BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 1, 2021
State officials have given small, domestic cruise ships permission to return to Maine this summer. But huge, multi-thousand passenger vessels — and the megabucks they bring the state in tourist spending and docking fees — aren’t coming back anytime soon. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but state and local officials estimate Maine lost more than $30 million in docking fees and on-shore tourist spending in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic canceled the entire season. This year, instead of hundreds of large ships carrying thousands of people, Maine will likely see just two small vessels bearing fewer than 200 at a time.