Category: Svalbard
…with Senior Polar Specialist, Kasey The latest edition of this polar travel series offers a look into a fantastic fjord-filled expedition cruise with our Senior Polar Specialist Kasey Green, who enjoyed a polar bear-spotting 12-day Svalbard Odyssey voyage with AE Expeditions. WHAT DESTINATIONS DID YOU VISIT? The Svalbard Archipelago. HOW DID YOU GET THERE? I flew to Oslo and then onto Longyearbyen, we then cruised throughout the Svalbard Archipelago, reaching areas that only polar class ships could travel. FIRST TIME OR REPEAT TRIP? This was my first time travelling to Svalbard. FAVOURITE LOCATION? I enjoyed being in Storfjorden and the attempts to travel up through the icy fjords. MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? Carving through the ice was certainly one of my most memorable moments, as well as seeing the elusive polar bear! We also made an ice landing where the captain stopped alongside the ice and allowed all the guests to…
Le Commandant Charcot is the first-ever hybrid-electric polar exploration ship powered by LNG (liquefied natural gas) making it possible to travel to the farthest reaches of the southern and northern hemispheres in a level of luxury never offered before. It’s also the world’s first passenger ship to be fitted with a Polar Class 2 (PC2) hull, giving it the ability to sail between the sheets of drifting ice and reach the most remote and isolated areas. This gives the icebreaker a truly unique offering in the polar regions, which means the opportunities for exploration are almost endless but certainly unique. Here are our top 5 expeditions that can only be undertaken on PONANT’s newest vessel… The Emperor Penguins of the Weddell Sea In November 2023, Le Commandant Charcot is heading to the Weddell Sea area of the Antarctic Peninsula and seeing the Emperor Penguins will be firmly on the agenda. In last season’s…
We spoke to Expedition Leader for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises Arne Kertelhein. Since his childhood, Arne has been fascinated by the stories of brave explorers in the dark and cold polar regions. As a student, he started collecting old volumes of expedition reports and 20 years ago was a guest onboard a small vessel for the first time to Svalbard. After working in a museum, Arne started as a lecturer about polar history on various expedition vessels and icebreakers. And for the last 15 years works as an expedition leader, mainly for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, leading expedition cruises to the polar regions. Arne photographing near a glacier in Svalbard How does a typical day start for you? Normally I get up between 5.00 and 6:00 am, make myself a strong cup of tea and go to the bridge. The Chief Officer is on watch and we talk about the weather conditions – mainly…
Whilst the scenery of Spitsbergen is a huge reason to visit this remote archipelago in the high Arctic, the biggest draw of visiting this region is of course its wildlife. It’s home to a vast range of birds, some mammals and plenty of marine wildlife and it is pretty much guaranteed you will spot some of each on your expedition cruise to Svalbard. Here we list some of the incredible creatures you could be lucky enough to encounter… Svalbard Reindeer The smallest sub-species of Reindeer, Svalbard reindeer are usually spotted in fairly sparse groups around the archipelago. Characterised by their short, somewhat stumpy legs, and short dense fur which provides the much-needed insulation for life in this remote region. You’ll often spot clumps of this fur whilst exploring landing sites, and are sure to spot them grazing on steep cliff faces, or lounging in the tundra. Walrus Despite there being…
…with Senior Marketing Executive, Laura We are delighted to be launching the polar edition of a new and revealing Our Routes series dedicated to sharing travel experiences from our experts all over the polar regions. Our debut blog begins with a feature on Senior Marketing Executive, Laura Radford, who recently enjoyed a wonderfully wild trip to Svalbard and couldn’t wait to tell us all about it! YOUR MAIN DESTINATIONS? Svalbard and Oslo. HOW DID YOU GET THERE? Flew from London to Oslo and stayed overnight at an airport hotel. The next morning, I took a charter flight to Longyearbyen in the heart of Svalbard. FIRST TIME OR REPEAT TRIP? First-time ever visiting Svalbard, the furthest north I had journeyed previously was Tromso in the Arctic Circle. FAVOURITE LOCATION? This is really difficult to say as each place we sailed past/landed on the expedition cruise with Quark was unique. From polar bears on the sea…
It’s been several years since I last travelled to the Arctic, mainly due to a certain pandemic which has stopped anyone travelling anywhere for the last couple of years! So, when a last-minute opportunity arose to join a select group of agents aboard the Silver Cloud for a 6-night expedition cruise around Svalbard, I jumped at it! I would like to say the Arctic welcomed me back like an old friend, but it was actually the opposite! We landed in Longyearbyen in 40-knot winds, which were so strong they blew the aircraft door open! It felt a bit like the Arctic was angry with us for staying away so long! As we arrived at the port our expedition leader greeted us; “we normally like to do the Silversea bit first, and then the expedition. But today it’s going to be the expedition bit first, and then Silversea!” It transpired the wind was too strong…
If you haven’t been to the Polar regions, Svalbard is the perfect place to start, it offers everything from incredible wildlife, fascinating human history and some of the most spectacular glaciers and Arctic landscape on the planet. It is often known as Spitsbergen, the name of the archipelago’s largest and only permanently populated island, Svalbard is an archipelago that could easily be described as an Arctic fairy-tale of a destination. It’s a dramatic wilderness of glaciers and mountains, ice fields and barren tundra, extremities of light and dark, and is home to more polar bears than people, yet people it has – making this a destination in which you can truly experience life in the high Arctic. Polar bears Search for the mighty Polar Bear – also known as the King of the Arctic – There are now estimated to be around 3,000 bears in the area of Svalbard and Franz Josef land. Polar bears hunt on sea ice, and with over 100,000km of total coastline…
Whatever else one might come to Spitsbergen for, one reason must surely be to see the mighty polar bear or hopefully even two or three! So, from the moment we were onboard our ship for our Svalbard cruise we were constantly on the lookout for one of these incredible animals. With their vast stature and amazing pearly white coat, designed by nature to keep out the very worst of the freezing temperatures of the Arctic, these majestic creatures are actually waterproof too! Great for when a dive upon some unsuspecting prey was made to ensure something for dinner, or indeed the odd swim. There was a certain rivalry between the watchers as to who might spot a bear first, forgetting that it was far more likely that an experienced member of the crew might well have keener eyes than us ‘landlubbers.’ We had been on the ship now for a couple of days, sailing slowly along the…
