Rockland invites more cruise ships amid uncertainty [Video]

ROCKLAND — Local business owner Nate Luce has mixed feelings about the cruise ships that visit this small seaside city from late May through early October.

His ambivalence spiked this year after city officials increased the total number – from six to nine – of the larger cruise ships allowed to visit each September and October.

The city is preparing for a modest increase to seven big ships this fall, starting next week, but the number of passengers arriving in the harbor will increase dramatically to 21,832 – almost 50% more than last year, and four times the number of passengers the city saw in 2022.

City councilors unanimously endorsed the increase, encouraged by Maine tourism officials and the regional chamber of commerce. At the same time, just up the coast in Bar Harbor, a continuing battle to tamp downintense cruise ship traffic stands as a stark example of what Luce and others worry could …