CRUISING THROUGH THE FORBIDDING WATERWAY

The first cruise through the Northwest Passage took place more than 30 years ago, in 1984, when pioneering adventure company Lindblad sent an icestrengthened vessel across the waterway on an epic, 43-day voyage. Still, it hasn’t been until recent years that tourist-carrying ships began arriving regularly in the region.

About half a dozen vessels now carry paying passengers into the Northwest Passage each year. Most are small, expedition-style cruise ships that specialize in off-the-beaten-path travel, and for the most part, they sail only partial transits of the route. Full transits by tourist-carrying ships remain relatively rare. As of this summer, fewer than a dozen tourist vessels had traveled the entire length of the waterway at least once. Several have made the journey multiple times.

Milestones in Northwest Passage cruising:

1984: The 104-passenger Lindblad Explorer becomes the first tourist vessel to make a complete transit as part of a 43-day voyage from New York to Yokohama, Japan.

1985: Just a year after Lindblad Explorer’s groundbreaking voyage, Society Expeditions’ icestrengthened, 137-passenger World Discoverer becomes the second tourist-carrying vessel to navigate the waterway.

1992: Kapitan Khlebnikov, a Russian icebreaker, takes paying passengers along as it travels through the passage for the first time. As of 2015, the vessel had made 17 transits of the waterway — the most of any ship. Not all of the trips included paying passengers.

1994: The 175-passenger Hanseatic, an ice-strengthened expedition ship operated by German line Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, travels through the Northwest Passage for the first time. Over the next two decades, it will complete another 10 transits, setting a record for a ship of its kind.

2003: Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ ice-strengthened, 155-passenger Bremen makes a complete transit for the first time under that name, though it had sailed the waterway twice in the 1990s as the Frontier Spirit. It will go on to complete five more transits over the next decade.

2012: The World, a cruiseship-like vessel filled with 165 multimillion-dollar residences, becomes the largest passenger ship ever to makes a complete transit.

2013: The 264-passenger Le Soleal, an upscale expedition ship operated by French line Ponant, becomes the first of three Ponant vessels to complete a transit — a record for a single line.

2014: The 132-passenger Silver Explorer, an expedition ship operated by luxury line Silversea, completes a transit.

2016: Luxury line Crystal Cruises’ 1,070-passenger Crystal Serenity becomes the largest cruise ship ever to sail the passage.