Bar Harbor voters back tougher restrictions on cruise ships

[flamingos]

Bar Harbor residents voted Tuesday to place tighter regulations on the cruise ship industry after years of complaints about overcrowding in the tourist mecca.

Voters passed a petition restricting the number of cruise ship passengers who can come ashore on any given day. The town will now allow no more than 1,000 people per day to disembark from cruise ships, though questions remain about enforcement.

https://www.bangordailynews.com/2022/11/09/news/hancock/bar-harbor-cruise-ships-election/

[Merion_Mom]

A thousand passengers?  Well, that eliminates all RC ships.

[HappyTexan44]

I hope cruise ships stop using that port.  
 

[DaKahuna]

 I would not like to see this happen but I do not think Royal Caribbean will have much choice.  How would they possibly determine which 1,000 passengers out of the 2, 000 - 6,000 on board who would be allowed and who would not. 

 

 

[KroozFoolz]

3 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 I would not like to see this happen but I do not think Royal Caribbean will have much choice.  How would they possibly determine which 1,000 passengers out of the 2, 000 - 6,000 on board who would be allowed and who would not. 

 

 

The first thousand to book a ship excursion?

 

[HappyTexan44]

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.  

[mo&fran]

When it gets cold, guess where they will go.

[DaKahuna]

17 minutes ago, KroozFoolz said:

The first thousand to book a ship excursion?

 

 

 So you are going to tell me as a passenger that if I do not book and excursion through the cruise ship, I cannot go ashore in a port the ship is visiting.   That's going to go over real well! 

 

[goldfish65]

Fact is, they realize their area is special and unique and they'll get plenty of tourists without cruise ships. 

[time4u2go]

3 minutes ago, goldfish65 said:

Fact is, they realize their area is special and unique and they'll get plenty of tourists without cruise ships. 

Exactly.  It really is a nice place to visit.

[Merion_Mom]

I understand how they feel.  The citizens of Key West had a similar vote.

 

And "we" all feel that we have given them our tourist dollars for years.  

 

Push and pull.

 

No need to feel negatively toward the people of Maine.  I feel that way about some of the states that y'all live in.  😄 😄 😄 

[reallyitsmema]

Portland, Maine also had a similar ballot question on Tuesday but it did not pass.

[Tree_skier]

I say give the people what they want.  You vote for no cruise ships give them no cruise ships.  Royal should immediately drop Bar Harbor and overnight in Halifax, NS

Edited November 9, 2022 by Tree_skier

[nelblu]

21 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I say give the people what they want.  You vote for no cruise ships give them no cruise ships.  Royal should immediately drop Bar Harbor and overnight in Halifax, NS

Better yet, overnight in Boston and rid of Bar Harbor. 

 

Maybe Royal can bring one of their smaller ships out of mothball. 

[smokeybandit]

3 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Maybe Royal can bring one of their smaller ships out of mothball. 

They don't have any ships in mothballs.

[Tree_skier]

3 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Better yet, overnight in Boston and rid of Bar Harbor. 

 

Maybe Royal can bring one of their smaller ships out of mothball. 

What ship is mothballed?  I think every ship they have is in inventory.  Older small ships have all been sold off.

[reallyitsmema]

5 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Better yet, overnight in Boston and rid of Bar Harbor. 

 

Maybe Royal can bring one of their smaller ships out of mothball. 

 

The older ships were beached and scrapped.  There is nothing in mothballs.

[nelblu]

38 minutes ago, goldfish65 said:

Fact is, they realize their area is special and unique and they'll get plenty of tourists without cruise ships. 

I've been there some 5-6 times on Anthem in mid-September and the place would be empty without the cruisers.

[flamingos]

45 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

I understand how they feel.  The citizens of Key West had a similar vote.

 

 

Remember that the government of Florida overrode their local vote.  😞   Hopefully Maine will not do the same. 

[Another_Critic]

13 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

The older ships were beached and scrapped.  There is nothing in mothballs.

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

[time4u2go]

10 minutes ago, flamingos said:

Remember that the government of Florida overrode their local vote.  😞   Hopefully Maine will not do the same. 

Agreed.  The people that live there should be the ones to decide what's best for their city.

[goldfish65]

16 minutes ago, nelblu said:

I've been there some 5-6 times on Anthem in mid-September and the place would be empty without the cruisers.

I am only guessing but maybe the town is happy to be empty and get a rest after the summer tourist season. 

[torpeedo]

We've had the same issues with the people of Charleston SC.  They hated the cruise ships, they fly big flags out their door with a picture of the whale tail and a big x through it.  The battle went on for years.  Now there is no more home porting after a certain date but they will accept day stops but they can only accommodate maybe one ship,

[smokeybandit]

10 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

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

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

[torpeedo]

55 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I say give the people what they want.  You vote for no cruise ships give them no cruise ships.  Royal should immediately drop Bar Harbor and overnight in Halifax, NS

 

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