Northwest or Northeast Passage?

Experiences from the world’s most unique Arctic cruises

Across the top of the world, where frozen Arctic Ocean sweeps down North America and Russia, are two rewarding sea routes – the Northwest and Northeast Passages.

Experiences encountered along the Northeast and Northwest Passage:

1. Encounters with the Ice Bear

Experience the power of seeing polar bears in the wild. Across the Arctic, spot them hunting seals, walrus, beluga whales from pack ice. They migrate in areas we visit, often with cubs in tow. Wrangell Island on the Northeast Passage has the highest density of polar bear dens in the world.

Polar Bear. Franz Josef Land

2. Wildlife wonderland assured

On both voyages, witness walrus, arctic fox, beluga whales, plus thousands of seabirds including puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes and dozens of other species along major migratory pathways. Discover exquisite tundra flowers and delicious summer berries to taste.

3. Northwest Passage:

Start in Greenland

Explore UNESCO World Heritage listed Disko Bay, where massive icebergs calved from Sermeq Kujalleq, the world’s fastest and most active glacier, fill Ilulissat Icefjord with grinding ice castles. Sail to Pond Inlet, Baffin Island where sheer granite walls rise from the sea and Inuits share their life and culture.

Historic sites of tragedy and triumph

See Beechey Island where the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition wintered and laid to rest three of its crew. Gjoa Haven, named for Amundsen’s yacht on the first successful crossing, is the resting place of Franklin’s HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

Mega bird cliffs

Cruise below spectacular 265m high limestone cliffs of Prince Leopold Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary. Train your in-suite binoculars on the home of half a million nesting birds, including thick-billed murres, northern fulmars and black-legged kittiwakes.

Can it be real?

Delight in wonder and witness beluga whales shedding skin on sand banks of Cunningham Inlet, narwhals chasing Arctic char and polar bears feasting on whales trapped in rocky shallows of Coningham Bay, Prince of Wales Island.

Arctic Fox

“Unscoured by glaciers during the last Ice Age, its tundra boasts incredible plant diversity, and mammoth tusks. Home to the largest population of Pacific walrus...”

Walrus, Wrangell Island

4. Northeast Passage:

Jewel in the crown

Wrangell Island enjoys Russia’s highest degree of environmental protection. Unscoured by glaciers during the last Ice Age, its tundra boasts incredible plant diversity, and mammoth tusks. The largest population of Pacific walrus accounts for Wrangell having the highest concentration of polar bear dens.

Where few have gone before

Explore one of the last undiscovered wilderness areas. Meet Chukchi reindeer herders and walrus hunters on Ayon Island. Kayak near long-tailed ducks and seals in Medvezie (Bear) Islands. Walk rock spires of Chetyryokhstolbovy Island and Zodiac cruise below bird cliffs where kittiwakes nest.

Exploring the ‘Zemlyas’

Severnaya Zemlya (Northern Lands) is the last territorial discovery on Earth. Hike glaciers, Zodiac cruise fjords with Brant geese, snow buntings and Arctic skuas. Novaya Zemlya (New Lands) features ice cap, vast walrus haulouts and bristling bird cliffs. Zodiac cruise calving glacier fronts with bearded seals and polar bears.

To top of the world

Explore Franz Josef Land, the world’s northernmost archipelago. Home to five million seabirds, polar bears and walrus, it’s also been the staging post for polar explorations by Nansen, Amundsen, Tegetthoff and others striving for the North Pole and Northeast Passage.