COURTESY / AMERICAN CRUISE LINES
The American Constitution can carry up 175 passengers.
Updated: December 22, 2020
Bucksport cautiously eyes visits from small cruise ship in 2021
Screenshot / Town of Bucksport
Bucksport town councilors said they were open to an American Cruise Lines plan to make the town a regular stop in 2021, depending on how things go with the pandemic.
The Bucksport Town Council says it’s open to discussing visits from a small cruise ship for the 2021 summer season — with caveats.
At the council’s virtual meeting earlier this month, Town Manager Susan Lessard said American Cruise Lines was in touch with the town about booking dates in 2021 for its liner American Constitution, which can carry up 175 passengers.
The vessel had been approved for the 2020 season, then canceled because of the pandemic.
“The proposal for Bucksport is to not be an afterthought, but instead be a destination for a number of visits during the season, which is something we haven’t been in the past,” said Lessard.
Lessard said the company is looking to develop a schedule, with the understanding that the schedule might be canceled depending on the status of the pandemic.
Michael Ormsby, the town’s harbormaster, said Bucksport is increasingly becoming a visitor destination by way of the water, especially among transient boaters and yacht club boaters who enjoy sailing together and then tie up to visit the town.
American Cruise Lines has docked in Bucksport on an occasional basis for many years. In 2020, formal permission from the council was requested and then withdrawn due to the escalating pandemic and state and federal safety guidelines.
American Cruise Line’s vice president, Paul Taiclet, told the council the firm is looking to develop marketing materials now in order to sell cruises for the summer of 2021. For that reason, he explained, the company would need to know if Bucksport is open to visits.
“This is for planning purposes,” he said. “We’d like to say the American Constitution is visiting Bucksport on every one of our cruises.”
This past summer, the Bar Harbor Town Council rejected a proposal from American Cruise Lines to allow the American Constitution to visit Bar Harbor with half the usual number of passengers and a suite of safety protocols aboard the ship and in Bar Harbor.
But speaking with the Bucksport council, Taiclet noted the company has refined its protocols, including providing a more comprehensive testing regimen.
“So if COVID is still factor when we’re first able to return to Maine, we’ll be able to operate safely,” he said. “We’re not going to enter service if it’s not safe or any state or federal government or community is uncomfortable with it.
“But we feel, for planning purposes, that by the time we get into summer, there will be some cruising in the United States and we want to be part of that, and we want to make Bucksport one of our featured ports.”
The consensus on the council was to allow town officials to move forward on discussions with American, while also monitoring the health situation.
Lessard noted Bucksport can accommodate only small cruise ships because a bridge across the Penobscot River bars passage of larger ships.
In 2018, Bucksport officials said they were interested in pitching the town to major passenger cruise lines as a destination.
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