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Bar Harbor rejects Cruise Ships

Hlitner

By Hlitner,
in Canada/New England

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njhorseman

njhorseman

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

That's good; it will be interesting to see how this can be done.

I don't think it can be done.

 

If I'm passenger #1,001 I can't go ashore ? I've paid the same fare and port taxes as passengers 1- 1,000 . 

 

I think ships with passenger capacities of over 1,000 will have to skip Bar Harbor.

Edited by njhorseman
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Charles4515

Charles4515

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, latebuyer said:

I think it could be controlled as you could say only passengers who sign up for excursions are able to attend.

That is probably the only way they could do it. My guess is that if and when it actually goes into effect (there may be lawsuits) the large ships will skip Bar Harbor.

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d9704011

d9704011

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

I don't think it can be done.

 

If I'm passenger #1,001 I can't go ashore ? I've paid the same fare and port taxes as passengers 1- 1,000 . 

 

I think ships with passenger capacities of over 1,000 will have to skip Bar Harbor.

My understanding was that the limitation (as voted) is for 1,000 passengers per day.  If that's the case, the size of the ship isn't the only variable in play.... you could have two ships in port, each with 650 passengers, and there is going to be a counting/co-ordination problem of epic proportion.  Pity the harbour master tasked with trying to manage all that.

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njhorseman

njhorseman

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, latebuyer said:

I think it could be controlled as you could say only passengers who sign up for excursions are able to attend.

 Why should a passenger who has paid their fare and port taxes be denied the right to disembark unless they spend additional money for a cruise ship sponsored excursion? 

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njhorseman

njhorseman

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, d9704011 said:

My understanding was that the limitation (as voted) is for 1,000 passengers per day.  If that's the case, the size of the ship isn't the only variable in play.... you could have two ships in port, each with 650 passengers, and there is going to be a counting/co-ordination problem of epic proportion.  Pity the harbour master tasked with trying to manage all that.

Yes, it's 1,000 per day. From a practical perspective Bar Harbor may grant disembarkation privileges to  only a single ship when the passenger load would exceed 1,000 on a day when more than one ship is in port, effectively meaning that only one small ship per day can call on Bar Harbor.

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latebuyer

latebuyer

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

 Why should a passenger who has paid their fare and port taxes be denied the right to disembark unless they spend additional money for a cruise ship sponsored excursion? 

I’d rather be able to go, even if its on an excursion, personally.

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Nitemare

Nitemare

Posted
Posted

Agreed.  No way

14 hours ago, njhorseman said:

 Why should a passenger who has paid their fare and port taxes be denied the right to disembark unless they spend additional money for a cruise ship sponsored excursion? 

Agreed.  No way they can force passengers to take ship excursions or be forced to stay onboard

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Mary229 "Live from...." Rare

Mary229

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Nitemare said:

Agreed.  No way

Agreed.  No way they can force passengers to take ship excursions or be forced to stay onboard

Well, they can.  If that is the law they can’t do around it. This would not be a unique law.   This is the rule for the Antarctica but closer to home Denali. You can only go so far into Denali on your own and would need a car. The park service requires you be on a concessionaire bus to got beyond that point.  

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njhorseman

njhorseman

Posted
Posted (edited)
32 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Well, they can.  If that is the law they can’t do around it. This would not be a unique law.   This is the rule for the Antarctica but closer to home Denali. You can only go so far into Denali on your own and would need a car. The park service requires you be on a concessionaire bus to got beyond that point.  

Big difference...it's not the cruise line forcing you to take the excursion in Denali or Antarctica, it's the laws and regulations of the locality. Obviously local laws and regulations have to be obeyed.

 

There's nothing in the Bar Harbor referendum that mandates cruise ship excursions and for a cruise line to do so as a business decision and practice would be unacceptable to passengers .

Edited by njhorseman
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Mary229 "Live from...." Rare

Mary229

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

There's nothing in the Bar Harbor referendum that mandates cruise ship excursions and for a cruise line to do so as a business decision and practice would be unacceptable to passengers

That would be my assumption before any such protocol would be put in place.   It doesn’t make any difference now as only the smallest ships will be going 

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njhorseman

njhorseman

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, latebuyer said:

I don't understand why an excursion isn't acceptable. As it is now, some excursions sell out. Its the passengers who sign up early who get first dibs.

Because as of now you're not restricted to a cruise line sponsored excursion. You can go ashore on your own or take an independent excursion. Or, I can book a different cruise line excursion that isn't sold out.

 

If I'm paying the same base fare and port taxes as you are how is it acceptable from a business practices perspective to say you can go ashore but I can't because I was standing behind you in line?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Islander500

Islander500

Posted
Posted

I found the information below on The Points Guy website.  The underlined, italicized section is my highlight but I'd not seen that anywhere else, so it is unverified. 

 

"The citizens of Bar Harbor, Maine, have had it with cruise ships and cruisers.

By a wide margin, they voted on Tuesday to severely restrict the number of cruise passengers that could visit the resort town on any given day, in a move that could have a significant impact on cruises to the region.

The voters passed a citizens initiative that would limit the number of cruisers and cruise ship crew who can come ashore in the town to just 1,000 a day, far fewer than currently visit Bar Harbor on some days during the the peak summer tourist season.

Some cruise ships that visit Bar Harbor such as Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas can carry nearly 5,000 passengers.

The vote, which came in the wake of growing complaints about cruise-ship visitors in the town, could mean many of the vessels that currently stop at Bar Harbor will no longer be able to call there. It amends the town's municipal code.

The ballot measure exempts cruise ship visits that already were on the books as of March 17, the date when the measure was first submitted for inclusion on Tuesday's ballot.

About 58% of 3,053 residents who voted Tuesday were in favor of the measure, with roughly 42% against it — a 16-point margin. Bar Harbor has a population of around 5,000 people.

The vote came just two months after Bar Harbor's town council voted to implement limits on cruise-ship passengers that were strict but not nearly to the degree of what was laid out in the citizens initiative."

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  • 2 weeks later...
richbum

richbum

Posted
Posted

As a local in the area I have watched the people of Bar Harbor doing stuff like this for years...Most of the people who complain are "seasonal home owners". The others are the people who work in government who want to make as much $$$ as they can the easiest way possible. They have decided that they want their tourists to be the ones who pay for parking, stay overnight, etc, not the ones who are only in town for a few hours and don't spend as much money. Bar Harbor is a beautiful place, and they want to keep it that way by not allowing so many people to destroy their views....This is going to hurt the small mom and pop places more than anything.

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1025cruise

1025cruise

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, richbum said:

As a local in the area I have watched the people of Bar Harbor doing stuff like this for years...Most of the people who complain are "seasonal home owners". The others are the people who work in government who want to make as much $$$ as they can the easiest way possible. They have decided that they want their tourists to be the ones who pay for parking, stay overnight, etc, not the ones who are only in town for a few hours and don't spend as much money. Bar Harbor is a beautiful place, and they want to keep it that way by not allowing so many people to destroy their views....This is going to hurt the small mom and pop places more than anything.

It will not destroy the small mom and pop places. Bar Harbor has enough seasonal tourism without the cruise ships.

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richbum

richbum

Posted
Posted
23 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

It will not destroy the small mom and pop places. Bar Harbor has enough seasonal tourism without the cruise ships.

They do....but a lot of the smaller ones have closed recently...and will continue to do so!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Charles4515

Charles4515

Posted
Posted (edited)
19 minutes ago, Cruisin Kay D said:

The link in the last post requires that anyone trying to read it has to sign up & pay for access to the link.    Can the OP (cooncat_mom) PLEASE PLEASE  copy & post the article here???

That would be a copyright violation. I was able to read the article using Reader view.

Edited by Charles4515
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