Nobody tells you what an expedition day is actually like until you are in one, and the first morning is a surprise for almost every guest. There is no port, no excursion desk, no timetable printed a month ahead. There is a voice on the tannoy at seven, a plan made at six and remade at ten, and a ship that spends the day going to where the ice and the animals are. This is the shape of a day in the Arctic, hour by hour, on the ships we sell.
In short
An expedition cruise is not a cruise with landings. It is a landing programme with a ship attached. The day is built by the expedition leader each morning from the ice chart, the weather and what the bridge saw overnight.
06:45 · The voice
The expedition leader wakes the ship over the tannoy with the position, the weather, the ice and the plan: a landing at Smeerenburg at nine, a Zodiac cruise along the glacier at two. On the French ships the voice is bilingual and the tone is a yacht’s; on the Aurora and Quark ships it is a briefing. Either way, the plan has usually changed since the night before, and that is the point.
07:00 · Breakfast, and the bridge
Breakfast is a buffet on every ship and a table service on the Ponant ships if you want it, and it is where the first sightings of the day are passed around. The bridge is open to guests on most of the ships we sell, Le Commandant Charcot and the Swan Hellenic ships in particular, and the hour after breakfast on the bridge wing with a coffee is the best wildlife watch of the day: the officers have been looking since four.
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08:30 · Gear up, and the groups
The ship calls the groups in turn, by deck or by colour, to the gear room and the Zodiac gate. Thermals, a fleece, the parka, waterproof trousers over the ship’s boots, two pairs of gloves, the dry bag with the camera. On a ship of 130 guests everyone is ashore in twenty minutes; on a ship of 200 it takes two waves. The bear guards go first and stand the perimeter before the first Zodiac lands.
09:00 · The landing
A wet landing, which means stepping off the Zodiac into ankle-deep water on a gravel beach, and then a choice: a long walk with a naturalist up the valley, a medium walk to the headland, a short one along the shore with the historian, or a seat on the tundra with a lens. Nobody is hurried. The guides mark the limits with flags and the guards watch the ridgeline. Ninety minutes to two hours, and a Zodiac back whenever you want one.
11:30 · Back aboard, and the hour that is yours
Boots rinsed, gear hung to dry in the cabin, and an hour in which the ship moves to the afternoon site. This is the hour for the sauna with the window on the fjord, the lecture lounge if the geologist is on, the spa, or the bridge again. On Le Commandant Charcot it is the hour for the indoor pool and the science lab; on the Aurora ships for the Citizen Science desk.
12:30 · Lunch
Lunch is the meal the ship takes seriously, because the afternoon is the long outing. On the Ponant ships it is a sit-down affair with wine; on Swan Hellenic and Aurora a buffet with the hot dishes changed daily; on Quark a buffet with the expedition team sitting among the guests. If a bear is called during lunch, the dining room empties in a minute and nobody minds.
14:00 · The Zodiac cruise
The afternoon is usually on the water rather than on land: a slow cruise along a glacier front with the engine off to hear it, among the brash ice for seals, or along a bird cliff with sixty thousand guillemots overhead. Two hours, cold, the best photography of the day. The kayakers go out at the same time with their guide, in dry suits, and come back later than everyone else.
17:00 · The recap
Every ship we sell holds it, and it is the hour that turns a day into a voyage. The expedition leader runs through what happened, the naturalist explains the bear’s behaviour, the historian tells the story of the hut on the beach, and the plan for tomorrow is drawn on the chart. With a drink. It is the most attended hour on the ship.
19:30 · Dinner
Dinner is where the ships differ most, and where the choice of line matters. The Ponant ships serve a French dinner with wine, Alain Ducasse’s menus on Le Commandant Charcot, and expect a jacket on gala nights. Swan Hellenic serves a set menu with an open table, Aurora a buffet or plated choice, Quark a plated dinner with the team. On every ship the sun is still up through the windows in June and July.
22:00 · The light, and the call
In June the sun circles the horizon and the deck at midnight is full of people who meant to go to bed. In September the deck is full for a different reason, with the lights off and the aurora overhead. And on any night, at any hour, the voice can come again: a bear on the ice to starboard, a pod of belugas off the bow. The regulars sleep in their thermals.
What nobody tells you
- The plan is a draft. Fog, swell and a bear on the beach cancel landings. Good expedition leaders have three alternatives ready, and the ships we sell carry them.
- You are tired by day three. Two outings a day in cold air is more exercise than it sounds. Skip one. The ship is a good place to be.
- The team is the voyage. A naturalist who has spent ten seasons in the Arctic is worth more than a larger cabin, and the lines know it. We tell you which teams we have sailed with.
- The silence is the memory. An engine off at a glacier front, a Zodiac drifting, the ice cracking. Nobody photographs it, and everybody talks about it afterwards.
Out on deck as the aurora builds overhead, a reason to keep a warm layer by the cabin door on late-season Greenland voyages. Photographed on a Swan Hellenic SH Vega voyage. © Swan Hellenic
Questions we are asked
Is it suitable for someone who is not very fit?
Yes. Every landing offers a short walk or a seat, the Zodiac has a step and two crew to help, and the ship’s hour between outings is restful. Tell us honestly and we choose the ship with the easiest Zodiac gate.
How much time do we actually spend off the ship?
Three to five hours on a landing day, split between morning and afternoon. Sea days on the crossings and the Pole voyages are the exception, and the ships fill them with lectures, the bridge and the ice.
Do we have to do everything?
No. The outings are offered, not required, and the recap tells you what you missed. Guests who stay aboard for the afternoon cruise usually say it was the right call, and go out the next morning.
What languages are spoken on board?
English on every ship. French and English on the Ponant ships, with announcements in both. The expedition teams are international; the Aurora teams are largely Australian and New Zealander.
Read how to choose an Arctic expedition ship for which day suits you, or when to go for which month.