Expedition Cruises

Expedition cruises give travellers a unique chance to reach remote islands, learn about polar expeditions and greatest polar explorers, see rare birds, animals and marine animals.

In Russia, expedition cruises reach the coasts of the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea, the East Siberian Sea, the Chukchi Sea, the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. Islands, peninsulas and archipelagos - Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Kolguyev Island, Wrangel Island, Shantar Islands, the Kuril Islands, the Komandorskie Islands and Kamchatka.

Such cruises are pretty expensive. The price is high due to the short navigation season, low passenger capacity, as well as the high cost of building and operating ice-class expedition vessels.

An important factor which interferes with the development of expedition cruises in Russia is the restriction, and sometimes the prohibition of visiting certain territories, for example, the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.

At present, the following expedition cruises are regularly organized in Russia.

Cruise to the North Pole and Franz Joseph Land on the nuclear-powered icebreaker “50 Years of Victory”. En-route, the expedition visits Franz-Josef Land archipelago for wildlife viewing, Zodiac and helicopter trips.

Cruises in the Far East of Russia on the ice strengthened vessel “Spirit of Enderby” (“Professor Khromov”), with a visit to the Kuril Islands, Chukotka, Kamchatka, Sakhalin and Wrangel Island.