1076 passenger luxury cruise liner Crystal Serenity is due to transit the North West Passage, 500 miles into the Arctic Circle in late August, 2016 - there's a Shipping TV video now on the site's video page.
The announcement, 2 or 3 days ago from operator Crystal Cruises, seemed to hit the cruise industry as something of a surprise, although a number of other, mostly smaller, vessels have made the voyage. Part of the impetus for the move came from the 2013 passage of bulker Nordic Orion, around the same size as the liner, but drawing 6 metres more when loaded with coal.
The 32-day voyage sounds like a very major undertaking for the line, which is having to employ a standby vesselfor the duration.
Crystal Serenity was built in 2003, and is ice class 1C, equipping her to steam through open water with up to 0.4m thick floes, or to follow a broken channel through similar thickness ice.
How would you fancy that?