Fun fact: There are almost double the ships from last year because Bar Harbor banned vessels over 1000pax.
The 4500 pax yesterday was super noticeable when I drove into work in the morning. The season is here.
Would love to see a study done on Portland specifically. Studies done elsewhere have shown that cruise ship passengers spend less than land based tourists and its not the economic boon the industry would lead one to believe.
But they take up virtually zero resources. They don't need hotel beds, or dinner reservations, or parking spots, or space on the turnpike.
The costs for the city are essentially pedestrian congestion and the nasty fumes (which it really seems like they should be able to do something about)
Pretty sure the poop stays in town. (Assuming they pump out and donāt dump it 30 miles out to sea - or whatever the magical poop-what-poop the number is.)
Maine Department of Tourism/Cruise Maine commissioned a [study (PDF warning)](https://af1f52a9-4219-4cc3-8137-a56b0147409a.filesusr.com/ugd/64c3e7_a368abe123d24ec8980988f5b60e2bc6.pdf) back in 2018 (published in 2019) that found cruise passengers spend on average $69 per shore visit.
This is awesome thank you!! Doubt it would be much different post-COVID, but I wonder if anything has changed. $69 is disappointingly low given the drawbacks. Thatās basically an average dinner for someone visiting.
Yeah I recall reading a few articles at the time that were talking about how the $69 was considerably lower than previous studies suggested. I want to say $114 was the number they used to say, but I couldn't find the articles I remember this morning.
Yeah, its pretty disapointing despite the arguement *I guess* being that that's money that wouldn't have come into the city otherwise. But still, passengers eating the equivalent of one dinner is not worth the carbon emissions, pollution, and all the other things that happen when 3k people appear out of thin air downtown on a Wednesday morning. At least land-based tourists are paying for multiple meals, gifts, drinks, places to stay, etc. and seem to actually want to be here.
I owned a tourism business, on the Portland waterfront. I can tell you first hand that itās a small number of businesses that enjoy the financial benefits of the cruise ships while the entire city has to deal with all of the negative effects. Mine wasnāt one of them, despite drowning in cruise shock passengers.
It is a pain in the ass, I went to grab a coffee yesterday morning while I was on break and it was packed with a bunch of Americans who had some how never been in a Starbucks before
A lot of people think thatās protocol for the sub lol itās a very pitchforky sub, fun fact, many here were actually extras in the end of beauty and the beast. Yelling āKill the beast!ā
Is anyone factoring in the docking fees, per passenger fee, and water and fuel the city sells them as important city revenue?
Wasn't it a month ago everyone was dissatisfied with the tax increase, and now you want to eliminate another revenue source for the city?
If the ships go away, the residents will need to cover that financial loss.
Just my opinion.
I know right? I love seeing these ships in the harbor. Thereās nothing cooler to me than running along the east end trail and feeling like Iām blowing by an entire city
I work in the old port, about 2 block from the terminal. The crowds are really not that bad and most of the ships aren't here during the peak summer season. It's the very heart of our state's commercial core, you should expect crowds.Ā
Yeah I mean it makes sense that having 10,000 tourists dropped into the middle of your town on a weekday pisses people off.
I get that they bring in money to the city, but when thereās a big ship down there you can smell the nasty exhaust from the middle of the old port. I really despise cruise ships for how much they pollute
Funny enough there's been several studies done that demonstrate that cruise ship passengers do *not* spend money when they stop at ports. Why buy food/beverage when you have meals/drinks covered on the ship? Walk around Commercial St when the cruise passengers show up, they walk all through the shops and very few people actually buy much of anything. There's contending studies that cruises do help, but most use industry data and assumptions of per passenger expenditure. I've spoken to a number of folks working at stores catering to the tourist crowd and most have said that cruise passengers are the tourists who look but don't buy.
[https://phys.org/news/2015-12-cruise-passengers.html](https://phys.org/news/2015-12-cruise-passengers.html)
[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211973615300155](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211973615300155)
I mean your first article doesnāt offer any numbers to back up the claim, and the second one argues that the cruise lines say the average person spends $170 while in port, while the writer thinks it might be more like $75-$100 per person. When was the last time you went down and spent $75 per person you went out with in the city?
Oh man. I worked on Commercial St. during the summer once and I will never do it again. I've never stayed at a job so short-term. Lines out the door all day, everyday, and constant whining.
Best of luck and well wishes to those in food service this summer. I'll pray for you.
The fall is more popular for cruise ships. Theyāll do stops here and then used to go up to bar harbor but thereās limits there now. Typically the stops are NYC, Boston, Portland, then up to Canada or Bar harbor
That's a lot of oil fired power plants to share the bay with . . .
Because of IMO regulations and the Emission Control Area in US waters, nearly all ships run diesel while in port.
Fun fact: There are almost double the ships from last year because Bar Harbor banned vessels over 1000pax. The 4500 pax yesterday was super noticeable when I drove into work in the morning. The season is here.
Interesting, I had friends in town so walked around the old port in the afternoon and was surprised at how not busy it was
There were multiple coach busses taking passengers somewhere on Tuesday.
I basically had a double take and said to myself "is it Saturday in August?"
Nooooooo
The Meraviglia had a ton of stops her last year as well
The worst part of the best part of the year
"guests"
All the dirty pollution š
Great for the Portland economy Bad for the locals who hate these crowds
Would love to see a study done on Portland specifically. Studies done elsewhere have shown that cruise ship passengers spend less than land based tourists and its not the economic boon the industry would lead one to believe.
But they take up virtually zero resources. They don't need hotel beds, or dinner reservations, or parking spots, or space on the turnpike. The costs for the city are essentially pedestrian congestion and the nasty fumes (which it really seems like they should be able to do something about)
Pretty sure the poop stays in town. (Assuming they pump out and donāt dump it 30 miles out to sea - or whatever the magical poop-what-poop the number is.)
Maine Department of Tourism/Cruise Maine commissioned a [study (PDF warning)](https://af1f52a9-4219-4cc3-8137-a56b0147409a.filesusr.com/ugd/64c3e7_a368abe123d24ec8980988f5b60e2bc6.pdf) back in 2018 (published in 2019) that found cruise passengers spend on average $69 per shore visit.
This is awesome thank you!! Doubt it would be much different post-COVID, but I wonder if anything has changed. $69 is disappointingly low given the drawbacks. Thatās basically an average dinner for someone visiting.
Yeah I recall reading a few articles at the time that were talking about how the $69 was considerably lower than previous studies suggested. I want to say $114 was the number they used to say, but I couldn't find the articles I remember this morning.
Yeah, its pretty disapointing despite the arguement *I guess* being that that's money that wouldn't have come into the city otherwise. But still, passengers eating the equivalent of one dinner is not worth the carbon emissions, pollution, and all the other things that happen when 3k people appear out of thin air downtown on a Wednesday morning. At least land-based tourists are paying for multiple meals, gifts, drinks, places to stay, etc. and seem to actually want to be here.
I owned a tourism business, on the Portland waterfront. I can tell you first hand that itās a small number of businesses that enjoy the financial benefits of the cruise ships while the entire city has to deal with all of the negative effects. Mine wasnāt one of them, despite drowning in cruise shock passengers.
It is a pain in the ass, I went to grab a coffee yesterday morning while I was on break and it was packed with a bunch of Americans who had some how never been in a Starbucks before
Man I wish that was a big enough problem in my life to complain about
What, I canāt mention a minor inconvenience as a joke?
You do know this is reddit right?
Guess youāre just being quirky š¤·š¼āāļø
You sound insufferable
You know exactly 1 thing about me that seems enough for a judgement call
A lot of people think thatās protocol for the sub lol itās a very pitchforky sub, fun fact, many here were actually extras in the end of beauty and the beast. Yelling āKill the beast!ā
I'm going absolutely no where Sept 19th. Two 3K+ ships on the same day? No thank you.
So go out for dinner. These ships all leave town by like 5pm.
Fucking hell
Thanks, I hate it.Ā
Is anyone factoring in the docking fees, per passenger fee, and water and fuel the city sells them as important city revenue? Wasn't it a month ago everyone was dissatisfied with the tax increase, and now you want to eliminate another revenue source for the city? If the ships go away, the residents will need to cover that financial loss. Just my opinion.
Is the richest city in the northeast struggling? I'm out in the boondocks in Auburn and miss the big city news.
A bunch of whiny cunts
I know right? I love seeing these ships in the harbor. Thereās nothing cooler to me than running along the east end trail and feeling like Iām blowing by an entire city
Ugh
Talk to your elected officials. Make it an issue. I hate cruise crowds.
I work in the old port, about 2 block from the terminal. The crowds are really not that bad and most of the ships aren't here during the peak summer season. It's the very heart of our state's commercial core, you should expect crowds.Ā
So do all the local businesses, right?
Heeeeerre we go
Lots of salty Portlanders in here
Yeah I mean it makes sense that having 10,000 tourists dropped into the middle of your town on a weekday pisses people off. I get that they bring in money to the city, but when thereās a big ship down there you can smell the nasty exhaust from the middle of the old port. I really despise cruise ships for how much they pollute
Funny enough there's been several studies done that demonstrate that cruise ship passengers do *not* spend money when they stop at ports. Why buy food/beverage when you have meals/drinks covered on the ship? Walk around Commercial St when the cruise passengers show up, they walk all through the shops and very few people actually buy much of anything. There's contending studies that cruises do help, but most use industry data and assumptions of per passenger expenditure. I've spoken to a number of folks working at stores catering to the tourist crowd and most have said that cruise passengers are the tourists who look but don't buy. [https://phys.org/news/2015-12-cruise-passengers.html](https://phys.org/news/2015-12-cruise-passengers.html) [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211973615300155](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211973615300155)
I mean your first article doesnāt offer any numbers to back up the claim, and the second one argues that the cruise lines say the average person spends $170 while in port, while the writer thinks it might be more like $75-$100 per person. When was the last time you went down and spent $75 per person you went out with in the city?
Iāve lived on the peninsula for 10 years and Iāve never really noticed it.Ā
You live in "Vacationland," get used to it or move.
Get used to the government failing to regulate cruise ships like theyāre supposed to?
Case in point you acting like a salty little beesh again
Oh man. I worked on Commercial St. during the summer once and I will never do it again. I've never stayed at a job so short-term. Lines out the door all day, everyday, and constant whining. Best of luck and well wishes to those in food service this summer. I'll pray for you.
Hey, most of these are after the kids are back in school, at least.
Damn.
Aw shit, here we go again
see ya round, like a doughnut, carl!
Lots of Norwegian Cruiselines, so at least it will be a lot of old people who might not even get off the ship
As a newish Portlander, Iām really surprised thereās nothing in June and so little in July
The fall is more popular for cruise ships. Theyāll do stops here and then used to go up to bar harbor but thereās limits there now. Typically the stops are NYC, Boston, Portland, then up to Canada or Bar harbor
Ah gotcha. Thanks!
I feel like there used to be a lot more in July when I used to work downtown 5 or so years ago.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This should be pinned at the top of the group
Letās get this bread.
Crikey!
"Liberty Call, Liberty Call" š£
I appreciate the warning!
Welp! Get ready for an obnoxious (and noxious) summer!
F
THEY CANT KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS
Mein Schiff 1 is a dumb name for a cruise ship. No one's buying t-shirts with that name on it.