🔒Bar Harbor’s bumpy year: Cruise ship cap, rainy spring offset Acadia gains in gateway town

A cap on cruise ship passenger traffic, along with a rainy spring and travel effects from the federal government shutdown, challenged businesses in Bar Harbor, even though there was plenty of activity at neighboring Acadia National Park.

The town implemented an aggregate 1,000-passenger disembarkation cap this year, leaving port calls mainly to small ships (see sidebar), presenting a challenge to some businesses.

“It’s a traumatic impact when your business model is built around something that’s almost entirely removed,” says Eben Salvatore, who co-owns an electric vehicle rental company and directs local operations for a hospitality company.

Middling season

To a degree, the year came down to whom you talk to, says Everal Eaton, executive director of the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce.

Based on anecdotal information from members, the season wasn’t the business community’s best.

“I think, from our perspective, it’s been a middling season,” says Eaton. “But the season really came down to who you talk to. Most lodgings did pretty well, on average, compared with last year. I think the retail sector was probably hit a little more, with the loss of cruise ship traffic.”

A rainy May and June likely contributed to lower outdoor activity sales.

“But in July, August, September, October, they were able to bounce back from any losses, from what I heard,” Eaton says.

“Overall, we had a good year,” says David Woodside, president of Acadia Corp., with seven shops in Bar Harbor and one in Southwest Harbor.

Two shops on West Street, near the town wharf, typically see more business when the cruise ships are in. That changed this year due to cruise ship cuts, which resulted in decreases across many of the shops in May, although there was a reasonable amount of customers in September and October.

Cold rain

“May and June were incredibly slow,” says Kristi Bond. “Part of that, I think, had to do with the weather. It rained a lot and it was a cold rain. That doesn’t help.”

With her husband Jeremy, Bond owns FishMaine Restaurant Group, with three downtown restaurants and two locations leased to other restaurants.

More significant, in the spring and fall, was the absence of cruise passengers who previously bolstered the lunch crowd.

“I can usually say there will be this many cruise ships today and we’ll do this much for lunch. This year was different,” she says.

In business for over 20 years, Bond tracks changing circumstances.

“I can see the decrease we got was the lack of cruise ships during the lunch period,” she says.

In previous years, the restaurants could depend on passengers looking for a lunch spot. Bond recalls a couple of ships that arrived like clockwork: One regularly arrived from Bermuda in May and June, another came every Friday and Wednesday.

“When you know a ship will come in with several thousand people, who will come into town, that’s a hint that you’ll have some coming into the restaurant,” she says.

That changed this year. The dinner business was still robust.

“I think people are still traveling,” says Bond. “The park is busy.”

Bond is planning for next year. Her strategy might include eliminating lunch after Labor Day.

“One of my predictions is that we’ll see businesses start to open a little later and maybe close a little earlier,” says Bond. “Or maybe they’ll change their hours, maybe only open certain days of the week during those times of the year.”

Lobster roll index

There was also less of a lunch crowd at Side Street Café, one of several businesses owned by Jena Young and her husband Jeff.

“We hired fewer people this year and, for some people, their hours were cut in the fall when the cruise ships stopped coming,” says Young. “We used to be able to maintain the same staff all the way through. But this year, we didn’t have the fall bump.”

Sales of lobster rolls are a good indicator.

“That’s a lot of what cruise ship passengers buy,” she says. “They shop, then come in for lobster rolls and clam chowder. We tracked it: As the number of cruise ships went down, so did lobsters roll sales.”

That means fewer lobsters bought from harvesters, too, she notes.

Young is thinking about strategies, perhaps looking at staff levels and hours.

“We’re always thinking ahead about what we need to do reassess and readjust,” she says.

Fewer transportation needs

A business that rents out small, low-speed electric vehicles, similar to golf carts, took an estimated 50% hit from the lack of cruise ship passengers.

“This is a significant removal of income,” says Eben Salvatore, who owns Acadia Gem with Jeff Young.

There was a slight uptick in the non-ship market. But for cruise passengers specifically, “They’re on foot, they get a vehicle from us, they go up and see the park, come back, eat and shop, then get back on the ship,” Salvatore says. “The volume is much different without the passengers.”

As director of local operations for Ocean Properties Ltd., Salvatore also saw declines in certain segments of the hospitality company, which is based in Florida but own hotels and tourist operations in Bar Harbor.

One of those is the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co.

“Traditionally, we do a lot of tours especially for cruise ship passengers,” says Salvatore. “Those weren’t happening.”

Still, decent weather and an uptick in visitors arriving by land resulted in normal operations.

The company’s tender operation saw a much bigger hit.

“We design and build vessels for cruise ship tendering,” says Salvatore. “Without the ships, we didn’t need to get them in the water. With fewer boats, we hired fewer captains, fewer deckhands, fewer dock workers. Fewer people get hired, they get fewer hours, less income comes in the door, it ripples around to everybody.”

He adds, “Long-term, certain things just won’t exist if things don’t change.”

Flight disruptions

“There was much pessimism headed into this year, and while I think meaningful challenges do remain both locally and in terms of the broader economy, I think the full extent of that pessimism did not come to pass,” says Stephen Coston, owner or co-owner of 12 hotels in Bar Harbor and one in Camden under the Stay Bar Harbor Hotel Group umbrella.

It was a generally positive year for his company, with July and September being the best months relative to 2024. But glitches arrived.

“October was off to a very strong start but cooled off after the holiday weekend due to a brief stretch of iffy weather as well as travel impacts resulting from the government shutdown,” he continues. “Flight disruptions resulted in higher-than-usual cancelations over the back half of the month.”

A stretch of particularly cold and rainy weather hampered business significantly throughout the spring, particularly in April and May, he notes.

“One thing about Bar Harbor is, if the forecast shows it’s 50 degrees and raining for a week straight, nobody’s going to come — and that’s that,” Coston says.

The weather shifted favorably about mid-June.

Tariffs presented a bit of a challenge on the cost side, resulting in higher prices for many of the goods his company uses and provides.

Coston continues, “The loss of most of the cruise ship visitation to town certainly had a substantial negative impact on a number of local businesses, and issues like inflation, tariffs, housing, etc. persist. But I can say that, at least for our business, it was generally a positive year.”

Positive feedback

“We did not feel any impact from having fewer cruise ships but, based on our guests’ feedback, their experience was improved due to far less congestion in town and not having to wait an hour to get lunch on those days of the large cruise ships,” says David Witham, owner of Witham Family Hotels, with seven hotels in Bar Harbor, one in Ellsworth and one under construction in Ellsworth.

“When you remove cruise ships, it feels quieter,” adds Jeremy Dougherty, the group’s managing director. “The town’s still full. It’s just not overflowing.

Overall, the season showed modest growth, though the shoulder seasons were softer than usual. “The wet spring weather seemed to play a role in this,” says Witham. “The luxury market remains strong, but the more price sensitive markets were not as strong during these shoulder seasons.”

Eric Marichal, the group’s director of strategic operations, says, overall for the company, demand is growing in the shoulder months of May and June.

“We continued to see, particularly post-covid and incrementally every year, is our May and June season pushing out,” says Marichal. “June is pretty much entering what we consider peak season now. Initially, it might have been the last week of June, then the third week, then the second week. This is the first season we’ve seen the first week of June have relatively high demand.”

The final numbers aren’t in, but pre-2020, the market was at 50% occupancy in May, and maybe 70% in June. Now it’s 60% in May and 90% in June.

“It’s really increased,” Marichal says.

Government shutdown

The consensus is that the federal government shutdown this fall had little effect on business. Because Acadia stayed relatively open, “We saw minimal impacts from the business perspective,” says Eaton.

Woodside agrees: “The park was open, the trails were open. I don’t think visitation went down at all. “

“The park was still busy and the town was still busy,” says Bond. “I can’t say I saw a huge first-hand impact.”

Young, whose properties include an inn, was initially concerned as the shutdown loomed, when some guests called about refunds.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, everyone is going to cancel their trips,’” she recalls. “But when they realized the park was still accessible, they came. People come here for the park.”

Salvatore credits the National Park Service and Acadia Superintendent Kevin Schneider for maintaining operations.

“October is a vital time of year for visitation,” says Salvatore. “The park employees were wonderful for maintaining services as best they could.”

Bar Harbor’s strength as Acadia’s gateway town and a prime destination itself helps the business community weather challenges, says Eaton.

“Bar Harbor has quite a name recognition across the country,” he says. “That’s been built up over years and years of people working hard to ensure Bar Harbor is an exceptional place to work, live and visit.”