No Bar Harbor Oct NE/Canada Sailing

[WoodstockGirl]

Just got a notification that our fall NE/Canadian Cruise for the week of Oct 19 will not be porting in Bar Harbor, Maine on Oct 22nd. Does anyone here have a clue about why this is?  Is it just our particular week of cruise? Is there a situation with Bar Harbor?  I love stopping there for the day. 

We will be stopping in Portland Maine now instead. I've never been there.... any tips?

Thanks

[chrysalis]

perhaps....

 

Bar Harbor allowed to limit number of cruise ship visitors, judge rules | newscentermaine.com

[chengkp75]

Bar Harbor has ruled that if a cruise ship had made a reservation for a port call to Bar Harbor before the town council vote on the cruise passenger limits (which was Oct/Nov last year, if I remember right), then large ships would be allowed.  But, any reservations made after the council vote date would be limited to 1000 passengers per day.

 

Portland is a great city to visit, I've lived here for 50 years.  Great restaurants, lots to see.  Check the "Canada/New England" forum and look for threads on Portland, or search my posts on what to do or see.   It all depends on your activity level and interests.  I frequently recommend, and get positive feedback on, the Casco Bay Ferry "mailboat run", which has earned itself a "sticky" in the Canada/NE forum.  Great views of the islands and bay, and interesting to learn about and see the island lifestyle.

[TM]

We loved Bar Harbor, particularly with access to Acadia National Park, but as noted above the town is limiting the number of passengers on any given day.  We've been to Portland twice.  The last time we rented a car right near the dock and drove up to Camden, ME which was a charming small town.  Would definitely recommend that.

[chengkp75]

Camden is a nice town, but it is nearly 2 hour drive each way.

[cr8tiv1]

I did a "fire engine" one hour ride around Portland, ME.  (Also stopped in Bar Harbor and really enjoyed that port.). Enjoy some clam chowder along the waterfront.  Portland is less touristy than Bar Harbor with lots of window shopping to be done.  I think Bar Harbor shot themselves in the foot on this call.

[chengkp75]

36 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I think Bar Harbor shot themselves in the foot on this call.

I think that they got exactly what they wanted, and that is no excessive crushes of people on one day, marketing more for longer staying guests.  If more ships shift to Portland, I think it will follow suit, though not likely to the extreme limit that Bar Harbor set.  Lots of people around here are not big cruise ship passenger fans.

[cr8tiv1]

Bar Harbor was on my bucket list to visit Arcadia National Park.  Did a local tour.  The town was very crowded.  Extremely long line to get back on the water shuttle.  

 

I can understand a small town being over-run with tourists.  Happens in Hawaii too.  

 

The limit of 1000 passengers is going to eliminate all Princess ships as well as all of the other mainstream corporations.  I can see why they would prefer tourism by car.  They will spend a lot more money on accommodations, restaurants, etc.  

[WisCruiser2]

In October 2013 we spent the weekend in Bar Harbor while visiting our daughter in Boston. There were 3 or 4 cruise ships there on Saturday - we commented on how it felt to be on the other side of a port stop! 

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Bar Harbor was on my bucket list to visit Arcadia National Park.  Did a local tour.  The town was very crowded.  Extremely long line to get back on the water shuttle.  

 

I can understand a small town being over-run with tourists.  Happens in Hawaii too.  

 

The limit of 1000 passengers is going to eliminate all Princess ships as well as all of the other mainstream corporations.  I can see why they would prefer tourism by car.  They will spend a lot more money on accommodations, restaurants, etc.  

Unable to find any data on Bar Harbor, but data from Key West indicated that 50% of tourist days was from cruise ships and 50% from land travelers fly or drive). The half from cruise ships generated 15% of tourism spend, the land based half generated 85% of tourism spend.

 

If you are over run by tourists and negatively impacting quality of life in the town, which half are you going to limit?

 

I expect Bar Harbor numbers would be similar.

[doghog]

We always enjoyed our Bar Harbor stops.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

I'm glad we were able to experience Bar Harbor and Acadia Park while we were still able to do so via cruise...we live too far away to entertain driving there and just don't recall there being that much that interested us to justify flying.  We had a great cruise in 2019.

[cr8tiv1]

I loved visiting Bar Harbor last summer.  The town is so quaint plus I made it to Arcadia NP.  That being said, around noon, the Captain pulled the tenders to those still going ashore.  It was a mechanical/technical issue.  I was one of the fortunate who got off at 9:30 AM.  Still a huge line to get back to the ship at 1:30.  They were only running tenders to pick up passengers for the very long/slow ride back to the ship.

 

Bar Harbor is such an interesting place that I would have loved to visit again.  Don the YouTuber says it will be limited to ships carrying 1000 or LESS passengers.  So much for Princess.  I feel for all those who were looking forward to this port.

[Thrak]

On 4/26/2024 at 3:08 PM, cr8tiv1 said:

Bar Harbor was on my bucket list to visit Arcadia National Park.

 

We were looking forward to one day porting in Bar Harbor for the visit to Acadia National Park. My wife "collects" US National Parks and has a bit over half of them so far. We will snag a couple more this summer on a camping trip (as well as revisit a couple along the way) but had hoped to snag Acadia on a cruise. Poop. Double Poop. However, I do understand the locals not loving being overwhelmed with a bunch of cruise passengers. I would imagine some businesses love it but, for the general populace, it could be a real drag. We will just have to visit Acadia National Park on a land trip. It's a looooooooooooooooong way from California but it's somewhere we want to check out.

[Coral]

I have a friend going on Emerald Princess on July 21st this year going to Bar Harbor. They were switched from Portland to Bar Harbor a few months ago.

[cr8tiv1]

46 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

We were looking forward to one day porting in Bar Harbor for the visit to Acadia National Park. My wife "collects" US National Parks and has a bit over half of them so far. We will snag a couple more this summer on a camping trip (as well as revisit a couple along the way) but had hoped to snag Acadia on a cruise. Poop. Double Poop. However, I do understand the locals not loving being overwhelmed with a bunch of cruise passengers. I would imagine some businesses love it but, for the general populace, it could be a real drag. We will just have to visit Acadia National Park on a land trip. It's a looooooooooooooooong way from California but it's somewhere we want to check out.

 

Yup...one of the main reasons for booking that cruise (Arcadia and Williamsburg).  I did an independent tour in an air conditioned small bus.  Stopped in several places for my stamps (priority over views).  

 

You will need to do a car tour of Upper New England to hit all of these wonderful places.  Fly into Boston or points north.  This is also the cruise I came down with Covid, but not to worry.  Got my main sights in and then repeated the cruise in the fall.

[coops14]

Bar Harbor is back on our itinerary for our Oct cruise on the enchanted  Princess. They have dropped Sydney and put back Bar Harbor 

[DJ Cruisers]

Our 9/14 cruise on the Enchanted was changed back to Bar Harbor a few weeks ago.

[Thrak]

Did a quick Google search and this came up first: The 2024 season will occur without disembarkation limits for ships that reserved prior to 2022

[cr8tiv1]

Good reason to go now (than later).  Did repo up (July/ FLL) and down (October/Quebec).  Visited St John, Bar Harbor, Sydney, Williamsburg, Portland, Newport.  

 

Both were really enjoyable and glad I did them.

 

 

[EDVM96]

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Good reason to go now (than later).

Yes. If you want to visit Bar Harbor on a Princess ship, this year will be the last chance.

 

[Kevin Hort]

Which cruise are you on? We are on the Enchanted Princess that leaves NYC on October 5th. We were notified a few weeks ago that we will not be stopping at Bar Harbor. However, instead of adding a different port, we will be doing a day at sea. Needless to say, I am really bummed. 

[Kevin Hort]

5 hours ago, coops14 said:

Bar Harbor is back on our itinerary for our Oct cruise on the enchanted  Princess. They have dropped Sydney and put back Bar Harbor 

Really? Which date are you sailing? We are on this cruise leaving October 5th. We have received no notification that Bar Harbor was back on the itinerary. We received notification three weeks ago that Bar Harbor had been removed, and we were informed it would be a sea day. 

[coops14]

6 hours ago, Kevin Hort said:

Really? Which date are you sailing? We are on this cruise leaving October 5th. We have received no notification that Bar Harbor was back on the itinerary. We received notification three weeks ago that Bar Harbor had been removed, and we were informed it would be a sea day. 

12 th October sailing 

[coops14]

7 hours ago, Kevin Hort said:

Really? Which date are you sailing? We are on this cruise leaving October 5th. We have received no notification that Bar Harbor was back on the itinerary. We received notification three weeks ago that Bar Harbor had been removed, and we were informed it would be a sea day. 

Just looked at your sailing, the only difference between 5th Oct and 12th Oct sailings are you are stopping at St John and we are calling at Bar Harbor