Bar Harbor voters back tougher restrictions on cruise ships

[Another_Critic]

2 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

It's quite amazing Song of America is still floating and not chopped up for rebar and steel beams

A poster here said they are booked on her.

[Giantfan13]

To limit 1000 people per day would basically eliminate just about every cruise ship. Bar Harbor is a great port, and it is only alive because of tourism. If they don't want more tourists, then let them survive off the others. After Labor Day, except for weekends, the place is dead, so let them enjoy the 'off season' with our money.

 

Cheers 

Len

[maysill88]

I completely disagree with the idea that Bar Harbor is dead without cruise ships. We have stayed in Bar Harbor for a week-long vacation many times, sometimes in the off-season in May and October, but also during the summer months.  I think the main draw for people going to Mount Desert Island is Acadia National Park, so they will be just fine with the main tourists coming in by land travel.  If it weren't for the park, then it might be a different story. 

 

And if you've ever stopped in Bar Harbor on a cruise and enjoyed your day in port, then I highly recommend making it a land vacation sometime.  There is so much to see in Acadia that you completely miss with only a short day in port!

 

ETA:  Walking around Bar Harbor after cruise ships have left for the day, the town certainly is not empty.  There are plenty of other tourists leftover.

Edited November 9, 2022 by maysill88
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[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, HappyTexan44 said:

And really, if they don't want tourists, as a tourist I don't want to spend money there.  The world is a large place.  

Bar Harbor will have plenty of tourists without cruise ship passengers. Arcadia national park is there. A town of 5,000 gets swamped when three mega ships arrive. It is cruise ship tourists they don't wan't. 

[Charles4515]

33 minutes ago, Giantfan13 said:

To limit 1000 people per day would basically eliminate just about every cruise ship. Bar Harbor is a great port, and it is only alive because of tourism. If they don't want more tourists, then let them survive off the others. After Labor Day, except for weekends, the place is dead, so let them enjoy the 'off season' with our money.

 

Cheers 

Len

 

There is plenty of land tourism because of the national park, They don't need cruise ship tourism but there are a good number of cruises ships that could call there, Viking, Azamara, Seaborn, Oceania and Silversea to name a few have ships with under 1000 passengers. 

[Cruising89143]

Not a big deal not as not every city or town wants cruise ships debarking thousands of guests. I have friends who owned a B&B in Key West for years. They absolutely disliked cruise ships. Only a handful of tour operators made money while those actually staying in KW had to deal with the large groups in town who spend very little. 

[Tree_skier]

1 hour ago, torpeedo said:

 

I don't know if this is possible but Prince Edward Island is beautiful.  

Absolutely, I've been once back in 2012 and it is a very beautiful Island.  Obviously it wasn't on a cruise but I'd gladly sign up for one that had a stop in Charlottetown,  I have several sites I'd like to revisit.

[Tree_skier]

1 hour ago, Another_Critic said:

They can buy back Song of America.  My first cruise was on her.  🙂

Why bother? Royal has a great fleet that has great demand. Why spend money refurbishing an old ship just to accommodate people who don't want you there in the first place. If Bar Harbor doesn't want cruise ships, don't stop there.  There are other options for cruise ships.  Nobody is signing up for a NE/Canada cruise because of Bar Harbor.  That's like saying if an Alaskan port like Sitka did the same thing people would stop cruising Alaska.  Wouldn't happen.  Bar Harbor is no more special than several other NE ports.

[bonsai3s]

1 hour ago, Another_Critic said:

They can buy back Song of America.  My first cruise was on her.  🙂

Same here .

[DirtyDawg]

46 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Absolutely, I've been once back in 2012 and it is a very beautiful Island.  Obviously it wasn't on a cruise but I'd gladly sign up for one that had a stop in Charlottetown,  I have several sites I'd like to revisit.

And one of those must be Hamilton, Ontario. The sites you see in Hamilton harbour will take your breath away. 😉 

[neverbeenhere]

Losing any port with Bar in the name can’t be a good thing. 

[MommaBear55]

3 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

And really, if they don't want tourists, as a tourist I don't want to spend money there.  The world is a large place.  

You are obviously unaware how small a place Bar Harbor is and how 5,000 cruise ship passengers overwhelm the infrastructure. Land based vacations have already stressed the area to the point that there have to be reservations to get to certain parts of Acadia. It's a fragile eco system. 

[MommaBear55]

2 hours ago, Giantfan13 said:

To limit 1000 people per day would basically eliminate just about every cruise ship. Bar Harbor is a great port, and it is only alive because of tourism. If they don't want more tourists, then let them survive off the others. After Labor Day, except for weekends, the place is dead, so let them enjoy the 'off season' with our money.

 

Cheers 

Len

All hotels and campgrounds are sold out from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. Gone are the days that life stops on Labor Day  Bar Harbor will survive well without cruise ships.

[j4lambert]

Legal challenges will be filed by the cruise lines.

[DirtyDawg]

5 minutes ago, MommaBear55 said:

You are obviously unaware how small a place Bar Harbor is and how 5,000 cruise ship passengers overwhelm the infrastructure. Land based vacations have already stressed the area to the point that there have to be reservations to get to certain parts of Acadia. It's a fragile eco system. 

There are 6 million people in Toronto. I can't imagine what it would be like if 3 million + cruisers showed up for the day. 🤯

[flamingos]

28 minutes ago, j4lambert said:

Legal challenges will be filed by the cruise lines.

Why?

[barbeyg]

Sorry to hear that. It’s a nice place for a day visit, but there are other beautiful places in NE. Time to venture to other areas. 🙂

[Tree_skier]

1 hour ago, DirtyDawg said:

And one of those must be Hamilton, Ontario. The sites you see in Hamilton harbour will take your breath away. 😉 

LOL, yeah isn't Hamilton a UNESCO World Heritage Site

[DirtyDawg]

11 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

LOL, yeah isn't Hamilton a UNESCO World Heritage Site

And don't forget, the original Tim Horton's is # 5 on the Seven Wonders of the World, right behind the Colosseum in Rome. 😁

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by DirtyDawg

[fenton04]

I bet the citizens of Bar Harbor would amend this if Royal promised to only sail Electric cruise ships to their port.  Less of a carbon footprint.

[time4u2go]

2 minutes ago, fenton04 said:

I bet the citizens of Bar Harbor would amend this if Royal promised to only sail Electric cruise ships to their port.  Less of a carbon footprint.

That's not the problem. Too many people is the problem. 

[Coralc]

I guess we better get sailing, Bar Harbor, Key West, Bora Bora, Venice all seem to have restrictions/prohibitions now. Fortunately, we have been to a couple of the ports. I'm sorry we may not have the opportunity to see some of the others on a cruise. 

 

It is too bad RC doesn't have some smaller ships, anymore. 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Coralc

[Another_Critic]

3 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Absolutely, I've been once back in 2012 and it is a very beautiful Island.  Obviously it wasn't on a cruise but I'd gladly sign up for one that had a stop in Charlottetown,  I have several sites I'd like to revisit.

I'm actually wearing my Charlottetown "Cool As A Moose" t-shirt now.  😄

[fenton04]

I guess that clever remark about "Electric Cruise ships" was a little bit too clever.  Sorry about that.

 

P.S. I knew it was about customers visiting their fiefdom. Don't worry I won't darken their city with my presence.  Never.

[Charles4515]

39 minutes ago, fenton04 said:

I guess that clever remark about "Electric Cruise ships" was a little bit too clever.  Sorry about that.

 

P.S. I knew it was about customers visiting their fiefdom. Don't worry I won't darken their city with my presence.  Never.

I knew it was supposed to be clever but it really was not. 

 

Not surprised that many ports are rebelling against cruise lines who in their greed for profit have built bigger and bigger ships every year without regard to their impact on ports. Bar Harbor won't be the last. Maybe  Icon  of the Seas will only be able to do Coco Cay and Labadee.