Large Cruise Ships Could Return To This East Coast Hotspot For Off-Peak Travel

A town's plan to limit the number of cruise passengers who can explore its downtown took a dramatic hit this spring. In May, a federal judge ruled an ordinance limiting the number of cruise passenger visitors as partially unconstitutional. Bar Harbor, Maine, the gateway to Acadia National Park, has limited passenger disembarkations to 1,000 people or fewer per day since voters passed the ordinance in 2022. Since then, cruise lines that operate modern ships that often carry more than triple that number of passengers have removed the port from their itineraries.

That could change now, however, since the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker said the restrictions can only be enforced during Bar Harbor's peak tourism season. In his ruling, Walker concluded that "the ordinance's 1,000-passenger cap is not clearly excessive in relation to its local benefits during the peak summer tourism season but is clearly excessive in relation to the shoulder seasons." He said that the ordinance is "unenforceable in all months other than July and August."

May and September are typically seen as shoulder seasons in Bar Harbor. That is, these months still offer comfortable weather but typically see fewer tourists. It's unclear if cruise lines will rush to add Bar Harbor to their itineraries, but many see ships as having a positive impact on Bar Harbor's local economy. Others, however, see cruise disembarkations as being detrimental to the locals' quality of life. Locals have also argued that the influx of cruise passengers to its shores overwhelms the popular waterfront area of the town.

While some locals who opposed the caps on visitors to Bar Harbor celebrated Judge Lance Walker's recent ruling, others pledged to continue to fight it. The issue has gone before voters twice. The initial vote in 2022 put the ordinance in place, and a 2024 vote to loosen the ban failed. Bar Harbor resident and businessman Charles Sidman has been vocally supportive of the ban and issued a statement to Bangor Daily News pledging to fight to keep the ban effective all year long, not just during peak tourism season. "Bar Harbor citizens have voted twice now that we don't just want more limited cruise disembarkations two months of the year," the statement says. "We want it year-round. We want our downtown back, even during the shoulder seasons." The statement continues to say that attorneys will appeal the judge's decision, so the final decision over whether a cap on cruise passengers allowed to visit Bar Harbor may not be over.

What is certain, however, is that the cap has reduced tourism in the town since it was enacted in 2022. According to estimates tallied from scheduled ship visits to Bar Harbor, only 50,000 cruise guests are expected to visit in 2026. That's a notable drop from 2024 when up to 182,000 cruise ship guests were scheduled to visit Bar Harbor (per Seatrade Cruise News). In 2019, well before the ordinance, Bar Harbor hosted 250,000 cruise ship passengers, according to Travel Weekly.

Following the judge's ruling, the Bar Harbor Town Council held an executive session to discuss next steps. In a statement following that meeting, the council explicitly said that nothing about the district court's decision regarding when the cap can be implemented will change its commitment to protecting itself from overtourism. "The Town Council wants to be clear that they will not allow a return to the unsustainable levels of cruise ship visitations of past years," the statement says.

The focus moving forward, the council said, will be to find a way to manage tourism from cruise ships with the help of its Sustainable Tourism Task Force. While there are many ways tourists can reduce the impacts of over-tourism, the town's goal is to find a solution that's backed by data yet still consistent with the judge's decision, the council said. The ordinance remains "good law," the council stated. "In the meantime, the Town will not accept new advance cruise ship reservations until a regulatory tool to manage disembarkations is enacted and the ongoing litigation is resolved."

Even though the peak tourism season is fast approaching for Bar Harbor, large cruise ships won't be docking there this summer. Cruise itineraries are often planned at least a year in advance, so travelers may need to consider another Maine port, such as Portland, known for its fun and family-friendly attractions, instead.