Ports & destinations

Norwegian Cruise Line has scheduled 16 calls at the port of Banana Coast beginning in October. The 2,376-passenger Norwegian Jewel is slated to call at Banana Coast in Trujillo, Honduras, through April 2015.

To date, six cruise lines have scheduled 34 calls on eight ships at Honduras' first mainland cruise port. Holland America Line was the first major cruise company to commit to a series of Banana Coast calls from November 2014 through March 2015. In addition to Norwegian Cruise Line and Holland America, Silversea Cruises has slated calls in December 2014 and March 2015, and P&O Cruises and Oceania Cruises plan to call in the first quarter of 2015.

In all, Banana Coast expects to host more than 80,000 passengers and crew during the 2014-15 winter cruise season.

"On October 15 Norwegian Jewel will be our first big ship call and we're ready to welcome thousands of guests and crew," said Randy Jorgensen, general manager of Grande Trujillo Authoridad, which developed the port. "When we built the port we planned it to have a little something for everyone."

Banana Coast, "where the rainforest meets the sea," has shopping, a tender dock, reception center and transportation hub as well as 10 acres of beachfront right in the town of Trujillo, which was established in 1525. Diverse shore excursions feature the region's Spanish heritage and lush tropical setting with cultural, historical, soft-adventure and eco-tour offerings.

The newest western Caribbean cruise destination welcomed its first ship, Travel Dynamics International's 138-passenger Yorktown, Feb. 10.