Restrictions on Cruise Calls to Bar Harbor?

[tring]

We are due to call there in September, but I have heard there are restrictions on cruise ships planned.  We are on a relatively small ship which takes just over 1,800pax.  Does anyone know if the restrictions will affect that size of ship?  

Edited February 5, 2023 by tring

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, tring said:

We are due to call there in September, but I have heard there are restrictions on cruise ships planned.  We are on a relatively small ship which takes just over 1,800pax.  Does anyone know if the restrictions will affect that size of ship?  

The referendum prohibits more than 1,000 cruise ship passengers from disembarking in Bar Harbor on any day. There's at least one lawsuit already filed challenging the legality of the referendum.

In theory a ship carrying more than 1,000 passengers could still call on Bar Harbor, as long as no more than 1,000 passengers in total from all ships in port that day go ashore, but from a practical perspective I doubt any ships carrying over 1,00 passengers would still call on the port. The referendum doesn't affect any port calls that were contracted for prior to March 2022.

 

There's a lengthy thread on this board discussing the situation:

 

[princeton123211]

16 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

The referendum prohibits more than 1,000 cruise ship passengers from disembarking in Bar Harbor on any day.

I believe it went even further than that-- it restricts ships to 1000 people total, which would include crew as well. So the number of crew necessary for tendering operations would eat into the number of passengers allowed to disembark. 

[tring]

7 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

The referendum prohibits more than 1,000 cruise ship passengers from disembarking in Bar Harbor on any day. There's at least one lawsuit already filed challenging the legality of the referendum.

In theory a ship carrying more than 1,000 passengers could still call on Bar Harbor, as long as no more than 1,000 passengers in total from all ships in port that day go ashore, but from a practical perspective I doubt any ships carrying over 1,00 passengers would still call on the port. The referendum doesn't affect any port calls that were contracted for prior to March 2022.

 

There's a lengthy thread on this board discussing the situation:

 

 

Thanks a lot for the reply and especially the link to the thread.  I tried to search for the port and all I got was a long list of threads with the word 'bar' in them  🙂

 

We have had the cruise booked since launch date, which was a couple of years back, and the port was on the itinerary then, so hopefully we will be ok because of that.  Will keep our fingers crossed.

 

 

[njhorseman]

53 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

I believe it went even further than that-- it restricts ships to 1000 people total, which would include crew as well. So the number of crew necessary for tendering operations would eat into the number of passengers allowed to disembark. 

Yes, the resolution does say "persons", not passengers, but only a small number of crew are needed ashore to assist in the tendering process, so at most what does 1,000 become, 975?  It's not going to make a big difference and as long as those crew are going no further than the tender pier they may just turn a blind eye to it.

[tring]

I see my post has been moved to a "Canada and New England forum", which is sensible.  Must admit I had trouble finding the correct forum for Bar Harbor.  I went to USA section of the "ports of call" board" and the only option I could find was one for cruises "departing from" ports on the North American Eastern Seaboard and not specific forums for "ports of call" sections in the eastern US, so I went for that.  I am not sure though what actually constitutes "New England", would it also cover port calls for New York, Newport and Rhode Island for instance, which are the most southerly US ports in our 30 night  itinerary which starts and finishes in the UK?  If not, could someone kindly point me in the direction of a forum which would cover these as "ports of call", rather than just for embarkation/disembarkation?  Forums for other parts of the world seem to cover ports for both cruise calls as well as embarkation/disembarkation, so I find the organisation of the US ones a bit confusing.  Our itinerary crosses the Atlantic to Sydney, then goes south to New York and returns north to St John's before returning to the UK with a good number of ports in between, but I will look into the other ports nearer the cruise date, so I am not asking  for those ports to be addressed here. 

 

Regards Bar Harbor, I have now read some of the thread which I was directed to last night and see it is a very small place which is easily overrun with cruise passengers, so will be quite pleased if it is dropped, as long as another port is added instead, but hope we will not loose a port altogether.  We originally had the cruise booked for 2021, but of course that did not happen and we re-scheduled for this year, but already the standard annual cruise itinerary had lost Saint John as a port.  TBH I do not know much about most of the ports as yet, apart from Sydney, PEI and St. John's as we have been there before on a cruise up the St Lawrence from the UK.

 

We do not normally cruise to busy areas, but have done cruises to the Med and Caribbean within the last year, mainly for good weather while the world is healing form the pandemic, and whilst we were not totally surprised at how busy some ports were, we were quite shocked by ports such as Dubrovnik and Corfu, along with a couple of Caribbean ports which were grossly overrun and totally spoilt.  I do feel some restrictions need to be imposed in at least some ports, regards the number and size of ships calling there.   As well as Venice and Key West, I have seen mention on another forum that Palma (Majorca), Dubrovnik and Santorini are making restrictions, with discussions being had in Marseilles and Barcelona.  The cruise industry is doing itself no good by producing these mega ships and taking them into ports that cannot cope or just running so many ships that more than one ship is docked in a port at the same time.  We have previously travelled on small ships, but some have been culled during the pandemic, sadly.  Cruising may well become a thing of the past for us. 

 

Barbara

 

[princeton123211]

32 minutes ago, tring said:

I am not sure though what actually constitutes "New England", would it also cover port calls for New York, Newport and Rhode Island for instance, which are the most southerly US ports in our 30 night  itinerary which starts and finishes in the UK?

Generally New England doesn't include the State of New York. It includes Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. 

 

35 minutes ago, tring said:

If not, could someone kindly point me in the direction of a forum which would cover these as "ports of call", rather than just for embarkation/disembarkation?  Forums for other parts of the world seem to cover ports for both cruise calls as well as embarkation/disembarkation, so I find the organisation of the US ones a bit confusing.  Our itinerary crosses the Atlantic to Sydney, then goes south to New York and returns north to St John's before returning to the UK with a good number of ports in between

The "Canada/New England" board under "Ports of Call" is where most of this would be most appropriate from a port perspective. Or also a roll call for your particular cruise. 

[tring]

55 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Generally New England doesn't include the State of New York. It includes Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. 

 

The "Canada/New England" board under "Ports of Call" is where most of this would be most appropriate from a port perspective. Or also a roll call for your particular cruise. 

 

Thank you very much for the reply about that, all of our other ports, except New York, do indeed come within those States.  We are scheduled for three days in New York, so will need to search around for that, perhaps worth "going back to basics" and buying a guide book covering some main points as a starter and can take it around with us to save getting a phone out in a busy place like NY and the Trip Advisor forums can often be useful for more up to date information.  As it is an itinerary only done once a year on our UK based cruise line, it is not likely to have people who will know much, if anything, about the ports, though you are right that information sharing is important.

 

Cheers,

 

Barbara

 

[chengkp75]

You can go to the "East Coast Departures" forum to find out information about NYC, and getting around.

[shipgeeks]

tring, I would recommend that you continue to check in on this board, Canada & New England, reading previous posts about the ports you'll be visiting, and posting any questions you have. There is a lot of good information around!   

As to Bar Harbor, my understanding is that visits within 2023 will go ahead as planned, as the ban, IF it does take place, will not happen until later than that.  We, too, are scheduled to be there in September, 2023, on a ship somewhat larger than yours.

 

[tring]

4 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

tring, I would recommend that you continue to check in on this board, Canada & New England, reading previous posts about the ports you'll be visiting, and posting any questions you have. There is a lot of good information around!   

As to Bar Harbor, my understanding is that visits within 2023 will go ahead as planned, as the ban, IF it does take place, will not happen until later than that.  We, too, are scheduled to be there in September, 2023, on a ship somewhat larger than yours.

 

 

Thanks for that, I hope your cruise goes well as does ours.  I am aware September/Oct is a busy time in that region, so I hope neither of us are in port with any other ship.  I will be checking for that with our itinerary soon.

 

I had used this board for our St Lawrence cruise a number of years back and did find the posters very helpful indeed. Yes, I will pop in from time to time to read relevant threads to  learn a bit about ports I have not previously visited, then will only need to ask questions for any specific interest we have.  We will not be wanting to do anything too energetic or a long distance from the ports as we are now clearly into our seventies and beginning to feel our age 🙂

 

Cheers,

 

Barbara

 

[terpshockey77]

I looked for info on Bar Harbor as we received an email today with the following for our Jewel of the Seas cruise in the fall:

 

Due to capacity limitations in Bar Harbor, Maine, we’ve replaced our visit to Bar Harbor and will visit Boston, Massachusetts instead. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused by this. Nevertheless, we know you’ll enjoy your visit to Boston!

 

Not sure if we will remain with this cruise.

[Ashland]

Our RCI Liberty 9 night Canada NE itinerary for Oct 5, 2023 out of Port Liberty hasn't been changed. Hope it isn't but we will still cruise regardless. Have always loved our port stops there but we also understand the situation with Bar Harbor.

[tring]

8 hours ago, terpshockey77 said:

I looked for info on Bar Harbor as we received an email today with the following for our Jewel of the Seas cruise in the fall:

 

Due to capacity limitations in Bar Harbor, Maine, we’ve replaced our visit to Bar Harbor and will visit Boston, Massachusetts instead. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused by this. Nevertheless, we know you’ll enjoy your visit to Boston!

 

Not sure if we will remain with this cruise.

 

 

Sorry to hear that, looks like some changes are being made for this year then.  Can I please ask the size of your ship?  On the plus side, at least you have been given a fair bit of notice of the change I have seen quite a lot of port changes happening over here after balance payment dates.

 

[terpshockey77]

Jewel of the Seas is part of Royal's Radiance class and capacity is at 2,702 passengers which isn't a huge ship.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, terpshockey77 said:

Jewel of the Seas is part of Royal's Radiance class and capacity is at 2,702 passengers which isn't a huge ship.

Not huge, but far bigger than the 1,000 person disembarkation limit approved by  voters in the referendum.

[tring]

1 hour ago, terpshockey77 said:

Jewel of the Seas is part of Royal's Radiance class and capacity is at 2,702 passengers which isn't a huge ship.

 

Thanks.  I have found the port schedule on the local port site and we are listed as being in port alone on the 23/9/23.  I do not see Jewel of the Seas on the schedule, so looks like it has already been edited.  Liberty of the Seas is still there.  I will be keeping an eye on that page which is here:-

 

https://maine.portcall.com/#!?tab=2&port=Bar Harbor

 

I accessed that page though this one, which gives some links to articles about the port and changes being made:-

 

https://www.barharbormaine.gov/190/Cruise-Ship-Information 

 

They may be useful to others, the first link also gives the number of passengers on the ships listed.

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by tring

[tring]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

Not huge, but far bigger than the 1,000 person disembarkation limit approved by  voters in the referendum.

 

That is true, it is only the luxury cruise lines that seem to be under that size now and I think they often have included excursions, so not much business for smaller traders.cafes etc.  The cruise line we have often used had a couple of ships under 30,000 ton (about 700 pax), but they disposed of them during the pandemic and have replaced with the ex HAL's Amsterdam and Rotterdam at about 1,400 pax and just retained another ship which takes about 1,200pax. 

 

To us that 1,400pax seems a lot and the 1,800+pax  one we will be on next September seems pretty big to us, (we were on her in November for a Caribbean round trip from the UK).  Cruising is becoming very different to what we have known and enjoyed, but still some good itineraries if we search hard.  Beyond that we will likely do more land holidays.  Still a big shame if people have booked on one itinerary and it all changes after that, but I also see the point of the local people as well,

 

Barbara

[shipgeeks]

2 hours ago, tring said:

 

Thanks.  I have found the port schedule on the local port site and we are listed as being in port alone on the 23/9/23.  I do not see Jewel of the Seas on the schedule, so looks like it has already been edited.  Liberty of the Seas is still there.  I will be keeping an eye on that page which is here:-

 

https://maine.portcall.com/#!?tab=2&port=Bar Harbor

 

I accessed that page though this one, which gives some links to articles about the port and changes being made:-

 

https://www.barharbormaine.gov/190/Cruise-Ship-Information 

 

They may be useful to others, the first link also gives the number of passengers on the ships listed.

 

 

 

Interesting!  Up to date/correct?  I see Enchantment of the Seas listed in August -- but she will, in fact, be in the Med.  

We are booked on Vision of the Seas in September, but she is not on the list at all.  Still included in our RC itinerary.

??

[tring]

16 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

Interesting!  Up to date/correct?  I see Enchantment of the Seas listed in August -- but she will, in fact, be in the Med.  

We are booked on Vision of the Seas in September, but she is not on the list at all.  Still included in our RC itinerary.

??

 

I have known port sites to be promptly updated and others sadly lacking, but still worth keeping an eye on, in my books anyway, as I have nothing better and doubt our cruise line will tell us about changes promptly.  I wonder if Jewel of the Seas was booked in late, which could be why it has been rerouted. 

 

I came across a site for one port on our itinerary this morning which only gave the 2022 cruise itinerary.  Not sure where it was, or even if it was a US or Canada one.  A number of our ports are probably not functioning at present, so perhaps will be updated when their season starts.

 

[shipgeeks]

Well, we just got an email notifying us that BH has been cancelled on our Sept. 14 cruise, and replaced with an overnight in Saint John, as well as a longer day in Halifax.  I'm happy; my cruise has been improved!

[tring]

12 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

Well, we just got an email notifying us that BH has been cancelled on our Sept. 14 cruise, and replaced with an overnight in Saint John, as well as a longer day in Halifax.  I'm happy; my cruise has been improved!

 

Glad you are happy with that.  You said Liberty of the Seas was in the Med, but I see the Royal Caribbean website has her doing a one off 9 night round trip from New York on 24th August with a call into Bar Harbor on the 28th August, which is what is listed in the link I posted above.  So perhaps it is up to date after all.

 

Regards our call we are in Portland the previous day, then move onto a sea day then  Halifax after Bar Harbour, so I am thinking we may be able to get to Saint John (which is not on our itinerary) as a replacement port, though may need to leave Portland before our current 7pm departure slot, or arrive late into Saint John.  We are in Portland on an incredibly busy day, so may be happy to move on.

 

[3dogmom]

I'm sailing on the NCL Sky Oct 2nd Quebec to Baltimore cruise that originally included Bar Harbor and Portland, Maine. They have both been replaced with Saint John, NB and NYC. I'm glad I visited Bar Harbor in 2016, but most of our group have never been and were disappointed with the change.

[tring]

44 minutes ago, 3dogmom said:

I'm sailing on the NCL Sky Oct 2nd Quebec to Baltimore cruise that originally included Bar Harbor and Portland, Maine. They have both been replaced with Saint John, NB and NYC. I'm glad I visited Bar Harbor in 2016, but most of our group have never been and were disappointed with the change.

 

Thank you for that information (which does not look good for us) as our ship is only about 1,000 less ton and about 125 less passengers.  Must admit though I have become resigned to possibly loosing Bar Harbor, but did not think Portland may also be at risk, though we are in Portland along with two other ships, (Silver Cloud and Caribbean Princess), so may not be the most pleasant of cruise calls. The other ships scheduled for Portland both leave about mid afternoon and we are booked until 7pm according to the local port authority cruise schedule.  We already have three days in Manhatten Cruise Terminal and two days in Boston along with one day calls at six other US/Candian ports.  We are not scheduled to go to Saint John though and we have not been there before, so would be happy to do so. 

 

Can I ask when you were notified about those changes? 

 

Barbara

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by tring

[3dogmom]

We received the email on Friday, January 27th. The email stated "Due to port congestion and in order to enhance the guest experience, the itinerary has been revised as follows:"