Is Eastport About To Get Another Big Empty Cruise Ship?

Sure looks that way. After a 4-1 vote from city councilors at the end of June, it was decided that the Norwegian Sun could tie up for a bit of good, old quarantining. It's no secret that cruises pretty much came to a screeching halt when the coronavirus hit, and these boats need to go somewhere, and Eastport is willing to let them come here.

And, the city has been making pretty good money off these boats hanging out. They're charging $2 a foot, per day, according to IslandInstitute.org. That's a pretty big chunk of change, but it's going straight to paying off the $18 million debt from building the town's new breakwater to replace the old dock.

It's quite fascinating, in a way. I read somewhere online, I can't remember where, but for the most part, the only time a cruise ship ever docks is for maintenance. The rest of the time, it's moving. So these giant luxury tubs have no real home. And when the virus hit, they couldn't just roam the open seas for months on end.

At this point, Eastport is maxed out. There's no place else to land a behemoth like this. At least during the process, the money coming in will help the town to get out of some debt. Really, there's so few silver linings to this pandemic, that it is nice to hear about the good things that do happen.

If you happen to be out doing some in-state tourism, go check out these big boats. If it does indeed show up, the Norwegian Sun could be pulling into Eastport as soon as today. It's not often you'd be able to get that up close to them, and I bet they're super cool. Hmmm... now I wanna go....