Portland embarks on record cruise ship season
A cruise ship docked on the Portland waterfront (Photo/Ben+Sam available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license)
Portland expects to kick off its biggest cruise ship season ever this week with the arrival of two ships, which will dispatch herds of camera-toting tourists into Portland's Old Port. This season, the city expects 45 ships carrying nearly 70,000 passengers will dock in Portland, compared to last year when 31 cruise ships brought more than 45,000.
Arriving first is the American Glory, an American Cruise Line ship calling to port Wednesday morning with 50 passengers, according to a press release from the city. The ship, halfway through an 11-day sail along the Northeast coast, will depart Wednesday night for Boothbay Harbor. It also has stops planned in Bar Harbor and Camden, and will wrap up its tour in Bangor next week. During the 2009 season, the American Glory will stop in Portland seven times.
The second ship to stop at the Portland Ocean Terminal will be the Grande Caribe, a 183-foot American Canadian Caribbean Line ship carrying 100 passengers. The city will serve as the ship's home port while it makes stops along the coast of Maine, according to the press release. The ship arrives Thursday morning and departs Friday for the weeklong coastal trip.
Altogether, the city expects 45 ships carrying nearly 70,000 passengers to call to port here from July to October. "Hopefully, they'll spend some time in Portland and some money," Janis Beitzer, executive director of Portland's Downtown District, told Mainebiz.
The Grandeur of the Seas, the season's first large cruise ship of the year, will berth at the Maine State Pier on Aug. 15 with 1,950 passengers aboard, the release states. As the first ship of the season carrying more than 500 passengers, the Grandeur of the Seas will be met by map-toting members of the Downtown District, Beitzer said. "We're all anxious for the season to start," she said.
The Queen Victoria, Cunard's nearly 1,000-foot liner with capacity for 2,000 guests, will make its maiden visit to Portland in September, according to the release.
Last year, 31 cruise ships brought more than 45,000 visitors to the Portland area. Bar Harbor, Maine's busiest cruise ship destination, welcomed 96 ships carrying about 140,000 passengers in 2008. The state drew in $24 million in related spending from those visits, according to Florida trade group Cruise Lines International Association, which ranked Maine 41st in the nation for economic benefits from cruise ships.
Industry observers here, however, believe the impact is well over $24 million, and one report found that cruise ships brought in $20.4 million to Portland and Bar Harbor alone in 2005.
The city expects to break its record again next year, when it is scheduled to receive 68 ships carrying roughly 78,000 passengers, Nicole Clegg, a spokeswoman for the city, told Mainebiz.
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