Svalbard luxury cruise in the Arctic
Description of Svalbard luxury cruise in the Arctic
In 11 days you can cruise all around Spitsbergen, the biggest island in the Svalbard Archipelago. Even in high summer, there’ll be ice floes in your path lit by the midnight sun. Your vessel has a strengthened hull, specially designed so it can make through these icy waters.
Start in Longyearbyen, where you can take a tour of the world’s northernmost city, before heading north. Ice permitting, your boat will squeeze through the Hinlopen Strait, between Spitsbergen and the island of Nordaustlandet, its closest neighbour. You’ll end the trip with a midnight cruise of beautiful Isfjorden.
The polar bear is king in Svalbard, and many roam free on the island. They’re far from the only wildlife around: vast colonies of guillemots give a deafening chorus as you approach their cliff-face nests, and seals and walrus lazing on the rocks beneath.
There’ll be Zodiac expeditions from your main boat to the shore, so you can get up close to glaciers, and maybe even track a polar bear along the beach. Once you get on shore you can look out for Arctic fox and ptarmigan.
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Planet and people
We use small ships on all of our cruises which minimizes the detrimental impacts to the places they are travelling through. This is no more prescient than in the Arctic where it is impractical and environmentally not advisable for large numbers of passengers to go ashore at any one time, so having a smaller ship helps control and minimize the impact that tourists can have on the land.All of our cruises in this region are accompanied by an Expedition Team that comprises experts in a range of fields such as zoology, polar history, marine biology and glaciology, and usually photography. Part of their task is to educate our clients on the issues that this sensitive ecosystem can experience, whilst making sure that our guests adhere to strict guidelines. They also give regular talks on board about the local environment, wildlife and history, and the threats that are currently mounting to the environment and wildlife.
Journeys to the Arctic bear an extra responsibility for the traveler to respect and protect the environment. The sensitive environment means that we have an extra responsibility to make sure we have absolutely no detrimental effect on that environment. The expedition team are responsible for your safety and entertainment, but also your education about all aspects of the Arctic, and especially its conservation and current conservation issues. They will accompany you on excursions ashore, explaining and pointing out the wildlife, physical features and any historical highlights.
While we will encounter few communities during the voyage (owing to the remote locations we travelling through) we do encourage you to explore Tromsø and Longyearbyen in Norway pre and post cruise. The communities who live there will be happy to talk and give you a taste of some local cuisine and stories...
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