Cruise ship looks to make clean journey through Northwest Passage

theglobeandmail.com ^ | 08/19/2016 | Alex Migdal

[BenLurkin]

Crystal Cruises has spent three years planning the Serenity’s voyage to prevent Titanic-like scenarios (and is requiring $50,000 in evacuation insurance for passengers). The Canadian and American coast guards and federal bodies including Transport Canada are also overseeing the trip.

Such preparation is “unprecedented,” Mr. Hutchinson said. “We’ve seen a level of planning that suggests to us the company is taking seriously the conditions they’re going to face.”

The British RRS Ernest Shackleton icebreaker is escorting the ship, along with two helicopters to assess ice conditions. The Serenity is outfitted with a forward-looking sonar, searchlights and a navigation system that displays near real-time satellite ice imagery.

Two veteran Canadian ice pilots will also accompany the captain and his team, who have been trained to navigate far-northern regions. Under regulations, the Serenity is required to debrief daily with the Canadian Coast Guard.

The Serenity’s sprawling month-long itinerary includes three Canadian stops: Ulukhaktok, a community of 400 mostly Inuit people in Northwest Territories, as well as Cambridge Bay and Pond Inlet in Nunavut. Vicki Aitaok, cruise-ship co-ordinator for Cambridge Bay, will see the population of her 1,600-person hamlet double when the Serenity docks on Aug. 29.

“This one is huge,” said Ms. Aitaok, who oversees five cruise-ship visits over a tight two-week window in late August. The hamlet typically welcomes 100 passengers from small cruises for an afternoon visit. But the Serenity’s stop will require a 13-hour block scheduled to military precision, with 100 passengers passing through each half hour.

[BenLurkin]

No reason to go to the link, really. Unless you want to suffer through paragraph after paragraph of left wing dribble.

[TigersEye]

It’s awfully generous of the American, Canadian and British taxpayers to subsidize this incredibly expensive ill-advised voyage.

[Texan5]

Escorted by an icebreaker-seriously? That sounds more like punishment than a pleasure trip-cruise ship = Klingon prison ship...

[Don Corleone]

Ernest Shackleton

IMHO probably the greatest leader of men the modern world has ever known, Churchill, Patton and Mac Arthur notwithstanding.

[William Tell]

From the linked article: "Crystal’s luxury-line competitor, Regent Seven Seas, had to cancel a similar trip to the Northwest Passage in July, 2017, over concerns of large Arctic ice packs."

This should be fun to watch.

[ArcadeQuarters]

> The British RRS Ernest Shackleton icebreaker is escorting the ship,

For the ice they claim doesn’t exist?

[Mears]

I went to the link

I would like to go from stop #8 to the end.

I’m a coward.:-)

.

[elcid1970]

Couldn’t drag me onto that barge for nothing. Titanic buff since age 10. Hypothermia is a h*** of a way to die.

[JoeProBono]

[smokingfrog]

[batterycommander]

There are no penguins in the Arctic.

[Texan5]

I would not be going on that trip even if the cruise line paid ME-it sounds about as much of a pleasure cruise as that Naked and Afraid show on TV...

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Bogus!! The North-west passage is completely ice-free — has been for at least two years now. Al Gore told us so over a decade ago.

The only extra prep this trip should require is packing extra high-SPF sun screen, and Gatorade (to help ward off heat stroke).

Who’s pocketing the money that (we’re supposed to believe) went to pay for ice-breakers??

[az_gila]

Interesting comment here —

http://arcticnorthwestpassage.blogspot.com/2016/08/crystal-serenity-late-into-kodiak-with.html#!/2016/08/crystal-serenity-late-into-kodiak-with.html

Seems like their AIS equipment is down, I get a six-day old position.

I also have a neighbor on that cruise and I bet a pint of good beer they don’t make it all the way through...:^)

[The SISU kid]

The Serenity’s sold-out journey set off Tuesday from Seward, Alaska, and will dock in New York City on Sept. 17. It represents one of the final uncharted frontiers for travellers, who are doling out $22,000 to $120,000 (U.S.) for the lavish cruise, and unnervingly points to how destructive human activity has made such voyages possible in recent years.

Stopped reading after that paragraph...

[Carriage Hill]

👍
But hey, why let facts get in the way of a left-wing article?

[UCANSEE2]

Thanks for the link. There is nothing I like more than reading an article full of spelling and grammar errors.

: )

[Donglalinger]

The BBC said the Artic would be ice free in 2008, so why all the fuss?

[JoeProBono]

[katana]

Wouldn't penguins only be around for a Southwest passage? Meanwhile, what will the sphincter factor be when the passengers start hearing the ship bulkheads crumple?