No Bananas!

Once the Brisa Elegante crew welcomes our passengers on board, they are offered a complimentary selection of fresh Costa Rican fruits such as watermelon, pineapple, mango, start fruit, papaya and more - but never bananas.

Fruit plater aboard Brisa Elegante

It’s centuries old tradition dating from the 1700’s – no bananas are allowed on ships.

In the days of long voyages and sailing ships, it was discovered that bananas, when stored in the cargo hold with other rations, caused these other rations to spoil prematurely.  Bananas give off a gas called ethene (or ethylene), it’s the gas that causes other food to spoil by converting sugars to starch.

Another reason: spiders!  Spiders and spider eggs would stow away on the banana bunches (to be fair, they probably weren’t expecting a sea voyage) and cause grief for the sailors who were spending days or weeks at sea in tight quarters.

To add to the misery of the banana, they were often found floating next to shipwrecks, adding more to the superstition that bananas on board ships are just plain bad luck.

Even today, the superstition that bananas bring bad luck on board still persists. I just wonder how the ships that transport bananas from Costa Rica to the world manage that? But rest assured: we don't take any uneccessary risk on Brisa Elegante - so no bananas!