A luxury cruise ship makes a historic journey along the once ice-bound Northwest Passage, which was inaccessible to ships in the summer of 2016. While the luxury industry is celebrating the opening of this new exotic tour route, the environmentalists and climate change evangelists are bemoaning the destruction of the last pristine natural world stretch.

Northwest Passage, an ice-bound sea route connecting the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, has been inaccessible to all ships – trade or otherwise – because of its terrain. In a tragedy caused by climate change, the Arctic ice has begun to melt and the sea route has become navigable. While the Arctic is not completely ice-free, satellite images show a constant trend of declining ice since the data became available in the late 1970s.

Northwest Passage Flier

This has meant that the Northern Passage has opened up to both trade and luxury travel. Recently, Serenity, a large luxury cruise ship from North America’s Crystal Cruises made a historic luxury journey through the recently opened waters of the Northwest Passage. The ship arrived in New York City after 32 days at sea and a journey of about 8,000 nautical miles. “The Northwest Passage can now be safely navigated in a very narrow window of the summer. That is what we are taking advantage of,” said Capt. Birger J. Vorland, who captained the ship.

Capt. Biger at the Controls

The tour isn’t an easy one to take. Depending on the ice situation in the Arctic, which changes rapidly, along with the winds and the ocean currents, the passage could be open one day but blocked the next, which is why any luxury cruise ship attempting to navigate the route would need to have experienced ice pilots on board.

But those who do take the risk and the cruise the treacherous seas, are treated like royalty on-board: they are greeted with violins as they settle into the luxurious ship and enjoy a host of facilities that will make you believe you are in an uber-cool luxury hotel in a remote island rather than a temporary floating home:  a heated swimming pool, hot tubs, all-inclusive restaurants and bars, a casino, tennis courts, and a range of entertainment options.

Northwest Passage Map

The Serenity is fitted with special equipment to operate in the Arctic, including an ice navigation satellite system. Its operators even chartered cargo flights to northern communities to gather fresh perishables for the vessel’s five-star restaurants during the cruise.

The Arctic

But anyone who takes the cruise isn’t really sailing the Northwest Passage for the entertainment or the facilities. Rather, they take the journey for the gorgeous terrain and the stupendous wildlife that thrills and amazes all along the route: from Alaska to Canada and Greenland towns and villages along the way. “Every one of the destinations we went up to had an amazing reception by the locals,” said Vorland.  “They were so excited; they couldn’t believe all these people came up to see them and their local community.”

Polar Bear along the Route

On zodiacs cruising (cruising on inflatable boats), travellers watched a polar bear spend the entire day on an ice flow, looking around, looking at people; they saw a mother with 2-year-old cubs, an a polar bear on the kill of a seal. Near Greenland, the ice was of the highest concentration during the tour: large icebergs to small pieces.  Close to Nome in Alaska, which is not accessible by big ships, 900 passengers piled into small transport boats and motored to shore, where they snapped photos of wild musk oxen, lifted glasses in the town’s colorful bars and nibbled blueberry pie while admiring Alaska Native dancers at Nome’s summer celebration.

Mountain View

Serenity, the ship that made this historic cruise, is nearly three football fields long and 13 stories tall, the largest ever to traverse the Northwest Passage. Guests also kayaked along Canada’s north shore, landed on pristine beaches and hiked where few have stepped. The cruise ship left Seward, on the Kenai Peninsula, on August 16 with about 900 guests and 600 crewmembers on board. During its month-long journey to New York, it will visit towns and villages in western and northern Alaska, Canada, Greenland and the eastern seaboard.

The next Northwest Passage cruise will be in 2017, but you have to book early. “If the ice continues to decline in the Arctic, and the hazards diminish accordingly, I wouldn’t be surprised if bigger ships make their way through it as well,” said climatologist Dr. Henry Pollack.

Many climate change activists claim that ships like Serenity will further contribute to environment degradation because of its large carbon footprint. Many polar bears, who depend on ice to find their food, are starving to death. Sea life along the Arctic is not accustomed to having large ships or anything traverse its homeland, making them more vulnerable.