. So I stopped in a thatched-roof beach restaurant only to discover it mainly served Chinese food. But they did have great tortilla chips and guacamole and, of course, local beer. Soon others from the ship joined me for an enjoyable, if not too nutritious, lunch.

Puerto Chiapas was easy. The small port is about eight miles north of Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, and it basically has a fishing village, a naval base and more recently a cruise pier, built in an effort to attract business to the poorest state in Mexico.

So far the only tourist infrastructure is two thatched-roof pavilions, one housing some shops and other an open cantina with a swimming pool. But hey, in 1970 the planned resort of Cancún only had three residents, so who knows what Puerto Chiapas could grow into.

Excursions included visiting some ruins and chocolate-making. Many passengers took a $15 shuttle to the town of Tapachula, about 20 miles away. We followed the advice from WhatsInPort to “just make it a relaxing day … Tapachula is somewhat rundown and a little rough, not a destination in itself.”

The guacamole and margaritas were great, and apparently the waiter’s assertion that the ice in the drinks is made with filtered water is accurate, as I had no lasting effect (beyond that of tequila).

As we near the end of this 133-day voyage, the sea days are full of special activities. Of course, birthday parties continue – Cyndi’s was the latest. Jolanda joined Elaine and me for a special tea in the Pinnacle Grill.

I’ve slowly been sending out clothing I don’t plan to wear again to laundry, this time requesting it come back folded instead of on hangers. But I refuse to get out a suitcase yet to pack, so the clothes end up stacked on the back of the sofa.