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Adventure cruises are plentiful these days, and passengers can choose luxury cruises with excursions that range from snorkeling the reef to trekking across uninhabited islands of ice keeping an eye out for polar bears. If the latter choice sounds like something you'd like to try, then perhaps an Arctic Norway cruise is for you. There are small luxury cruises that will take you to icebergs for trekking, and which make use of spotters with radios to warn trekkers of polar bears closing in them so they can make a hasty escape. this happens on the frozen tundra of Edgeoya, in the Svalbard archipelago of Norway's Arctic region. Polar bears are no joke in this region, and the danger is real. Polar bears will hunt and eat humans, so the lookouts are absolutely necessary to this kind of trekking excursion. If you book a luxury cruise with an ice-trekking excursion, make sure to ask about what safety system the cruise company has in the way of keeping a lookout for Polar bears!
You can begin the Arctic Norway cruises in Copenhagen, Sweden. Typcially, cruises in Scandanavia hug the coast and explore the numerous fjords on the west coast of Norway. Some will continue north up into the Arctic Circle and then across the Barents Sea. Temperatures will drop and drop, and ice flows will begin to crowd the waters around your ship. This is difficult navigation for a luxury cruise ship captain, as there is always the danger of getting trapped in the ice. Keep a watch out for humpback whales, and on the land, walrus and puffins. The arctic summer is a continuous round of daylight every day, so you'll get plenty of time for sightseeing. The sun never goes down, so anytime, day or night, you can go out on deck and snap pictures, take in the arctic scenery, and enjoy your cruise. As you glide past glaciers and walls of fjords, it seems that you can almost reach out and touch some of them, which is another advantage of a small ship. You can get very close to things. Sometimes ship crew will sound an alert if polar bears are spotted, so you can relax in your cabin, and rush outside to see the bears if the alarm sounds. Polar Bears hunt seals, so if you see a colony of seals, watch for the predators who might be nearby stalking their dinner. Polare Bears follow the seals, and the cruise boats will follow them as well, in hopes of catching glimpses from afar of these great masters of the north.
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