Cruise ships will again call on Bangor after 11-year absence
Courtesy / American Cruise Lines
American Cruise Lines, shown here in Boothbay Harbor, will return to Bangor after an 11-year absence.
For the first time since 2011, cruise ships are headed to Bangor, after the City Council this week unanimously approved a 20-year lease of riverfront docking space to American Cruise Lines.
The company will pay a fixed rent and fee per passenger during the term of the lease, but the amounts were not immediately available.
A 200-foot ACL ship carrying about 90 passengers will tie up at a heavy-vessel dock on the Penobscot River. The dock is scheduled to be reinstalled this spring.
ACL and the city will develop and share a schedule for spring ship arrivals in the coming weeks, said Tracy Willette, Bangor’s director of parks and recreation. The cruises will be seven-day voyages.
The cruise line has been serving New England for more than 30 years, and also serves other locales such as the Northwest destinations of Puget Sound, the Columbia River and Alaska, as well as the Mississippi River and the southeastern United States.
“The good news is that they’re back in Bangor. Having a passenger cruise line making regular visits to Bangor is a huge benefit for the city and the businesses downtown,” Willette said.
The decision to return to Bangor came amid an increase in air travel there, ACL said.
“Over the past 10 years, air service has increased and as we look ahead, we believe there is real potential for Bangor to become an embarkation or terminus point for our cruises once again. Bangor can also be a port-of-call on our new itineraries, where we will not rely on air service,” said ACL president and CEO Charles Robertson.
While Bar Harbor and Portland get the large cruise ships, smaller towns in Maine such as Eastport, Castine, Bath and Boothbay Harbor also see some smaller vessels, according to CruiseMaine. According to a CruiseMaine study, more than 400,000 cruise visitors spent a total of $29 million in the state during the 2018 season.
When coupled with indirect spending, cruise visitors generate at least $33 million in overall economic impact, support almost 400 jobs, and provide $1.7 million in tax revenue for Maine.
"ACL is a great partner to Maine's cruise communities, and the city council's unanimous approval of a 20-year lease is a testament to that. American's investment in Bangor's waterfront infrastructure will benefit the whole community, with an economic impact that will top $70 for every cruiser who comes ashore. We look forward to seeing the Independence sailing up the Penobscot this summer," CruiseMaine said in a statement.
The addition of ships to Bangor comes as other towns try to grapple with cruiser congestion.
Bar Harbor, for example, will host cruise ships in 2022, but is looking at ways to reduce the industry’s impact on the town in 2023 and beyond.
Meanwhile, the CAT high-speed ferry between Bar Harbor and Nova Scotia, Canada, will resume service May 19 after two seasons that were canceled due to the pandemic.
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