High expectations for sales to cruise ship passengers from the MS Noordam were dampened by fog Thursday. The Noordam, operated by Holland America, was expected to bring over 1,500 passengers to town. Only 229 passengers and 14 crew made the short trip from the cruise ship to the shore, according to Holland America security staff.
Foggy conditions contributed to a full-stop of tender trips. Hal Kneller was aboard one of the tenders when it ran into what he believes was an underwater pipe.
“One of the tenders, lucky number 13 in fact, struck some type of submerged pipe that allegedly is not on the chart, and that pipe caused the boat to get hung up on it,” Kneller said.
Nome Harbormaster, Lucas Stotts, said he saw the boat get stuck on the east side of the channel leading into Nome's Small Boat Harbor. A long hose being used to dredge the port was nearby, but Stotts didn't believe that pipe caused the problems.
Kneller said he and about 120 other passengers waited aboard the tender for about an hour, with little communication from the staff.
“I'm going, ‘why aren't they telling us something?’ I was right there, I could see what was going on,” Kneller said. “I thought it was a lot of indecision because I had a lot of people who weren't really doing a whole lot, just sort of looking around, surveying the situation.”
A second tender arrived and towed the stuck ship away with a rope. A Holland America crew member told KNOM the collision damaged the tender’s rudder.
Fog rolls into the Nome Small Boat Harbor throughout the morning of June 18, 2026. Ben Townsend/KNOM
A second tender arrived and towed the stuck ship away with a rope. A Holland America crew member told KNOM the collision damaged the tender’s rudder.
Eventually, Kneller made it to shore. He said compared to other popular Alaska cruise destinations he’s visited, Nome’s featured more local culture.
“Here we actually got to talk to a lot of the local people, and we saw some native dances, and some drum beating, and some singing. We really got a little bit of a taste of your culture,” he said.
Economic impact
With just a fraction of the foot traffic originally expected, vendors like Leesa Jones with Cape Horn Kiln and Craft saw a big downturn in sales.
“Last year this event was my biggest earning event,” Jones said. “This year it’s definitely been quieter, a lot of locals are still definitely coming out.”
The Noordam’s sister ship, the MS Westerdam, visited Nome in 2024 and 2025. Jones said proceeds from the last two years have helped her buy new supplies and invest in new equipment.
“It's disappointment, especially knowing that this is the biggest ship that comes in,” Jones said. “We were obviously expecting quite a much larger volume of people to be trafficking through.”
Nome resident Kathy Patella is using craft fairs like Thursday’s to spin up her small business, Trees and Dirt. She said the poor weather didn’t dampen the tourists' enthusiasm for local goods.
“The people who did venture in were super cool and very interested in stuff. There was just a really small number of those,” Patella said.
Many of Nome’s artisans build up their stock year round to sell at craft fairs around Iditarod in the spring, cruise ships in the summer, and Christmas markets in the winter.
“There's always the next ship, and that's what you got to go with, because you don't have much of a choice,” Patella said. “It's the weather that screws us up, you know. We actually had a plan. Normally, there isn't always a plan for an indoor venue. We had a plan, we stuck to the plan, just the weather didn't cooperate.”
The few passengers that did make it to shore were expected to depart by 4:30 p.m. Thursday. The Noordam is expected to make a short trip above the Arctic Circle, then head south to Kodiak. The 28-day cruise will return to Seattle on July 5.
