New research on cruise visitors to Rockland shows that passengers and cruise lines generate significant spending in the local economy while giving the community exceptionally high marks for its welcome, service, natural beauty and overall visitor experience.

 

The research, conducted by Digital Research, Inc. for the City of Rockland, surveyed 373 passengers and crew members during 11 cruise ship arrivals in the 2025 season. The study found that cruise visitors and cruise lines spent an estimated $1.7 million in the Rockland area during 2025, generating approximately $1 million in Maine GDP, supporting 20 full-time-equivalent jobs and producing $115,000 in state tax revenue.

 

The study found that passengers and crew spent an estimated $975,000 directly in the Rockland area, while cruise lines spent another $700,000 on port fees and municipal charges, marine services, and Maine-sourced food and entertainment.

 

Visitor spending averaged $62 per person each time a cruise visitor came ashore, including an average of $24 on food and beverages and $21 on shopping. Cruise visitors averaged 1.1 trips ashore during a Rockland call.

 

Those findings provide a useful benchmark for understanding the potential economic value of Rockland’s smaller 2026 cruise season.

Rockland’s 2026 PortShare Promise season began with nine ship calls booked. The final call of the season, the second of two scheduled visits by Seabourn Ovation, was canceled because of an issue with transiting the Cape Cod Canal, reducing the number of passengers expected in 2026. The eight remaining calls have a combined published lower-berth capacity of approximately 13,574 passengers. Applying the same method used in the 2025 research, which adjusts capacity for typical ship occupancy and for the share of passengers who go ashore, then applies average shore visits and spending per visit, suggests approximately $710,000 in potential passenger spending in the Rockland area during the 2026 season.

 

In addition, Rockland’s $14-per-lower-berth-passenger municipal charge represents approximately $190,000 in direct City revenue from the eight scheduled calls.

 

Cruise lines also purchase services locally. The 2025 study identified substantial spending for pilotage, private docking and shipping-agent services, along with Maine food, goods and entertainment. Scaling those categories proportionally by the number of calls to eight calls suggests roughly $370,000 in additional local cruise-line spending during the 2026 season.

 

Taken together, those measures suggest that Rockland’s eight-call 2026 season could represent approximately $1.27 million in direct local economic activity and City revenue, assuming 2025 spending patterns generally held.

 

The estimate is illustrative rather than an audited accounting of 2026 activity. Actual spending will depend on passenger loads, the number of visitors who come ashore, shore excursions, individual purchasing behavior and cruise-line procurement.

 

The research also provides a detailed picture of what cruise visitors do when they arrive.

 

Visitors spent an average of three hours ashore, and 84% spent time in downtown Rockland. Approximately 53% dined in restaurants, 45% shopped, and 95% toured or otherwise explored the area.

 

Walking dominated the visitor experience: 81% of surveyed visitors explored the area on foot, reinforcing the importance of the connection between Harbor Park and downtown Rockland.

 

Visitors also traveled throughout the Midcoast. Seventeen percent visited Camden, 10% visited Rockport and 7% visited Owls Head.

 

The visitor research also documented unusually strong perceptions of Rockland. Eighty-two percent of cruise visitors described themselves as highly satisfied with their on-shore experience.

 

Among those surveyed:

The average cruise visitor surveyed was 67 years old, had a household income of approximately $128,000, and 86% had earned a college degree.

 

The 2026 season has also served as the pilot year for PortShare Promise Midcoast, Rockland’s coordinated cruise-tourism management initiative.

 

Rather than focusing simply on attracting additional cruise traffic, PortShare Promise was designed to improve how existing cruise visits are managed — creating a better experience for passengers while addressing the needs of residents, businesses, cultural organizations and the working waterfront.

 

During the 2026 season the initiative introduced a Harbor Park welcome center, trained community volunteers, improved visitor signage and information, an interactive visitor website, an onboard destination video, enhanced transportation information, a Harbor Park Makers Market, the Rocky the Lobster selfie site, real-time communication with downtown businesses and a pilot trolley program.

The combination of the Digital Research findings and the 2026 pilot season gives the City new information with which to evaluate future cruise policy.

 

“The research helps move the conversation from assumptions to measurable information,” said Tom Luttrell, City Manager. “We now know much more about who these visitors are, what they do when they come ashore, how they experience Rockland and how cruise activity contributes to the local economy. Just as importantly, PortShare Promise has allowed us to test ways to manage that activity thoughtfully for both visitors and the community.”

 

The City and PortShare Promise team will review the season and research findings with the Rockland City Council during its October 19 workshop.

 

Digital Research, Inc. surveyed cruise passengers and crew members returning to their ships during 11 Rockland port calls between June and October 2025. A total of 373 passengers and crew participated. The research was part of a broader study of cruise visitation in eight Maine ports.

 

PortShare Promise Midcoast is Rockland’s cruise-tourism management initiative, designed to improve communication, visitor services, transportation, community engagement and the overall relationship between cruise visitation and the Rockland community.

Digital Research, Inc. surveyed cruise passengers and crew returning to their ships after shore visits in Rockland between June and October 2025. Professional interviewers distributed paper questionnaires during 11 ship arrivals; 373 passengers and crew participated. One member per travel party was invited to respond. The questionnaire took no more than five minutes. Fieldwork generally used one or two interviewers working four-hour shifts, targeting at least 25 completed questionnaires per interviewer per shift. Response counts vary by question because some participants did not answer every item.

 

The research formed part of an eight-port Maine study. DRI’s economic analysis assumed that 50% of spending on cruise-line-sponsored shore excursions stayed in Maine’s economy. The 2026 figures in this release are separate illustrative projections, not findings from a new 2026 survey. Passenger spending applies DRI’s 2025 model to the eight-call lower-berth capacity: 90% ship occupancy, 85% passenger disembarkation, 1.1 shore visits per person and $62 average spending per visit. City revenue applies the $14 municipal charge to published lower-berth capacity. Cruise-line spending scales 2025 marine-services and food-and-entertainment spending to eight calls.

 

Source: Digital Research, Inc., October 1, 2026 report, Background and Methodology, p. 4, and spending analysis, p. 23. The accompanying Council fact sheet details the 2026 calculations and assumptions.