By
Rebecca Gibson |
P&O Cruises’ 30,200gt Adonia opened the 2016 cruise season at Banana Coast in Trujillo, Honduras on 13 January.
Banana Coast, which officially opened in autumn 2014 welcomed 54,440 cruise ship passengers in 2015, hosted Adonia’s 688 passengers, 395 of whom went on an organised shore tour.
“The town showed well, the weather cooperated and all tours ran on schedule,” said Randy Jorgensen, general manager of Grande Trujillo Autoridad, which developed the port. “The majority of comments we received revolved around the destination delivering the authentic experience passengers were looking for.”
Adonia will be one of four cruise ships making a total of 11 visits in 2016. The others include Oceania Cruises’ 1,250-passenger Oceania Riviera, Holland America Line’s 1,350-passenger Veendam and Thomson Cruises will makes its inaugural visit to Trujillo with the 1,506-passenger Thomson Dream.
To prepare tour guides for the season, the port has developed a 40-hour Tour Guide Program that provides tour guides with the skills they need to deliver high-quality customer service, information about the destination, first response and CPR skills. All guides are certified by the municipality of Trujillo and speak fluent English.
This year, Banana Coast Tours and visitor attraction Campo del Mar will offer 22 shore excursions to cruise passengers, including snorkelling, kayaking, waterfall explorations, horseback riding, beach trips, nature expeditions, mangrove boat rides, jungle ATV adventures, zip line tours and a variety of other cultural, historical and gastronomic excursions.