Nome’s cruise season kicks off with arrival of MS Roald Amundsen
On Tuesday, Nome saw its first cruise ship visit of the year. Hurtigruten Expeditions’ MS Roald Amundsen docked in port for a changeover day for two groups of luxury cruise ship passengers—one group of nearly 400 people was leaving, another group about the same size was just boarding.
“Everybody seems really happy today—everything’s on schedule,” said Robin Johnson of Nome Discovery Tours, which coordinated the visit. She was standing in front of a pair of school buses outside of Old St. Joe’s and directed passengers to get on the bus that would take them to the airport.
The Mini Convention Center was open as a hospitality center. Nearby, the tourists could meet the sled dog team of the Arctic Sky Kennel.
On the East side of town, Bill Potter offered a gold panning demonstration.
Passengers were also free to visit the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum and the National Park Service office or go shopping at Maruskiya’s and Naataq Gear.
A lunch was catered by Bering Tea at Old St. Joe’s, and their tomato bisque has been a hit among guests.
“We have people that come back two years later on another cruise and ask if we still have the soup,” Johnson said.
The Roald Amundsen’s visit marked the first of 12 more scheduled cruise ship visits for this year.
“About five years ago, we had three or four in the summer, so the numbers are definitely growing,” Johnson said. “We had 12 last summer, too. There were seven more scheduled for this summer, but because they were going into Russian waters, they were canceled.”
Nome might have seen an additional visit this summer if the sea ice broke apart sooner. A late May visit from the Scenic Eclipse had to be cancelled due to ice conditions in the region, said Harbormaster Lucas Stotts.
“There is always a chance some of these port calls could cancel or delay due to weather conditions at the facility, or a chance their actual berth location could change based on other operations,” Stotts said.
The next 11 cruise ship dates and names are: July 30, Scenic Eclipse; August 14, NG Resolution; August 19, Roald Amundsen; August 21, Hanseatic Nature; Sept. 7, Nansen; Sept. 14, Silver Wind; Sept. 17 Seaborne Venture; Sept. 18, L’Austral; Sept. 21, Sylvia Earle; Sept. 24, Le Boreal; Oct. 5 Le Commandant Charcot.