On August 16, a luxury cruise ship “Crystal Serenity” with 1,070-capacity embarks on a first-ever Arctic cruise through the Northwest Passage.
The once forbidding Arctic region, home to polar bears and ice-covered seas, has melted enough that this summer it’s open not only for shipping but high-end tourism.
Billed as the “ultimate expedition for the true explorer,” the 32-day trip on the Crystal Serenity departs from Anchorage, traveling north through the Bering Strait and across the Canadian Arctic, then making stops in Greenland and the northeastern United States before docking in New York City. Prices for the sold-out excursion ranged from $22,000 to $120,000, plus required insurance coverage of at least $50,000 for emergency evacuation.
While smaller cruise ships have sailed the Arctic, the Crystal Serenity is by far the largest to make its way through a route considered nearly impassable just over a century ago. In 1905, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first to successfully sail the Northwest Passage, calling it “that baffling mystery to all the navigators of the past.”
This 900-mile “short cut” between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans across the icy roof of North America has defied and claimed the lives of countless seafarers since John Cabot first sought the passage in 1497.
There have been around 240 transits in the 110 years since Roald Amundsen made the first successful crossing in 1906. Amundsen’s trip took three years. Serenity’s voyage is scheduled to take eight days, part of a 32-day cruise that will see it arrive in New York on September 16.
On its website, Crystal Cruises describes the cruises as a “world away from the sunny Mediterranean and the Caribbean’s white sandy beaches, cruises around the polar regions offer an entirely different adventure.”
“We have been planning this historic sailing for two years,” said Crystal CEO Edie Rodriguez,” who was on board today to greet passengers, “working closely with expedition experts, as well as Transport Canada, the US and Canadian Coast Guards and local agencies along the route to ensure the ultimate safety for our guests.”
Crystal Serenity will be accompanied by an ice–strengthened polar logistics vessel, RRS Ernest Shackleton, for safety backup. The vessel is normally used by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), a publicly-funded organisation.
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Reference: National Geographic, Washington Post, The Telegraph, BBC
