A picturesque Maine seaport that’s become a cruise favorite has decided that enough is enough, and too much will be forbidden. Bar Harbor, on Mount Desert Island, has voted in a schedule of when and how many cruise visits are allowed.
A new agreement negotiated with the cruise lines and approved by the local council in a televised meeting, limits arrivals during the six key months of the season, May through October, and makes April and November off-limits for cruises. The limits don’t apply to U.S. flagged vessels with fewer than 200 passengers.
Large-ship cruising to Bar Harbor used to only an occasional event, but in recent years it’s grown substantially, reaching 157 ships and 250,000 visitors in 2019. Projections for this year are 174 ships and nearly 300,000 visitors, levels that have led to the new restrictions.
The deal sets caps of 30,000 cruise visitors per month in May and June, 40,000 in July and August and 65,000 in September and October, when most summer visitors have gone and fall foliage is the popular attraction. An exception was made for September and October 2023, because cruise lines have already booked 70,000 and 80,000 passengers for those two months.
Bar Harbor is on Mount Desert Island, home to Acadia National Park and many other attractions, and draws many summer visitors and campers. But it has a population of just a bit over 5,000, so a daily thousand to two thousand cruise visitors a day, on top of other summer business, makes quite a mark. In addition to the monthly caps, the town has also set daily caps to spread the load over the month.
