If a federal judge struck down Bar Harbor's 1,000-passenger cruise cap for every month except July and August, why does the harbor this October look so much like the harbor last October?
The ruling came on May 15, 2026. In a 32-page order, U.S. District Judge Lance Walker found the voter-approved cap "not clearly excessive in relation to its local benefits during the peak summer tourism season but is clearly excessive in relation to the shoulder seasons," and declared it unenforceable outside July and August, as Bar Harbor Story reported. On paper, that left September and October open. The fall cruise calendar never caught up with the paper, though. The large ships that have anchored off Bar Harbor this fall were booked six years ago, the last of them is scheduled to call on October 14, and the question of what next fall looks like has moved into council workshops.
Two Ships, Booked on April 3, 2020
The 2026 large-ship schedule was set long before the courtroom fight reached this stage. According to Bar Harbor Story's season breakdown, which draws on town figures, only two big ships hold 2026 reservations. Both were booked on April 3, 2020. Because that was before March 2022, they're allowed under the earlier rules. The Norwegian Breakaway has a lower berth capacity of 3,963. The Norwegian Jewel's is 3,000. Their passengers come ashore at the Golden Anchor facility on West Street.
Those two ships make up 12 of the 67 cruise visits scheduled for the whole 2026 season. The town put the season's total possible passenger count at just under 50,000, and the Norwegian calls account for somewhere around 44,000 to 46,000 of it. That total assumes no cancellations, full ships and every passenger going ashore. Most of the other visits belong to American Cruise Lines, whose ships carry 99 to 130 guests each and tender to the town's floating dock on the east side of Ells Pier. Across the season, the ACL calls add up to 6,242 possible passengers.
So almost all of this year's cruise passenger volume was squeezed into late summer and fall, by ships that predate the ordinance. The Breakaway's first call was August 26, and the town manager's weekly report described it as smooth, with no issues reported. On the town's American Cruise Lines docking schedule, dated January 21, the last ACL call of the year is the American Maverick on October 1.
That leaves the rest of October with this shape:
| Date | What's scheduled | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 10 | TUSK at the Criterion Theatre | Criterion Theatre |
| Sat.–Sun., Oct. 10–11 | Island Arts Association craft fair, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Atlantic Oceanside, 119 Eden Street |
| Tue., Oct. 13 | Norwegian Jewel, 3,000 lower berths | Golden Anchor, West Street |
| Wed., Oct. 14 | Norwegian Breakaway, 3,963 lower berths | Golden Anchor, West Street |
| Sun., Oct. 18 | MDI Marathon and Relay, 8 a.m. start | 200 Main Street |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Last day of Cadillac Summit Road vehicle reservations | Acadia National Park |
The two ship dates come from schedules published in April and June. When this was written, the town's cruise ship information page is the place to check whether they still stand.
Why the Ruling Hasn't Reached the Water Yet
Taking a cap off the books doesn't put new ships on a calendar. Three things have kept the fall the way it was booked.
- Reservations are on hold. On May 20, the town council said it would not accept new advance cruise reservations while it worked out its next steps, and promised it would "not allow a return to the unsustainable levels of cruise ship visitations of past years," the Bangor Daily News reported. Cruise lines plan their itineraries far ahead, so pausing reservations in spring effectively decides the fall.
- Permits still apply on land. On June 22, Town Manager James Smith explained that the voluntary PortCall reservation system is separate from the town's land-use rules. Facilities that land passengers still need a Cruise Ship Disembarkation Facility permit and a daily disembarkation permit under Chapter 52 and Chapter 125-77(H).
- The case isn't finished. The ordinance's lead petitioner, a defendant-intervenor in the federal case, filed a motion on June 12 asking the court to declare the ordinance constitutional year-round, and appealed before the June 15 deadline. None of the reporting we reviewed shows a ruling on that motion yet.
Smith described the distinction like this:
"Outside those months, while there is presently no enforceable daily passenger limit, the permitting requirements remain unchanged, and the Town expects all property owners conducting passenger disembarkation activities to comply fully with those requirements."
The industry side sees the pause differently. On June 21, the Penobscot Bay and River Pilots Association said it would guide any cruise ship that wants to call into the federal anchorages in the months where the ordinance was struck down, "regardless of whether the Town has processed a reservation." The town replied that it "fully recognizes that all vessels may anchor in federally designated anchorage grounds," and that its rules govern what happens on land, not on the water. In the reporting we found, no large ship has arrived without a town reservation this fall.
The courts have been busy on another front too. On September 2, Business and Consumer Court Judge Michael Duddy dismissed one of Golden Anchor's two state-court challenges to the town's disembarkation rules, ruling that it duplicated the company's pending Rule 80B appeal, which remains open. Eben Salvatore, director of operations for Bar Harbor Resorts, said the company plans to appeal, and that it is "focused on Judge Walker's ruling in our favor" and wants to work with the town and community on "a framework that allows for balanced cruise ship visitation in the months of May, June, September, and October."
After the 14th, Main Street Belongs to the Runners
After the Breakaway's scheduled October 14 call, the big October day downtown has nothing to do with ships. The MDI Marathon, Half & Relay, organized by Crow Athletics, runs on Sunday, October 18. The marathon and relay start at 8 a.m. at 200 Main Street. The half marathon starts separately, at 8:30 a.m. at 5 Manchester Road in Northeast Harbor. The organizer asks that no one park on Main Street between Mount Desert Street and Cromwell Harbor Road on race day. According to the course page, Cooksey Drive and Sargeant Drive are the only stretches closed to through traffic. The rest of the course stays open to local traffic.
Acadia's own seasonal limits end 11 days after the last scheduled ship call. The National Park Service lists the 2026 Cadillac Summit Road vehicle reservation season as May 20 through October 25. During that window, you need a reservation to drive to the summit.
Put the two cruise days next to the marathon and the reservation deadline, and the pattern is clear. Six years ago, two cruise bookings fixed the shape of this October. The court ruling arrived far too late to change it.
Where Next Fall Gets Decided
The 2027 shoulder season is the first one the May ruling can actually shape, and the work has started at Town Hall. At the September 15 council meeting, Councilor Maya Caines mentioned special meetings coming up in the next few weeks on goal-setting, the lodging moratorium and cruise ship regulation, and she encouraged the public to attend. The minutes list no cruise ordinance in first or final reading. Back in June, Smith said the town was weighing "all potential regulatory approaches" but couldn't say whether any would be ready for a season that usually runs May through October.
Voters have had two chances to weigh in already. The 2022 ordinance passed 1,780 to 1,273. In 2024, a council-backed repeal that would have replaced the cap with a different set of limits failed, 1,713 to 1,776. The fight has been expensive too. Smith put the town's legal costs tied to the ordinance at about $895,905 from July 2023 through April 2026, and the budget for the fiscal year that started July 1 includes $320,000 for legal expenses.
Some money comes in as well. Under its contract with the town, which runs through November 30, 2028, American Cruise Lines pays $14 per passenger to land at Ells Pier, with an $85,000 annual minimum. For fiscal 2026/27, the grandfathered large ships pay $5.84 per passenger in port development and passenger service fees, charged on lower berth capacity.
So this fall in the harbor is the last fall of an old schedule. Whether next September looks different depends on what comes out of the council workshops, the pending court motions and the town's reservation system, and none of those has been settled yet.
Your feel for a town's calendar, like which weeks bring ships in and which belong to runners and leaf-peepers, is part of what makes owning on Mount Desert Island rewarding. It also counts for a lot when you plan a sale, a purchase or a seasonal stay around those weeks. If you'd like to talk through how Bar Harbor's changing shoulder seasons might affect your plans, Laura Farr would be glad to help. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.