The largest cruise ship to ever sail the Northwest Passage is en route to New York City from Alaska.
The Crystal Serenity left Seward, Alaska, in mid-August and plans to dock in New York on September 16.
The ship sailed up the Bering Strait, and made a port call in Nome where guests got a chance to see a herd of wild musk oxen that had taken up residence just outside town. The ship then continued north until reaching the Arctic Ocean, and then east toward Greenland.
The melting Arctic is making this type of trip possible. The irony isn't lost on Michael Byers, a professor in the political science department at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He calls it ``extinction tourism.''
The 900 or so passengers on the luxury liner are going through the Arctic to seen an ecosystem before it disappears. But Byers say they are actually adding to the problem because of the ship's large carbon footprint.
It took years of planning and several million dollars to ensure a city-sized luxury liner could become the largest to ever sail through the Northwest Passage.
Several million dollars were spent outfitting the ship with equipment and personnel to navigate through Arctic waters, said the vessel's captain, Birger Vorland. And everyone on board was outfitted with their own parka.
The special equipment includes a dedicated ice radar, an ice navigation system that combines electronic charts with satellite imagery and thermal imaging, and two large ice searchlights on each bridge wing.
In addition, two Canadian ice pilots are on board. And the ship has an escort vessel carrying oil spill response equipment and two helicopters in case people need to evacuate.
``Ice is a concern,'' Vorland said while the ship was docked in Nome for a port call. ``Luckily, 2016 is turning out to be a reasonably good ice year.''
Not many vegetables are grown in the Arctic, so chartered flights have delivered fresh perishables to be served in the cruise liner's five-star restaurants.
One of the first documented voyages through the Northwest Passage was Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen's 1903-06 expedition on his ship, the Gjoa (pronounced ``Yur'').
So it's a sense of excitement for Vorland, a Norway native living in Los Angeles, to follow in Amundsen's footsteps, as it were.
``They spent three years, and we're going to do this in 32 days and in a lot more comfort,'' Vorland said.
The Crystal Serenity left Seward, Alaska, in mid-August and plans to dock in New York on September 16.
The ship sailed up the Bering Strait, and made a port call in Nome where guests got a chance to see a herd of wild musk oxen that had taken up residence just outside town. The ship then continued north until reaching the Arctic Ocean, and then east toward Greenland.
The melting Arctic is making this type of trip possible. The irony isn't lost on Michael Byers, a professor in the political science department at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He calls it ``extinction tourism.''
The 900 or so passengers on the luxury liner are going through the Arctic to seen an ecosystem before it disappears. But Byers say they are actually adding to the problem because of the ship's large carbon footprint.
It took years of planning and several million dollars to ensure a city-sized luxury liner could become the largest to ever sail through the Northwest Passage.
Several million dollars were spent outfitting the ship with equipment and personnel to navigate through Arctic waters, said the vessel's captain, Birger Vorland. And everyone on board was outfitted with their own parka.
The special equipment includes a dedicated ice radar, an ice navigation system that combines electronic charts with satellite imagery and thermal imaging, and two large ice searchlights on each bridge wing.
In addition, two Canadian ice pilots are on board. And the ship has an escort vessel carrying oil spill response equipment and two helicopters in case people need to evacuate.
``Ice is a concern,'' Vorland said while the ship was docked in Nome for a port call. ``Luckily, 2016 is turning out to be a reasonably good ice year.''
Not many vegetables are grown in the Arctic, so chartered flights have delivered fresh perishables to be served in the cruise liner's five-star restaurants.
One of the first documented voyages through the Northwest Passage was Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen's 1903-06 expedition on his ship, the Gjoa (pronounced ``Yur'').
So it's a sense of excitement for Vorland, a Norway native living in Los Angeles, to follow in Amundsen's footsteps, as it were.
``They spent three years, and we're going to do this in 32 days and in a lot more comfort,'' Vorland said.
Source: AAP
