The Mexican Navy training ship Cuauhtémoc docked in San Diego at 10 a.m. Thursday, arriving from San Francisco with 281 crew members aboard after a 92-day North Pacific training cruise. The tall ship will be open to the public free of charge from Friday through Monday, giving locals a rare chance to walk its decks before it sails back to Mexico.
Free public tours run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. October 2 through October 4 at B Street Pier, next to the cruise terminal at the Port of San Diego, according to NBC 7 San Diego. The ship departs October 5 to return to Acapulco, closing out a journey that included stops in Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, San Francisco and San Diego. The Mexican Navy uses the Cuauhtémoc to bring Mexican culture and a message of goodwill around the world, the station reports.
Krystal Ramirez told the outlet she drove two hours to see the ship, saying people should be proud of their heritage and where they come from. The vessel has also drawn visitors from across Southern California and Baja, per the same report, reflecting the pull the tall ship has on communities with ties to Mexico on both sides of the border.
A Decades-Old Training Vessel With a Storied Past
The Cuauhtémoc was built 44 years ago and has visited more than 228 ports in 73 countries, according to the Mexican consul general as cited in the NBC 7 San Diego report. Other outlets offer different figures: CBS News reports the ship was built in 1982 in Bilbao, Spain, and has completed 46 training voyages, visiting over 234 ports in 75 countries while training more than 45 generations of officers. Mexico News Daily, meanwhile, states the ship was built in Bilbao in 1981 and made its maiden voyage in July 1982. The ARM Cuauhtémoc serves as the official flagship and goodwill ambassador of the Mexican Navy, according to CBS News, functioning as both a training vessel and a working classroom for midshipmen.
Per CBS News, the 2026 voyage was described as a 92-day training cruise visiting ports in Mexico, the United States and Canada, with stops in Honolulu, Seward and Victoria before the ship continued on to San Diego. The vessel is known elsewhere as a floating ambassador carrying messages of peace, friendship and goodwill, according to Sail Training International, which also notes the ship placed second in the Tall Ships Races in 2004 and won first place in both 2005 and 2012.
Thousands Turned Out During San Francisco Stop
The San Diego visit follows a stretch in San Francisco where the ship drew massive crowds. Wait times there stretched to two, three and even more than four hours into the night, according to ABC7 News. The 300-foot ship set a single-day record there, attracting 17,500 visitors on a Friday, and officials extended Saturday's hours from an 8 p.m. cutoff to 10 p.m. because of its popularity.
Previous San Diego Visit and the Brooklyn Bridge Collision
This is not the ship's first San Diego stop. The Cuauhtémoc last visited the city in mid-May 2024, arriving at B Street Pier around 10 a.m. on May 16 with 261 people aboard, according to 10News. That visit was also free to the public, running from May 17 through May 20, 2024.
The ship made national headlines in May 2025 when it collided with New York City's Brooklyn Bridge, according to FOX 5 San Diego. Accounts of the casualties differ: gCaptain reported the collision resulted in two fatalities and nineteen injuries among the crew, citing an NTSB preliminary report, while Mexico News Daily reported the crash killed two Navy cadets and injured 20 others.
Despite that tragedy, the Cuauhtémoc has returned to its role as a working classroom and diplomatic symbol, now welcoming San Diego families to its decks once again before heading home to Acapulco.
