Bar Harbor rejects proposal for visits from small cruise ship for remainder of season
Courtesy / American Cruise Lines
The American Constitution will not be making any of seven proposed visits to Bar Harbor this year.
After banning cruise ship visits in May and June, the Bar Harbor Town Council this week rejected a proposal from American Cruise Lines to allow one of its small vessels to call on the port.
The line had proposed that the American Constitution visit Bar Harbor later this summer but with only half the usual number of passengers.
“We feel we’re approaching the right time to return to service,” American Cruise Line’s vice president, Paul Taiclet, told the council via videoconference at a special meeting on Tuesday.
American operates a fleet of 12 U.S.-flag vessels certified to carry fewer than 250 people; the American Constitution can carry up 175 passengers, according to the company website. The ships only dock in the U.S. and are crewed by U.S. citizens.
American Cruise Lines has developed policies to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection for passengers and crew through health screenings, prevention practices, required COVID-19 PCR testing, serology testing, contact tracing and other steps.
Taiclet said the company further consulted with the state to develop safety protocols aboard the ship and in Bar Harbor. The proposal included running at 50% occupancy, which would mean 60 passengers and about 40 crew members, he said.
Once ashore, passengers would be required to wear face coverings and follow physical distancing and other guidelines set by the town, state and individual businesses, he said. Tours aboard motor coaches would operate at less than 50% capacity so that passengers can observe physical distancing.
Overall, the proposal was for the American Constitution to visit Bar Harbor seven times, bringing about 420 passengers over the course of the summer.
Twenty-one cruise ship visits to the town were originally scheduled for May, and 26 in June. Bar Harbor is Maine’s busiest cruise ship port.
Councilor Stephen Coston said he didn’t think the visits would pose any more risk than other groups arriving by other modes of transportation.
But other council members said they’ve heard from residents who wanted the council to reject the proposal as a threat to public health. They cited other parts of the country that have opened to tourism and seen spikes of infection as a result.
“I don’t think the risk is worth the reward,” said the council's vice chair, Matthew Hochman. “No one is in favor of allowing this.”
Cruise ships with capacity to carry 250 persons or more are under a “no sail order” issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April and due to expire July 24. On June 19, Cruise Lines International Association said its members that fall under the order decided to voluntarily extend the period of suspended passenger operations until Sept. 15.
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