Northwest Passage Canadian Arctic
Canada
44
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Seabourn Cruise Line (44 Cruises)
Seabourn Venture
44 Cruises
Frequently Asked Questions
A crossing. The Northwest Passage covers roughly 1,500 kilometres through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, between the Baffin Sea and the Beaufort Sea. It is not a port but a multi-day navigation punctuated by landings.
By zodiac, everywhere. No site on the route has a pier: landings happen on beaches, on tundra or in Inuit hamlets, escorted by armed guides because of polar bears.
Beechey Island and its three headstones marking the graves of Franklin expedition sailors, lost with all 129 men after 1845. The route also passes Gjoa Haven, where Roald Amundsen wintered for two years before completing the first full transit in 1906, and Dundas Harbour, an abandoned government post.
Depending on the itinerary: Pond Inlet on Baffin Island, Gjoa Haven, Cambridge Bay and sometimes Ulukhaktok, known for its printmaking. Visits, arranged with the communities, include throat singing, traditional games, craft workshops and conversations with elders.
Polar bears on the ice, walrus hauled out on shoals, beluga and narwhal on migration, occasionally a bowhead whale. At Prince Leopold Island, 300-metre cliffs hold hundreds of thousands of murres, kittiwakes and fulmars; on the tundra, muskoxen and Arctic foxes.
No, and that is the point. The charts are redrawn daily from ice reports: a blocked strait is worked around, a landing site is improvised. Accepting the unexpected is part of the contract and is what makes it an expedition rather than a cruise.
In high summer only, when the ice allows, under a sun that never sets. Only a handful of expedition ships make the transit each year.
The Canadian dollar; English and Inuktitut are used in the hamlets. Bring cash: local co-ops do not always have reliable card terminals.
Rarely. Days revolve around zodiac landings, tundra walks and long hours of observation on the bridge, in a harsh climate with no quick way home. This voyage suits independent passengers in good physical condition.
It alternates navigation through cliff-lined channels, naturalist lectures, bridge watching and landings. A zodiac outing along an active glacier such as Croker Bay may replace a planned hike if the ice decides otherwise.
