A 1,000-passenger cap was reasonable for July and August as it relates to congestion and municipal quality of life, but “parsimonious” for the shoulder season, a judge wrote.
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Bar Harbor’s cruise ship passenger cap is unenforceable in all months other than July and August, according to the latest U.S. District Court ruling on the controversial matter.
In response, the Bar Harbor Town Council said it would consider the impact of the decision.
“The decision affirms our long-held concern that the initiative process, and the legislative approach enacted by initiative in 2022, is too blunt a tool to effectively manage tourism in Bar Harbor,” the council said in a recent statement.
Disembarkation cap
In 2022, Bar Harbor voted to establish an aggregate 1,000-passenger daily disembarkation cap, after several years of debate over whether the number of cruise ships strains resources or is a welcome source of tourism-related revenue.
In 2024, U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker issued a decision that supported the limit.
The 2024 ruling responded to a lawsuit filed against the town by a local business group, called the Association to Protect and Preserve Local Livelihoods, or APPLL, which said the limit would eliminate cruise ships from Bar Harbor and cause economic losses.
Bar Harbor is Maine’s largest cruise ship port of call and the number of ships and ship capacity had been surging, booking over 150 ships per season, many carrying several thousand passengers.
Mixed results
As a result of the cap, large cruise ships dropped plans to visit, leaving smaller lines in the mix. Bar Harbor’s numbers dropped significantly in 2025.
By late 2025, businesses had mixed reports.
A couple of restaurant owners said the absence of cruise passengers was noticeable during the lunch period and even resulted in fewer employee hours during the shoulder season and reduced purchasing from local vendors such as lobster harvesters.
One hotel owner, though, said guests reported their experience was improved by having less congestion in town and not having to wait an hour to get lunch on those days of the large cruise ships.
Small ships dominate
With the implementation of the local ordinance, American Cruise Lines’ smaller ships, which carry fewer than 150 passengers, visited 38 times from June through October in 2025. Another 16 larger ships, carrying 2,000 to 4,000 passengers, were grandfathered for calls from Aug. 27 to Oct. 23.
This year, American Cruise Lines was scheduled to call 55 times from May to October.
Large ships with 2026 reservations were grandfathered under prior rules. Norwegian Breakaway, with a 3,963-passenger capacity, is slated for eight visits and Norwegian Jewel, with a capacity of 3,000, for four.
Revisiting the issue
Walker revisited the issue this year when the case against the town of Bar Harbor was remanded to him by the First Circuit Court.
The plaintiffs included APPLL; Delray Explorer Hulls and Acadia Explorer, tender vessels that carry passengers between ship and shore; pier owners B.H. Piers and Golden Anchor; and whale watch company B.H.W.W. LLC, which coordinates tours for passengers.
Walker noted the debate has unfolded since the 2000s, when cruise ship visitation was occasional and irregular but was seen as an opportunity for expanded commerce. The town improved pier facilities to facilitate expanded passenger access. In 2008, it sleighed daily cruise passenger caps of 3,500 for peak-tourism July and August, and 5,500 passengers for shoulder-season May, June, September, October and November.
Cruise ships began to call in ever-increasing numbers and local enterprise and investment expanded accordingly.
Since then, Bar Harbor has experienced a steady growth in tourism and more and larger cruise ships approached the caps on an increasing basis, Walker wrote.
“For some, the expansion has resulted in a return on planning and investment. But for the majority of local voters, the expansion has resulted in a growing disaffection with the quality of municipal life,” he wrote.
The total number of passengers visiting Bar Harbor is estimated at less than 10% of all tourists in the Hancock County town. Day-to-day, the ratio changes according to the size of the ship and the intensity of land-based tourism. Over 60% of Bar Harbor’s annual cruise ship passenger visits occur in September and October.
Lost revenue
The 1,000-passenger cap was reasonable for the peak summer season as it relates to congestion and municipal quality of life, but “parsimonious” for the shoulder season, Walker wrote, acknowledging lost revenue for business owners.
“The initiative authors’ failure to recognize and account for the significant intensity fluctuation between the shoulder seasons and the summer season appears more an act of indifference than a fair-minded effort to balance competing interests,” he wrote.
Walker declared the ordinance unenforceable in all months other than July and August.
Council approach
In its statement, the town council said the revised decision affirmed the town’s ability to regulate cruise ship disembarkations as long as it accounts for the fluctuation in intensity between the shoulder and summer seasons.
“Holding a clear mandate from the Bar Harbor voters to achieve an overall reduction in cruise ship visitations, the town council will immediately begin work on an approach to managing tourism from cruise ships,” the council wrote, adding that it welcomes public input.
In the meantime, the town will not accept new advance cruise ship reservations until a regulatory tool to manage disembarkations is enacted, the council said.
