Sag Harbor prepares for increased cruise visits, with 11 sailings scheduled this year with American Cruise Lines. Credit: American Cruise Lines
Just weeks from now, on May 5 to be exact, American Cruise Lines will begin its second season of Yankee Seaports cruises, weeklong affairs that now count Sag Harbor among the ports of call. And while the ships’ arrival will almost certainly revive locals’ fears of overcrowding in the village, those fears never materialized last year, according to Ellen Dioguardi, president of the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce.
"From my perspective, it was sort of a nonevent," she said of ACL’s dockings. "I was out there, and unless you looked really closely for the lanyards, all you could see was just another day of people enjoying the village."
The cruise line, which specializes in small-ship and riverboat docking, is "not Holland America and Disney Cruise Lines pulling into Sag Harbor," Dioguardi said. Its boats will again dock at Long Wharf this season, at which point Sag-bound passengers will need to take a tender to shore, according to the company.
"In 2025, we will still have only our smallest 90- to 100-passenger ships visiting Sag," wrote company spokesperson Alexa Paolella in an email about the cruises, eight day/seven night sailings from Boston to New York City (rates start at $4,440 per person, double occupancy).
"We have yachts here that are similar in size," countered Dioguardi. Still, the chamber’s president allowed that "there’s probably still going to be a perception problem, a little more hand-wringing and some calls to the chamber."
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If so, that might be because last year’s eight sailings were mostly confined to Sag’s shoulder months, May and September. This year, the town will be visited by 11 different sailings, three of them during high season. Ships leaving Boston on June 6, July 22 and Aug. 5 will arrive in Sag Harbor five days later.
However, there are residual concerns from the village of Sag Harbor about two of the planned trips in July and August.
"This is a harbor management issue. If they are going to come in July and August, the transient dock is full during those months and it would be very difficult to accommodate them coming in, dropping off their passengers and picking them up," says Thomas Gardella, the village mayor. "I don’t have a problem with the organization. They are very respectable and we’ve had success with them in the past. I just think that the timing is difficult."
Typically, ACL’s ship, which is 241-feet long and holds up to 109 passengers, anchors offshore and they bring in visitors on a tender, a small craft transporting people back and forth from the cruise ship to the dock. The months of July and August experience heavy traffic and is considered the prime season for the village.
Despite the dock congestion, the chamber is supportive of ACL visitors coming into the village.
"It’s not a matter of me putting a stop to it, it’s the fact that it’s not feasible," says Mayor Gardella. "I’m not saying I’m against it, I’m saying there’s no way for us to manage that."
But, the mayor stressed that there’s no angst between the village and the cruise line. "If they had another place where they could off load the passengers that didn’t conflict with us then that’s another story. It has to be worked out," he says.
Still, Dioguardi bets that locals will be less impacted by the passengers’ arrival this summer than ACL’s passengers themselves. "Their guests may find a very different experience this time around. Arriving on Long Wharf from a tender on a Friday or Saturday in July — it’s going to be a more crowded place with more people."
The increase in sailings this year is due in part to a surge in growth by ACL, which like the rest of the cruise industry is experiencing a post-pandemic boom. The company will operate a fleet of 21 after three new ships are christened later this year, meanwhile offering a slew of new itineraries. Among these will be a number of eight-day/seven-night summertime cruises up the Hudson River from New York City to Albany (starting at $5,910 per person, double occupancy).
But the cruise line is also responding to the popularity of Sag and its shore excursions last year, which were "a great success," according to Paolella. "Guests particularly enjoyed visits to the Sag Harbor Cinema, and the special program offered there for them, as well as a historical exploration and walking tour to several sites around the village."
By comparison to most day-trippers arriving by land, some cruisers saw far more of the town, including the Annie Cooper Boyd House and Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum.
From the chamber’s perspective, "this is an opportunity to connect local nonprofit arts groups with people who want to see them and are willing to pay money to do it. That’s a no-brainer," said Dioguardi, who insists that Sag Harbor should be rolling out the red carpet to anyone who doesn’t arrive by car.
"You’re still welcome otherwise, but to come into the harbor from the sea — I think that’s pretty poetically perfect."
For more information on American Cruise Lines’ sailings, call 800-460-4518 or visit americancruiselines.com.
Newsday writer and restaurant critic Scott Vogel aims for a refreshing, gimlet-eyed take on the Long Island food scene, often while drinking a refreshing gimlet.
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