Shaun Farrar

Apr 30, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Maine Seacoast Mission.

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BAR HARBOR—How many cruise ships will visit Bar Harbor this year is a somewhat moving target.

According to the Town of Bar Harbor, the total number of cruise ship passengers visiting Bar Harbor for the 2026 season lies just beneath 50,000. That number would only be reached if none of the scheduled ship visits are canceled during the season, the ships are at 100% guest or lower birth capacity, and all of the passengers disembarked.

The vast majority of scheduled visits are made up of American Cruise Line (ACL) ships with guest capacities ranging from 99 passengers to 130 passengers.

• American Independence — pass. cap. 99 — scheduled visits – 18
• American Legend — pass. cap. 105 — scheduled visits – 14
• American Maverick — pass. cap. 130 — scheduled visits – 10
• American Patriot — pass. cap. 130 — scheduled visits – 3
• American Pioneer — pass. cap. 130 — scheduled visits – 10

That brings the total number of possible passengers for all of the ACL visits to 6,242. Those passengers are disembarked via an ACL tender at the town’s floating dock on the east side of Ells Pier.

There are also two other ships with 2026 reservations that, according to the town, were booked on April 3, 2020, and are therefore allowed under prior rules by virtue of having been booked prior to March 2022. These two ships are scheduled to visit Bar Harbor a total of 12 times in 2026.

Those ships are the Norwegian Breakaway which has a lower berth capacity of 3,963 passengers and the Norwegian Jewel which has a lower berth capacity of 3,000.

The scheduled visit dates for each ship below.

Norwegian Breakaway

• August 26
• September 2
• September 9
• September 16
• September 23
• September 30
• October 7
• October 14

Norwegian Jewel

• September 8
• September 22
• September 29
• October 13

Because calculations for Norwegian Cruise Line visits are based on lower berth capacity, it’s hard to have an exact number of Norwegian Cruise Line visits, but it’s somewhere in the vicinity of 44,000—46,000. All of the ships that had been confirmed previously will be disembarking at the Golden Anchor facility on West Street.

Therefore, according to the town, if all of the ships that are currently scheduled to visit show up, then there would be 67 total cruise ship visits to Bar Harbor in 2026 with a total possible passenger count of approximately 50,000.

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REVENUE FOR THE TOWN

The Town of Bar Harbor and ACL have a contract for the disembarkation of ACL passengers at Ells Pier. Under the current contract, which is valid until November 30, 2028, ACL will pay the town a minimum of $85,000 annually for disembarkation privileges.

The per passenger fee is $14 per passenger and if the total of passenger fees is less than the $85,000 minimum the town will bill ACL annually for the difference. If the total is over the $85,000 minimum, then the town makes some extra revenue.

For fiscal year 2026/27, which all of the above previously allowed and booked ships are scheduled to visit in, the port development fee is $2.76 per passenger and the passenger service fee is $3.08 per passenger for a total of $5.84 per passenger. The fees are charged by the lower berth capacity of each ship.

The total amount of revenue that could be collected, if all of the previously booked ships currently on the town’s schedule visit, is $255,231.

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LINK TO LEARN MORE

Official Cruise Ship Information: https://www.barharbormaine.gov/190/Cruise-Ship-Information.

A Bar Harbor Home Page News Flash about Cruise Ship Visitation correction.

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