Bar Harbor To Limit Cruise Visitors, As It Reverts To A Small-Ship Destination

Bar Harbor To Limit Cruise Visitors

By Anne Kalosh

For many years Bar Harbor, with a year-round population of just 5,500, was Maine’s busiest cruise port, handling hundreds of thousands of passengers a season. For some residents, that was too many.

Even though the cruise industry agreed to voluntary monthly passenger caps, there were increasing complaints about congestion, and this led to a citizen-initiated ballot measure in 2022.

Voters Approve Cruise Cap

Voters approved a limit of 1,000 cruiser landings per day, with 58.3 percent in favor of this dramatic change.

The cap was challenged in a lawsuit by a coalition of local businesses, the pilots association and the operator of the piers where cruise ship tenders land. U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker recently sided with Bar Harbor, upholding the new daily limit.

Art gallery owner Charles Sidman, a leading proponent of the referendum and interventor defendant in the suit, called Walker’s ruling a “huge win for Bar Harbor citizens and democracy.”

Read his editorial in the Mount Desert Islander here.

Bar Harbor will be seeing dramatic reductions in cruise visitations in the years ahead. Here, a downtown shop. * Photo: Anne Kalosh

An Appeal Is Planned

At least one plaintiff intends to appeal Bar Harbor’s limiting of cruise visitors. An attorney for the Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods  said: “The Bar Harbor ordinance was designed to bar a whole category of the transportation sector — traditional cruise ships — from coming to Bar Harbor. Plaintiffs contend, and continue to contend, that this sweeping ban violates the U.S. Constitution. Plaintiffs disagree that Bar Harbor’s exercise of this authority is only a matter of ‘home rule’ under Maine law.”

The constitutionality reference is in part related to the Commerce Clause, which gives Congress primary authority to regulate interstate and international commerce and limits a state’s ability to interfere in such activity.

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Long-Running Debate

Bar Harbor residents — like those of Key West, Florida, and some other communities around the world — have been debating cruising’s impact in light of all the growth.

Many in Bar Harbor welcome the business; as a resort town, tourism is critical to the economy and cruise ships bring visitors who otherwise may not have come. However, residents were frustrated with crowded sidewalks and traffic-clogged streets on big-ship days, and concerned about the strain on public services. (Cruise fees do go to a fund that supports cruise-related services.)

Still others counter-argued that with nearby Acadia National Park attracting nearly 4 million visitors a year, cruise visitation was a drop in the bucket by comparison. As Judge Walker observed: “Although cruise ship passengers account for a limited portion of the total number of annual visitors to greater Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island, they arrive at a destination that is already blessed and burdened by land-based tourism and at a waterfront of rather limited area.”

So it’s complicated.

Bar Harbor is the gateway to popular Acadia National Park, which draws almost 4 million visitors a year. * Photo: Anne Kalosh

Most 2024 Calls Stand

Following the court ruling, the Town Council of Bar Harbor immediately acted to implement the law.

In a statement, it said: “While it is no secret that many of us on this Council have had concerns with some aspects of the cruise ship ordinance proposed by a citizen initiative, the fact remains that this initiative was voted on and approved at town meeting and is now the law of the land. This Council will now see to its immediate implementation and enforcement, in a way that is lawful, fair and fiscally responsible.”

To that end, the Council is allowing cruise calls for the 2024 season — which begins May 2 — that were booked before the citizens’ vote.

Holland America Line is allowed to operate its 2024 cruises but will be seeking alternatives to Bar Harbor in 2025. * Photo: Anne Kalosh

But 2025 will see a big reduction.

CruiseMaine’s 2024 schedule lists 101 cruise calls.

Of those 101 calls, only 33 are by ships that have capacity for fewer than 1,000 passengers. Mainly they are the small ships of American Cruise Lines, including American Independence, American Eagle and American Glory (100 passengers each) and American Constitution (170 passengers).

These coastal vessels are scheduled on a variety of itineraries such as the seven-night “Maine Coast & Harbors,” round-trip Portland, Maine; the seven-night “Down East Maine,” round-trip Bangor; and the 10-night “New England Explorer,” round-trip Boston. A pre-cruise, one-night hotel package may be added to each itinerary.

The 170-passenger American Constitution operates the 10-night -New England Explorer- cruise that calls at Bar Harbor. * Photo: American Cruise Lines

Other ships under the 1,000-passenger threshold include Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Navigator (490 passengers), Oceania Cruises’ Insignia (684 passengers), Windstar Cruises’ Star Pride (312 passengers) and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Hanseatic Inspiration (230 passengers).

Big-ship lines with the most calls booked in 2024 prior to the court ruling were Norwegian Cruise Line (34 calls), Holland America Line (15) and Royal Caribbean International (13). I reached out to the three companies for their reactions. A Holland America spokesperson expressed gratitude to Bar Harbor that all of his line’s 2024 calls will go as scheduled but said HAL will work to seek alternate ports for the two calls it had booked in 2025.

NCL had no update, describing this as an “ongoing situation,” and Royal Caribbean didn’t respond.

The Town Council noted that together with the reductions already achieved by a memorandum of agreement between the cruise lines and the town, Bar Harbor in 2024 is expected to see a 50 percent reduction from peak year cruise ship visitation.

“This will be a good opportunity for us all to experience the impact of such a reduction on our quality of life and town operations,” the Council said.

Shifting Calls

Meanwhile, in part due to all the uncertainty in Bar Harbor, some lines in recent years already shifted calls to Portland, Maine. Portland’s 2024 roster — 143 calls with capacity for a total of 230,000 passengers — make it the state’s busiest cruise port now.

Unlike Bar Harbor, Portland has piers so the big ships can come alongside. Yet whether Portland can take many more cruisers is a question. This small city is already very busy, especially in the peak fall foliage months of September/October, though there are growth opportunities in other seasons.

What Do You QuirkyCruisers Think?

Should towns and cities be able to limit the cruise business? And would you be more inclined, less inclined or indifferent to visiting ports that limit cruise numbers?

Respond in the Comments below.

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