Rockland grapples with cruise ship capacity
PHOTO / CRUISEMAPPER.COM
An aerial view of Rockland's port, which can dock ships up to 215 feet in length.
With Rockland residents and businesses divided over existing limits on cruise ships, City Council has formed a harbor-management committee to make recommendations on how it might retool the city's cruise ship policy.
The policy, enacted in August 2018, imposes limits on the number of large cruise ships allowed to unload passengers in Rockland.
At that time, the council voted to restrict berthing to no more than two ships per day from November through August, with no more than 500 passengers on each ship. During the months of September and October, when large cruise ships typically visit Maine, the city will not allow ships carrying more than 3,000 passengers. The council also voted to allow a total of no more than six large ships during the two-month period.
The limits are in effect until the council adopts a management plan for the entire harbor; the plan will likely include regulations covering more than just cruise ship visits.
In 2018, Rockland saw three visits from large ships and 28 visits from smaller ones. In 2019, there was one visit from a large ship and 33 visits from small ships.
A large ship is defined as having more than 500 passengers.
Mixed reviews
At the committee’s Oct. 10 meeting, business owners and residents had mixed reviews of the vessel visits.
Speakers generally noted that there were pros and cons to them, but didn’t want Rockland to become a major cruise port.
“It’s important for us to have the cruise ships,” said Connie Sawyer, owner of a store called Seagull Cottage on Main Street. “I don’t want to be Portland or Bar Harbor,” she continued but, in addition to small cruise ships, she’d like to see continued visits from a small number of large ships.
“A couple of weeks ago, we had the Sapphire Princess and my business tripled,” she said. “It was an incredible day.”
She added, “I’ve had that experience with other cruise ships. I just want you to know it’s important for my business to have the cruise ships. To keep it at a limit is great, but not to go to extremes.”
The Sapphire Princess can carry 2,670 passengers and 1,100 crew.
Ruth Starr, manager of 250 Main Hotel and a member of Rockland’s Alliance for Responsible Tourism, had a different view.
“While the Sapphire Princess was here, I had to lock up the hotel and I was met with disappointment from my land-based hotel visitors at the crowds outside,” she said.
During the hotel’s breakfast service, she said, cruise ship passengers were pressing their faces against the windows, which bothered the hotel guests.
“Placing firm limits is going to be important for not alienating land-based visitors,” she said.
Eileen Fitzgerald said she and her husband used to vacation primarily at Acadia National Park.
“One time we found ourselves in Bar Harbor and the streets were totally jammed,” she said. “We couldn’t understand what was going on. We found out later a cruise ship was in. That was it for us. Bar Harbor was off the list.”
Fitzgerald said she now lives in Rockland and was concerned about the potential for similar situations there.
“I understand that businesses need to satisfy their bottom lines,” she said. “But if we allow cruise ships to talk over our town, I’ll avoid our downtown.”
Janice Gates, with the Farnsworth Art Museum, said the museum sees an attendance boost when the smaller cruise ships are in.
“Those are people who spend a lot of time in the museum, spend a lot of time wandering downtown,” she said. There’s not much of a boost from large ships, she added.
“We do see a lot of people going through the [Farnsworth’s] store, but they’re not typically going through the museum,” she said.
Diverse harbor
The committee’s consultant, Noel Musson of the Musson Group in Southwest Harbor, said additional data collection was in progress, around things like ship sizes, harbor security requirements, fee structures, and revenue from large ships versus small ships.
“Last week, we agreed we want to ensure the continued diversity of the harbors so that no one activity is dominant,” Musson said. He noted that the committee had agreed upon maritime tourism as one of the harbor’s uses; the need to balance the intensity of uses to match the capacity of the harbor; and the need for investment by the city in harbor-related facilities and infrastructure.
Harbor capacity for various uses and environmental impacts from cruise ships are additional issues to be examined.
Passengers spend locally
In August, the city received an analysis on the impact of cruise ship visitation in Rockland.
The analysis, commissioned by the city, was carried out by the Edmund Muskie School of Public Policy’s Maine Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Southern Maine.
Among the findings:
• A total of 5,986 cruise ship passengers and crew came ashore at port in Rockland during the 2018 cruise season.
• Visitors spent an average of $45 per person, which totaled $260,525 spent locally (including excursion spending).
• Small ship visitors spent an average of $35 per person
• Large ship visitors spent an average of $54 per person
• Nearly 80% were satisfied or extremely satisfied with experience on-shore, inclusive of time spent in Rockland.
• 83% were likely to recommend a trip to Maine to others.
• 29% were likely or very likely to return visit by cruise.
• Large ship visitors tended to be more international and slightly younger than visitors from small ships.
• During cruise ships visits, all downtown business categories, except professional services and lodging, reported a mix of increased revenues, decreased revenues, and revenues that were about the same as an average day.
• A majority of respondents from eating and drinking establishments, food and drink stores, and professional services reported positive impacts on revenues; lodging respondents reported a decrease in revenues; a majority of personal services and art gallery respondents reported revenues stayed the same as on an average day.
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