Bar Harbor alternatives?

[lissie]

We've recently booked a trip ex Boston 29 July on the Zaandam. They advertise a stop at  Bar Harbor but I believe that port has recently banned ships bigger than 1000pax . 

 

Any talk of what the alternative port  will be. Or as its our last day before returning to Boston  do you think we will return a day earlier and spend the last night in Boston? 

[riffatsea]

Hi

I just read a more specific article

They are gradually introducing this limit of 1,000 passengers being allowed to visit from each ship

Not just smaller ships with fewer than that number

Your cruise was scheduled before the vote so probably won't be affected

The new rule will start affecting all ships in 2024

 

[Mosaic]

Interesting, but it is a combo of both pax and crew=1000.

[Mary229]

I would think Portland will be on future itineraries.   

[Navybikermom]

Gosh, that’s too bad. Bar Harbor is a vey pretty, walkable little town. I shall miss it. 

[Cruising-along]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

I would think Portland will be on future itineraries.   

Yes, we had Portland this past October.  I love Bar Harbor, and am thankful to have gotten there many times.

[dfish]

I'm thankful Sue and I will get there twice next summer.  We love hiking Acadia.

[trixiee]

2 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

Yes, we had Portland this past October.  I love Bar Harbor, and am thankful to have gotten there many times.

Anything interesting to do in Portland?

[Cruising-along]

48 minutes ago, trixiee said:

Anything interesting to do in Portland?

I'm sure there are a lot more things to do, but we enjoyed an excursion to Portland Head Lighthouse (oldest lighthouse in Maine) and to Kennebunkport.  

[lissie]

5 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I would think Portland will be on future itineraries.   

Yeah we've already got Portland as the first stop on the cruise (Its a loop up and back to Iceland) 

[Blackduck59]

Hey Lissie, looks like we will be passing each other on the pier. We are boarding when you get off of Zaandam. I have read your posts on the down under board. Have a great cruise.

Our itinerary stops in Portland not Bar Harbour.

[lissie]

2 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Hey Lissie, looks like we will be passing each other on the pier. We are boarding when you get off of Zaandam. I have read your posts on the down under board. Have a great cruise.

Our itinerary stops in Portland not Bar Harbour.

Haha small world! We have Portland too - there is a LOT of ports - exciting 

[Blackduck59]

32 minutes ago, lissie said:

Haha small world! We have Portland too - there is a LOT of ports - exciting 

 

Yes our cruise is much shorter than yours with mostly Canadian ports. You have several ports in Newfoundland, we only have Cornerbrook.

[Hlitner]

Just one more case of this disturbing trend (for cruisers) of ports trying to limit or ban cruise ships.  This is happening all over the world.  Why?  I think that folks are reacting to the larger capacities of ships and the disruption on the community.  Multiple studies have shown that cruisers do not contribute a lot of money to local economies (much less per person than a land-based tourist) and I think that the tendency of many cruisers to use large tour buses, travel in large groups (i.e. cruise line excursions) has been a "turn off" to locals around the world.  Since we live in a cruise port (Puerto Vallarta) and are also avid cruisers, we see this issue from both points of view.  When most ships carried less than 1000 passengers it was not such a big deal.  But now, with some ships carrying over 6000 it has become a major political issue in many communities.

 

Hank

[Sir PMP]

I would check with Hal, I believe that the ship will still be able to stop at bar harbor.

[Dutchman48]

On 12/11/2022 at 2:34 PM, riffatsea said:

Hi

I just read a more specific article

They are gradually introducing this limit of 1,000 passengers being allowed to visit from each ship

Not just smaller ships with fewer than that number

Your cruise was scheduled before the vote so probably won't be affected

The new rule will start affecting all ships in 2024

 

On same cruise, so when I first saw this online did a little research. Like riffatsea said it does not affect us. According to the reports I read in local the papers around Bar Harbor the 2023 port schedule was finalized prior to the vote, so the ban is scheduled to take effect in 2024.

It looked like the cruise lines and local officials were working on mitigating the overcrowding issue, but not to the local's satisfaction hence the referendum. 

[Guest ldtr]

On 12/12/2022 at 5:28 AM, Hlitner said:

Just one more case of this disturbing trend (for cruisers) of ports trying to limit or ban cruise ships.  This is happening all over the world.  Why?  I think that folks are reacting to the larger capacities of ships and the disruption on the community.  Multiple studies have shown that cruisers do not contribute a lot of money to local economies (much less per person than a land-based tourist) and I think that the tendency of many cruisers to use large tour buses, travel in large groups (i.e. cruise line excursions) has been a "turn off" to locals around the world.  Since we live in a cruise port (Puerto Vallarta) and are also avid cruisers, we see this issue from both points of view.  When most ships carried less than 1000 passengers it was not such a big deal.  But now, with some ships carrying over 6000 it has become a major political issue in many communities.

 

Hank

Too many cruise passengers = more crowding + negative impact on residents + negative impact on visitors when the ships are in port + conversion of unique shops to those that set up shop in all of the busy cruise ports.