Our final port of call was Puerto Vallarta. This once-sleepy fishing village became a popular tourist resort after The Night of the Iguana was filmed there in 1964.

The village was put on the radar when Elizabeth Taylor accompanied her lover Richard Burton there, while still married to Eddie Fisher, while he was filming Night of the Iguana.

Despite this, Puerto Vallarta has more charm than the other major ports, it’s quieter and quainter – red tile roofs on whitewashed buildings and rows of balconies spilling over with colourful bougainvillea still line its cobblestone streets. Vallarta is also a popular shopping destination for tourists, with a wide range of Mexican arts and crafts, leather goods, silver jewellery and pre-Columbian replicas on offer in flea markets and along the Malecón (the main shopping area in “Centro” Vallarta).

Our last two days were spent back on the ship, trying to catch the last few rays of sun before sailing north back to California and the colder weather.

Puerto Vallarta

Like nearly every port of the cruising world, Puerto Vallarta offers a range of shore excursions, be the strenuous level low, medium or high. With a jungle canopy adventure planned for the next day in Mazatlan, we kept things calm, yet fun, by booking a city tour combined with a cooking lesson. Since PV is fairly devoid of must-see tourist attractions, being bussed to El Centro, the heart of the city, then having a guided walking tour to PV’s most famous building, Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral, and strolling to the beach to take in sculptures gracing the malec n (boardwalk), was quite adequate. The cooking portion of the excursion was spent at a chain eatery, a disappointment as the brochure promises “a gourmet restaurant.” Sorry, but a chain that calls its ribs, chicken and shrimp platter the “Oink-Chirp-Splash” and where birthday celebrants wear balloon hats and dance to American disco music – and those are the adults! – isn’t gourmet in my book. Fortunately, our group was too busy learning how to make pico de gallo, guacamole, chiles en Nogada and chicken enchiladas with mole sauce to break out into a spirited rendition of “YMCA” with the other customers.

Sayulita, Nayarit

Once a fishing village, Sayulita has become a haunt for surfers, bohemians and vacationers who want to avoid the crowds. It’s just an hour’s drive from Puerto Vallarta on Mexico’s west coast. We’ve visited this authentic Mexican town with our two girls three times, starting at age 3.

Although the town has bad dirt roads, legions of skinny dogs and its share of perennially unfinished construction sites, it has no high-rises, no traffic, no strip malls, no rave bars.

It has a lovely beach and great accommodations, and there’s always some fiesta or another. The food is diverse, creative, tasty and safe. Sayulita also has an ideal learner’s surf break. You can rent giant foam boards on the beach for $10 and stand waist-deep in water to push kids into the small waves (then gnash your teeth at how easily they pop up after you went over the falls yourself so many times).

Farther down the two-mile-long beach is a break for more serious surfers, many of whom are Mexican dudes and gringo surf bums like my husband (at least for the week).

The town’s casual vibe means bare feet are accepted anywhere. Although there are a couple of decent hotels, we always rent a house for the privacy and convenience of being able to whip up mac and cheese on demand. Many a norteamericano has come to Sayulita, fallen in love, built a spacious vacation house and then realized extra income would make it even better, so rentals are plentiful.

USA3000, which suspended service at Detroit last April, announced its return to Detroit Metro with its usual selection of sunny destinations.

Flights to Cancun, Mexico, and Fort Myers, Fla., will begin Nov. 21, and service to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, will begin Nov. 29. USA3000 also will add flights on selected days this winter to Montego Bay, Jamaica and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

“Analysis of these new routes projects a potential economic impact for the region of more than $41 million annually,” said the airport’s Director of Air Service Development, Joe Cambron.

Mexico also gained three new Five Diamond lodgings: The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort in Punta Mita and Rosewood Mayakoba and the Mandarin Oriental Riviera Maya, both near Playa del Carmen.

California and New York each have two new winners — California’s The Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Coast and The Grand Del Mar in San Diego; Manhattan’s renovated The Plaza Hotel and redone The Pierre New York-A Taj Hotel.

Massachusetts, New Mexico and Texas scored one additional Five Diamond lodging: Mandarin Oriental, Boston; Encantado, An Auberge Resort in Sante Fe, N.M.; and The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas.

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — During a visit to San Diego in April, Pratik and Priti Chavda thought they’d slip over the border into Tijuana just to do a little shopping, have a quick meal and say they had made it to Mexico. But upon hearing the plan, staffers at their hotel sounded the alarm.

“Swine flu! Drug cartels! Don’t go!” Pratik Chavda, 32, recalls them warning.

Six months later, the Chicago couple have finally made it south of the border, where they’re enjoying a meal of grilled shrimp with a panoramic view of a golden sunset. And they didn’t even have to wait for a table.

What started out as a gangbuster year, with international tourist arrivals up about 6% in the first quarter, came to a screeching halt in late April when Mexico became the first to report an outbreak of the H1N1 virus. The flu scare, coupled with news accounts of gruesome drug-related violence, caused visitors to stay away in droves. From April to June, tourist arrivals plummeted by more than 19% over the previous year.

Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit / October 29 .- After ensuring that the Riviera Nayarit, Banderas Bay is synonymous with investment confidence, Mayor Hector Paniagua Salazar reports that two more hotels will be built before December.

One is called Marival II, and the other is called Taheima which is to be built within El Tigre in Nuevo Vallarta, these will generate direct and indirectly, two thousand jobs.

Speaking regarding the contribution of Bahia de Banderas to the gross domestic product GDP of the State of Nayarit, he noted that Bahia contributes nearly one third of the total income as a Municipality, this through hotel reservations, agriculture, fishing and other activities.