Bar Harbor voters to consider raising daily caps on cruise ship passengers
File photo / Laurie Schreiber
The prevalence of cruise ships continues to be a subject of debate in Bar Harbor.
On Election Day two years ago, Bar Harbor voters imposed a limit of 1,000 on the number of cruise ship passengers allowed to come ashore during any given day.
At the polls Nov. 5, voters will consider a proposal by the Bar Harbor Town Council to raise the cap to 3,200.
There’s been plenty of local debate about the issue, with strong opinions on both sides.
“There are a few people in Bar Harbor who love cruise ships, there are a few people who hate cruise ships and there’s a whole bunch of people in the middle,” David Paine, the owner of the family-owned Jordan’s Restaurant in Bar Harbor, said during a recent council hearing on the matter. “Maybe it’s time to get beyond this situation.”
Paine said the higher number would mean more revenue from passengers patronizing local businesses. At the same time, he noted, the proposed cap of 3,200 passengers is less than the town’s limit of 5,500 that was in place before the 2022 vote.
The proposal also includes monthly and annual caps that would result in the more days without any cruise ships at all.
Paul Paradis, a second-generation hardware store owner, called the proposal a “balanced approach.”
“Without the town’s tourism economy, our business simply would not be here today,” said Paradis. “Cruise ship visitation is a vital part of that economy.”
But Dax Wandling, who owns a bed-and-breakfast, opposed the proposal.
“The sentiment seems to be that if we lose cruise ship passengers, businesses will lose customers,” he said.
On the contrary, he said. “Our guests come back from Bar Harbor early because they’re so tired of dealing with passengers coming off cruise ships. They would stay longer if we limited the number of people who disembark.”
Revenue vs. strain
Before 2022, Bar Harbor had a daily disembarkation cap of 3,500 in July and August and 5,500 during all other months. There was no limit on the number of ships that could visit per day and no seasonal cutoff.
The 2022 restriction did not limit the number of ships visiting per day nor was there a seasonal cutoff. There was a daily cap of 1,000 passenger landings.
The latest proposal includes a restriction of 3,200 passengers per day and a maximum number of three ships visiting per day. The proposal would establish a season from the last week of April through the first week of November. There would be 20 days per month from May through August that would be free of cruise ships, and September and October would have a minimum of 10 days per month with no ships.
The latest proposal would also establish a license and contract scheme with cruise lines.
Cruise ships with passenger capacities greater than 3,200 would not be allowed to visit Bar Harbor. That measure alone would account for a significant reduction in passengers disembarking. In 2022, there were 25 visits from ships with capacities greater than 3,200 passengers. Those ships accounted for over 95,000 visitors or nearly one-third of all visitations that year.
“Grandfathered” larger ships — those that had their reservations confirmed before Nov. 8, 2022 — would still be able to call on Bar Harbor. But their passenger capacity would count toward the proposed limits.
Over 60 ships are grandfathered into the system, with bookings for the 2025 through 2029 seasons. Of those, over 40 have passenger capacities that exceed 3,200.
U.S.-flagged ships with fewer than 200 passengers would be exempt from daily and monthly caps and from the ship-free days. But their passenger capacity would also count toward the yearly cap and they would be subject to the three-ships-per-day limit.
The 2022 vote came after several years of debate about the impact of cruise ships on Bar Harbor — whether they strain resources and cause excessive congestion, or are a welcome source of tourism revenue.
Bar Harbor is Maine's largest port of call for cruise ships, and the numbers of ships and ship capacity have been steadily going up. In recent years, the port had been booking more than 150 ships a season, many carrying several thousand passengers.
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