The thought of visiting the Arctic can make many think of years of planning, spending your life savings and needing to put together an exploration team but it is actually relatively straightforward to visit the most northernly region of the world.

Again, the thought of a cruise holiday to the arctic may make many think of a small scientist ship where you are on an exploration rather than a relaxed holiday but the truth is that you can now choose to visit the arctic the way that you want to visit it.

Not only is simple to do, but there is now a huge range of ways to visit the arctic including numerous options for those wanting to visit it on a cruise holiday.

From some of the worlds biggest ships operated by mainstream lines, to small exploration ships that gets you close to the stunning local wildlife and from luxury cruise yachts to historic icebreakers- there is a ship and a line for everybody when it comes to cruising in the arctic circle.

If the idea of visiting the islands of Svalbard, the glaciers of Greenland, the rugged north of Norway or the icon north-west passage, is for you, these are the lines that will take you there and let you see some of the worlds greatest scenery and animals such as walruses and majestic polar bears.

Our Top 10 Cruise Lines for Arctic Exploration

Hurtigruten

If you have cruised the Norwegian fjords, Iceland or the Norwegian Arctic, you will have more than likely seen a Hurtigruten ship as their ferry and cruise services can be seen throughout the Nordic region.

Over the past decade or so, the historic Norwegian company have taken their local expertise and have turned to expeditions cruising.

They now offer some of the most immersive cruises of the polar regions onboard some of the most advanced cruise ships and best of all, they are well known for their relaxed atmosphere onboard, which in our opinion is ideal when cruising in a region such as the Arctic.

Silversea Expeditions

Silversea Expeditions offers larger ships than most on this list which makes a good option for those who have only sailed on a mainstream line before.

They are a luxury line however and their trips do come at a cost most cannot afford but if you are in the fortunate position to cruise with them, they offer one of the widest ranges of Arctic itineraries of any line.

Best of all, they offer an all-inclusive experience which includes flights, transfers, excursions, drinks, tips, wi-fi and more.

Quark Expeditions

Quark Expeditions bring adventure to exploring as their fleet of smaller, modern ships take you to some of the most remote places in the Arctic.

From your ship, you will reach shore via a wide range of adventurous methods including kayaks, Zodiacs, helicopters and even hot air balloons- so just reaching your destination is part of the adventure.

Oceanwide Expeditions

Oceanwide Expeditions offer the opportunity to visit some of the region’s most inhospitable places thanks to its traditional icebreaker ships and its onboard helicopters that can fly you over glaciers and take you to places that other ships cannot.

The line tends to focus on the smaller islands of the Arctic including Franz Josef Land, Jan Mayen and Svalbard but they also visit Greenland and Iceland.

Ponant

Ponant offer everything from luxury cruises to sailing ship adventures but for the focus of this list, it is their Arctic exploration that we are focussing on and that is something where the line excels.

Onboard, the ship experience is that of an upmarket Parisian hotel complete with fine dining and all of the luxuries you could ever want but when you reach land, your holiday turns into one of exploration and adventure.

Ponant small ships are designed to take you to places and most ships just cannot visit and that means some of the remotest places on earth when you are in the Arctic, but the line make it easy to explore by having their own fleet of Zodiac’s to take you ashore.

Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic

Lindblad Expeditions have been a market leader in polar explorations for some time now, but they have taken their service to a whole new level by teaming up with National Geographic to offer a more immersive experience.

This partnership allows them to offer high quality talks, learning experiences and cultural engagement with the cultures and traditions of those who call the Arctic home.

One of the best aspects of the line is their commitment to environmental responsibility which is something that is now a must in polar regions.

Whilst they offer cruises around the world, those wanting to visit the Arctic have plenty of options including Greenland, Iceland, Norway and more.

Hapag-Llyod Cruises

Hapag-Lloyd is a German cruise line that utilise smaller ship to explore some of the worlds most remoted destinations, including the Arctic.

By offering both German and English as the onboard languages, there cruises can now be enjoyed by international guests from across the globe with no restrictions.

When it comes to the Arctic, the line offers plenty of options to explore Svalbard, but they also offer itineraries to Greenland, Canada and the Norwegian Arctic with sailings from mainland offered to make things even simpler.

Oceania Cruises

Oceania Cruises have always bordered the line between a luxury line and a mainstream line and thanks to their ships not having homeports, but been constantly on the move, they also border the line between a traditional cruise line and exploration cruise line.

Nowhere does all of that come to the fore as much as it does in the remoteness of the Arctic where you can enjoy the sophisticated atmosphere, culinary excellence and passenger enrichment programmes that the line is famed for whilst visiting incredible destinations out of the reach of the bigger ships of more mainstream lines.

From the Norwegian Arctic to Greenland and from Svalbard to the north of Iceland- Oceania have you covered for an Arctic exploration.

Scenic Discovery Yachts

If you are more used to luxury holidays and don’t want to give that up to see one of the remotest parts of the world, Scenic Discovery Yachts could be the option for you.

The line gives not only a small ship experience that gets up close to the incredible scenery of the Arctic, but you do it in style as their sleek yachts feature fine dining, a high-quality spa and only a handful of fellow cruisers to share it with.

All of that does come at a cost of course and you will need a huge budget to sail with them, but you will get to visit some destinations that you just cannot sail to on a traditional cruise line including Franz Josef Land, Dynjandi and the King Oscar Fjord in Greenland.

Celebrity Cruises

There maybe some bias on our part for this entry as we enjoyed one of our best ever cruises sailing with Celebrity Cruises from Iceland to Boston via Greenland, but it should be said that the line does deserve their place on this list.

If you want to visit the region but are not ready for an expedition style cruise, there are a number of mainstream lines that head up to the Arctic in summer, but for us, it is Celebrity that offer some of the best itineraries including the one that we did.

As well as that, the line really put some effort into making the journey stand out from a regular cruise with them by having an expert from National Geographic onboard to give talks on the geography, and nature of the region whilst they also allowed us to go on the helicopter pad at the very front of the ship when sailing through the Prins Christian Sund- allowing us to get up close to the mountains, glaciers and waterfalls we sailed past.