BREAKING NEWS: Bar Harbor sends notice of violation to cruise line, seeks port fee payment

Ocean Properties not cited for accepting passengers from ship without permit

BAR HARBOR, June 23, 2023 - The town served American Cruise Lines a notice of violation today and asked to be paid $885.70 in port fees for disembarking passengers without the harbor master’s authorization, interim Town Manager Sarah Gilbert announced.

“They've been ordered not to anchor and disembark passengers without a confirmed reservation,” she added. “And they have the right to appeal.”

The company’s 170-passenger ship American Constitution contacted the town for permission to come to Bar Harbor June 15 and was denied, Gilbert said. But the ship came anyway.

Gilbert said the president of the cruise line apologized to the town in a zoom call Thursday night which included Council chair Val Peacock, the town attorney and Gilbert.

Alexa Paolella, public relations manager for American Cruise Line, issued this statement this afternoon:

“We understand the Town’s position and the exemptions granted to US-flagged ships accommodating fewer than 200 guests. We are committed to working with the Town on an ongoing basis for our future visits and are scheduled to be back in port this weekend with the 90-passenger American Independence. American Cruise Lines has been visiting Bar Harbor for several decades and looks forward to continuing our long partnership.”

The statement referred to a section in the town’s memorandum of agreement with the cruise ship industry not to count U.S. flagged ships with fewer than 200 passengers toward the daily cap of 4,000. But the ships still must apply for authorization to come to Bar Harbor, Gilbert said.

The town did not address the role of Ocean Properties in allowing the passengers to disembark at its commercial dock on West Street.

The town was quiet on whether OP’s actions constituted a violation of the court agreement struck between the town and APPLL in which the town agreed not to enact the citizen’s ordinance of a 1,000-visitor cap per day, and instead would heed to the 4,000 daily cap under the MOA. In exchange the town received assurances the plaintiffs would not seek a summary judgment to throw out the citizens ordinance.

APPLL is the collection of tourist businesses, Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods, suing to overturn the citizens ordinance, passed last November.