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Construction is in full swing this week at Banana Coast in Trujillo, Honduras.# The new Caribbean cruise destination, designed by the same people that did# Royal Caribbean International’s private island, CocoCay, and Carnival Corporation’s Grand Turk Cruise Center will have with a 50,000-square-foot themed oceanfront shopping center and transportation hub.

“With its colorful history and setting, Trujillo provides wonderful opportunities for both architecture and landscaping,” said Doug Kulig, chief executive officer of OBM International, the project’s architectural and design firm. “The key to the design is finding the right combination of a rewarding visitor experience and seamless site functionality.”

Focusing on building a seawall for the 10-acre beachfront location, the site is being elevated to 2 meters (6.5 feet) above sea level and infrastructure including water, electrical and sewer lines are being installed.

“We are excited to reach this milestone in the development of our new port,” said Trujillo’s Mayor Jose Lianez. “The Municipality and other constituents have made major improvements to our colonial city’s visitor facilities in anticipation of receiving cruise guests. We hope that our efforts, and the charm of our citizens, will entice cruisers to return for longer visits to fully experience everything the area has to offer.”

As more ships enter the cruise market,# cruise passengers are looking for new, safe ports of call to visit and cruise lines want to find (or build) them.

The new Jamaica port of Falmouth, a joint project between Royal Caribbean International and the Port Authority of Jamaica is hoping to help fill that need with an entirely different shoreside experience. To be reminiscent of the historic 1700′s and 1800′s when Falmouth was the big port for sugar exports worldwide, the port is built to handle Royal Caribbean’s huge Oasis-class ships. The location will allow visitors to do shore excursions from both existing ports of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, each about a half-hour away.

New or reworked ports are not always the answer though. San Diego’s new Port Pavillion at Broadway Pier, funded by Carnival Cruise Lines, will not see much action now that cruise lines have fled the hard-to-sell West coast market for more fertile seas.


For information about Banana Coast, visit www.bananacoast.com.

Flickr photo by archer10 (Dennis)

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