On Tuesday September 26, at about 1:30 p.m., I again went down to the Rockland Public Landing to see what the situation was regarding the second arrival of the cruise ship Vision of The Seas was like. As you may recall, the first visit by that ship resulted in a chaotic situation at the Public Landing making access by either their own passengers or any other users to the landing very difficult.

This time the situation was much better. There was no line of people waiting for the launch all across the seawall; the line was confined to the pier itself and there was no problem getting to the dinghy dock or to the main dock.

Councilman Ed Glazer was there keeping tabs on the situation, and he told me that the last time Vision was in Rockland, they had only one launch working and the this time they had three or four working.

Everybody was far happier. The Public Landing was available for all of its users, primarily because the cruise ship had its act together this week and its presence and passengers were not denying access to the docks.

The takeaways from this new experience:

1: The Rockland Public Landing is capable of handling the large cruise ship trade IF the cruise ship fulfills its obligation to transport its passengers to and from the dock in a safe and seamanlike fashion, and to manage them properly while they are ashore. This means only one large ship at a time, sufficient numbers of launches on frequent enough schedules to provide for their passengers, and a ticketing system that keeps their passengers from obstructing access by other users. This should be an absolute must in any negotiations about any cruise ship landing in Rockland.

2: If the cruise ships manage their passengers properly, the Public Landing can serve all its legitimate users as intended. There should be no reason for anyone to stay away because a big ship is in port.

Howard Robbins lives in Rockland