Bar Harbor Issues Another Violation Notice to Golden Anchor After Cruise Ship Passengers Disembark.

Carrie Jones

just now

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Don & Beth Straus Center at Birch Bay Village.

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BAR HARBOR—The Town of Bar Harbor issued a statement late Friday afternoon about the arrival of a cruise ship early this month.

The town has also issued a notice of violation to the business where the passengers disembarked.

“A ship called the Scenic Eclipse called at Bar Harbor on Thursday, October 1. Before the vessel’s arrival, town staff communicated with the vessel regarding its proposed call. The town advised that no privately owned property in Bar Harbor held a valid cruise ship disembarkation facility permit and, as a result, no lawful shore-side location was available for passenger disembarkation,” the release begins.

Since Bar Harbor voters approved a cruise ship ordinance and changes to that ordinance did not pass in a following vote on another limitation plan, the town has only allowed cruise ships that had previous reservations to visit if they were not smaller vessels, such as those used by American Cruise Lines.

That’s because the ordinance had a cap of 1,000 passengers or less a day or else there will be fines. Most cruise ships hold more than that many passengers.

However, there was another component to the town’s new changes and that was how disembarkations were allowed.

Before the ordinance, facilities could be licensed to disembark cruise ship passengers and crew. The ordinance changed that mechanism to permits.

The Golden Anchor on West Street had been historically disembarking passengers and crew at its West Street facilities and it has since been involved in multiple lawsuits with the town both about the overall ordinance (APPLL vs Town of Bar Harbor), but also about a previous notice of violation that occurred when the company had passengers tender to its dock after the ordinance went into place.

It has since done so multiple times with ships that had already been approved. However, it has never applied for a permit, its lawyers arguing that it shouldn’t have to because of its history of hosting disembarkations through the license, which it argues, it still holds.

“For more than 150 years, people visiting Bar Harbor by water have been welcomed to its piers. In keeping with that tradition, for decades, long before the Town Council’s adoption of its permit ordinance, the Golden Anchor pier has provided that vital service to the visiting public,” said Golden Anchor Operations Manager Eben Salvatore.

The Scenic Eclipse which arrived on October 1 has a lower-berth passenger capacity of 228 passengers.

“Under federal anchorage regulations, the local harbormaster coordinates the anchoring of vessels in Bar Harbor. In carrying out that responsibility, the town communicates with vessels regarding proposed calls, harbor conditions, and available anchorage. The town informed Scenic Eclipse that Anchorage B was available. The availability of Anchorage B, or any other anchorage, does not authorize the use of an unpermitted property for passenger disembarkation. Where a proposed call includes passenger disembarkation, the town does not confirm a shore-side arrangement unless a property holds a valid cruise ship disembarkation facility permit,” the town’s release reads.

The Scenic Eclipse disembarked passengers at 55 West Street, owned by the Golden Anchor.

“At the time of the visit, the property did not hold a valid cruise ship disembarkation facility permit,” the town’s statement reads. “Code Enforcement Officer Michael Gurtler documented the violation and issued a notice of violation (NOV) to the property owner.”

That NOV has been received by the company.

“Golden Anchor regrets the town’s issuance of the October 1 notice of violation and regrets that the town decided to issue a press statement supporting the NOV that leaves out many key facts,” Salvatore said.  

Salvatore is referencing U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker’s summer 2026 decision where Walker found that the voter-approved ordinance limiting the disembarkations was unconstitutional for the shoulder seasons (April, May, September, October and November).

“In May, a federal court decision ruled that the disembarkation limits such as those in the ordinance on which the NOV is based are unconstitutional and unenforceable in any months other than July and August. Contrary to the town’s misguided belief, there currently isn’t a permit that Golden Anchor could apply for that is constitutional. Golden Anchor believes that setting off another round of litigation lacks common sense and continues the unnecessary cost to the taxpayer,” Salvatore said.

In its release the town had said, “The town is disappointed that this cruise ship and a local business chose to participate in a passenger disembarkation at an unpermitted property despite the town’s clear local permitting requirements.”

“Golden Anchor proposes to move forward and stands ready to work with the town to develop disembarkation standards consistent with the federal court decision,” Salvatore said.

The only other cruise ship disembarkation site is Ells Pier, which is owned by the town itself and doesn’t have United States Customs and Border Patrol (CBD) facilities, which the Harborside/Golden Anchor had previously invested in. At the town pier, only American flagged ships (such as the ACL vessels) can disembark. Foreign flagged ships require those security facilities. The Cat, run by Bay Ferries, at the site it leases from the town, also has CBP facilities.

A week prior to the October 1 visit, executives from Norwegian Cruise Lines as well as representatives from CLIA visited Bar Harbor while the Norwegian Breakaway was in town to see the disembarking operations which uses tenders from the anchorage beyond Bar Island to the West Street facility.

At the time, Salvatore said that he’d also invited town officials and staff to come see the disembarkation process, which he qualified as smooth. Tenders included the ship’s own as well as local whale watch and tour boats. Passengers stood in line completely on the West Street property off the street itself. The disembarkation area has its own restrooms, a shop, and lines down by the water and pier.

Since the summer court decision by Judge Lance Walker that the ordinance is unconstitutional for the summer months, the town has made no public or official changes to how it deals with cruise ships.

In 2024, an alternative plan set forth by the Town Council failed 1,779 (no) to 1,714 (yes).

The plan that had been proposed by the town council if the current 1,000-daily cap had been repealed by voters would have created a 3,200 daily cap (based on lower berth capacity), and monthly caps of 55,000 in September and October, as well as 20,000 monthly caps from May through August. It also created 10 cruise-ship-free days in September and October, and the town council has said it anticipated even more cruise-ship-free days each month in the spring and summer season. That plan had been agreed to by the tendering facility as well as the cruise lines.

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The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Rick Osann Art.

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All photos: Shaun Farrar/Carrie Jones/BHS

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