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| Banana Beach, Honduras |
The Caribbean remains the region with the most cruise industry deployment, yet cruise passengers increasingly are “repeaters” who seek something new and different for their port call experiences. Soon, a new mainland Honduras port will help cruise lines fill that need.
Banana Coast, a new $30 million cruise port project at Trujillo, recently announced it had signed Holland America Line as the first cruise line to regularly schedule calls.
Holland America Line’s 1,260-passenger Ryndam is slated to call at Banana Coast 11 times between 2014 and 2015; those calls will be included in Western Caribbean itineraries. That ship’s November 19, 2014, call will become Banana Coast’s first scheduled visit by any major cruise ship.
Banana Coast boasts a curved bay with a white sandy beach. That’s steps away from a Colonial port city and the destination lies in the shadow of a 4,052-foot-high mountain. Explorer Christopher Columbus landed at Trujillo in 1502 during his fourth and final voyage to the New World.
The Banana Coast project is themed around “Where the Rain forest Meets the Sea.”
“Having a premium cruise line like Holland America Line recognize the exciting opportunities of regularly calling at Banana Coast is a testament to the work we’ve put into making the port the hottest new destination in the Caribbean,” says Randy Jorgensen, general manager of Grande Trujillo Authoridad, which owns the port.
Silversea Cruises’ Silver Cloud will call at the port on Dec. 17, 2014.