In short
Two questions arrive in almost every pre-departure call: can I fly my drone, and will my phone work. The short answers are no and sometimes. The long answers decide what you pack, and they have changed since 2025.
Drones: the rule before the law
Before any national law applies, the expedition operators have their own rule, and it is the one that matters on the day. None of the companies we recommend permits guests to fly drones from the ship, from a Zodiac or on a landing, anywhere in the Arctic. The Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators, to which they all belong, asks its members to prohibit passenger drones outright, and they do.
The reasons are not bureaucratic. A drone over a walrus haul-out causes a stampede that crushes calves. A drone near a bird cliff empties the ledges and leaves eggs to the gulls. A drone in a Zodiac is a propeller near fourteen faces. And a drone in the air stops the one thing an expedition is for, which is the silence.
The law, country by country
Svalbard
Since 1 January 2025 drones are banned by law in all of Svalbard’s protected areas, which cover about two thirds of the land and most of the coast, and from 1 April to 31 August within 500 metres of any bird cliff. The Governor fines offenders. Our guide to the new Svalbard rules covers the rest of the 2025 regulations.
Greenland
Greenland sits outside the European drone framework, so a European or Australian certificate means nothing here. Recreational flying under the local regulation is allowed only outside towns and well clear of airfields and heliports, and the Northeast Greenland National Park and Melville Bay may not be overflown at all. On an expedition ship the operator’s ban applies before any of this does.
The Canadian Arctic
Transport Canada requires registration and a pilot certificate for any drone over 250 grams, and Parks Canada prohibits drones in national parks, which includes Sirmilik at Pond Inlet and Auyuittuq at Pangnirtung, without a permit that tourists do not get. Nunavut’s communities and the Inuit lands around them have their own rules, and the courtesy is to ask, which on an expedition you will not need to do, because the answer from the ship is already no.
Iceland
European rules apply: registration, a competency certificate and a ban in most of the national parks and protected areas without a permit. Iceland is also the one place on the voyage where a guest may legally fly on their own time, before embarkation or after, outside the protected areas and away from the airports.
What you get instead
The view from above exists on some voyages, and it is better than a drone. Ultramarine carries two helicopters and flies guests over the ice on her Svalbard, Greenland and Northwest Passage voyages when the weather allows. Le Commandant Charcot offers helicopter flights on some of her voyages where conditions permit. And most expedition teams carry a professionally licensed drone of their own, flown under permit, whose footage often appears in the end-of-voyage film every guest takes home.
Phones: where there is signal and where there is none
Longyearbyen and Svalbard
Norwegian networks cover Longyearbyen and little else. An Australian phone roams here as it would in Oslo. The moment the ship leaves Isfjorden there is nothing until it returns, and the aim of the voyage is to be where there is nothing.
Greenland
Greenland has one carrier, Tusass, with 4G in the towns and along the settled coast. Roaming agreements with the Australian carriers exist and are expensive. The practical answer is the ship’s connection at sea and a local eSIM if you have days in Nuuk, Ilulissat or Kangerlussuaq before or after.
The Canadian Arctic
Pond Inlet, Resolute, Cambridge Bay and the larger communities have mobile coverage. Between them, across Lancaster Sound and the Passage, there is none.
Iceland
As good as home. Australian roaming works everywhere there is a road, and Iceland’s coast is mostly road.
At sea: the ship’s connection
The ships we recommend now carry satellite internet from low-orbit constellations rather than the old geostationary links, and the change has been large. Messages, email and a video call home are normal from the lounge in Greenland or Svalbard. The signal thins in the deepest fjords, where the mountains block the sky, and in the far north above 80° where the satellites are fewer. On Le Commandant Charcot’s North Pole voyages the connection has been reported as far as the Pole itself, and the days without it are part of the voyage.
Wifi is included in the fare on the Ponant and Swan Hellenic ships, and increasingly on the others, sometimes with a faster tier sold separately. Ask us for the current arrangement on your sailing, because the plans change season to season.
Two whales surface side by side in the evening light, a quiet moment on a day at sea. Photographed on a Swan Hellenic SH Vega voyage. © Swan Hellenic
The practical list
- A universal adaptor. The French ships use European two-pin sockets, the others a mixture, and every cabin has fewer sockets than you want.
- A power bank, kept warm. A phone shuts down in the cold long before its battery is empty.
- Downloaded maps and books. The signal will go, and you will want the chart of the Passage when it does.
- A satellite messenger such as a Garmin inReach is permitted and some guests like one for the family at home. The ship can reach anyone in an emergency without it.
- Tell your bank. Cards work in Longyearbyen, Nuuk and Ilulissat, and in the settlements they mostly do not, so carry some Danish kroner for Greenland and Norwegian kroner for Svalbard.
Photographing with a phone
For the landscapes, the ship, the villages and the people, a recent phone is enough. For a bear at three hundred metres it is not, and no amount of digital zoom will change that. Our Arctic photography guide sets out what a phone can and cannot do, and what to bring if the wildlife matters to you.
Questions we are asked about drones and phones
Can I fly my drone if I have a licence?
Not from the ship, a Zodiac or a landing, on any voyage we recommend, whatever licence you hold. In Svalbard’s protected areas it is also illegal. In Iceland, on your own days before or after the voyage and outside the protected areas, yes, under European rules.
Will my phone work at sea?
Not on the mobile network. Through the ship’s satellite wifi, yes, for messages, email and usually calls, with gaps in the deep fjords and in the far north.
Is the wifi fast enough for work?
For email, documents and a call, yes, on a normal day. For streaming video or large uploads, sometimes. We would not plan a voyage around needing to be online, and most guests are glad of that by the second day.
Can I use a satellite phone?
Yes. Satellite phones and messengers are permitted on board. Register it with the expedition team on embarkation so they know it is yours.
