PORTLAND (AP) – Fall is Maine’s busiest season for cruise ship visits, and Portland and Bar Harbor are poised to welcome tens of thousands of passengers in September and October.

Bar Harbor, the state’s No. 1 cruise ship destination, will welcome nearly 50 ships during that period, more than twice the number that visited in July and August. The resort town could see 103,000 cruise ship passengers this year.

Portland expects 15 large ships to come in, including the Queen Mary 2, which will be carrying 2,600 passengers when it calls Oct. 5. All told, Maine’s largest city could end up with more than 44,000 passengers this year, said Jeff Monroe, Portland’s transportation director.

“Summer is never the busiest part of the cruise ship season,” said Monroe, pointing to the autumn foliage as the major draw for cruise ships. “Everybody likes to visit Maine and the Canadian Maritimes in the fall.”

Steve DiMillo of DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant in Portland said cruise ships are a huge benefit for Old Port businesses because they arrive when the busy summer season is winding down. Restaurant workers know they’re going to be “all-hands-on-deck busy” when a cruise ship comes in, DiMillo said.

Passengers of ships calling in Portland generally gravitate to the Old Port and don’t venture far, except to take buses to shopping outlets in Freeport and Kittery, said Linda Fish, public relations manager at the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The opening of a new $20 million berthing terminal in 2007 is expected to draw more cruise ships to Portland, said Amy Powers of Cruise Maine, which markets Maine’s 12 ports to the cruise ship industry. The Ocean Gate terminal will be on the city’s eastern waterfront.

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, https://www.pressherald.com

AP-ES-08-31-05 1036EDT