BREAKING NEWS: Bar Harbor cites cruise line for unauthorized visit
BAR HARBOR, June 21, 2023 - The town is investigating the unauthorized visit last week by the 170-person “The American Constitution” cruise ship, interim Town Manager Sarah Gilbert announced today.
Gilbert made the announcement three hours after the QSJ filed a Freedom of Access Act request for information about the town action.
“Last night the Council instructed the Harbor Master and Town Attorney to investigate the incident and take appropriate enforcement action,” she stated in a press release.
The ship anchored within Bar Harbor waters “without a confirmed reservation,” she stated.
“American Cruise Lines knowingly took this action over the express objections of the Town and in violation of the Memorandum of Agreement.”
In April, the QSJ reported that American Cruise Lines, based in Guilford, CT, was taking reservations for 2024 even though it did not have authorization from the town. Its ships, including American Independence and American Eagle, have 24 authorized visits to Bar Harbor this season, but last Thursday’s was not one of them. The only ship authorized that day was the Norwegian Pearl, according to the harbor masters’s records.
A sales person for American Cruise Lines told the QSJ in a phone call that payments for future cruise ship itineraries are not refundable and that schedules are subject to change.
Harbor Master Chris Wharff did not return a call. The QSJ wanted to ask him whether the Constitution used its own tenders to ferry passengers to shore or whether it used the town’s only commercial tender service, operated by Ocean Properties, which also owns the town’s only commercial dock to disembark passengers.
Ocean Properties is a plaintiff in the current lawsuit against the town to overturn a citizens-approved ordinance to cap cruise ship visits at 1,000 a day. That lawsuit is headed to trial in mid July.
It is unclear what options the town has since the plaintiffs have argued that Bar Harbor’s attempt to restrict visits is unconstitutional and a violation of international commerce laws.
The Town Council refused to enact the citizens ordinance and instead has been working under a loose agreement with the cruise ship industry on the number of authorized cruise ships, while the lawsuit proceeds.
That was the Norwegian Pearl .. different ship
Looking at the website of that cruise company, I note that the absolute cheapest cabin on that boat goes for $7,184. Single (per person). The passengers are not folks who are "hurting." They are refined folks, I suspect typically older, or retired, with plenty of cash. Not the sort that are going to get drunk and rowdy and toss over trashcans.
Moving on to the issue of "who owns the ocean," I suspect the Town is going to have problems claiming it can control the innocent passage of a vessel. Not as if it is docking at a wharf. The whole idea of kicking vessels out strikes me as having a rather dubious legal foundation. Cheers to all.