Luxury vessel’s journey through icy waters will show if historic route can handle heavy tourist traffic

Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen took three years in the early 1900s to complete the first successful navigation of the Northwest Passage, the icechoked arctic sea route connecting the Pacific and Atlantic. Only in 1944, did a ship make it through in a single year.

This summer, the Crystal Serenity – a 820-foot-long, 13-deck cruise ship with a casino, a movie theater, six restaurants and a driving range – is planning to steam through in less than a month.

Operated by Los Angeles-based Crystal Cruises LLC, the trip sold out in three weeks, with some 1,000 wouldbe passengers paying about $22,000 each. That price doesn't include such extras as a $4,000 helicopter ride along the way, or a three-day, $6,000 excursion exploring the Eqip Sermia glacier in Greenland.

About 200 ships have traversed the 900-mile route since Amundsen's voyage between 1903 and 1906. But most of those have gone through just in the last decade as ocean warming diminishes ice cover further, and for longer, during the summer months. Last August, the surface area of ice extending across the Arctic Circle was 30% less than 25 years ago, according to the Colorado-based National Snow and Ice Data Center.

By the mid-1990s, an average of four vessels were making the voyage each year. In 2013, there were 13 crossings. Last summer, about 20 ships passed through.

Most of the traffic consists of small cargo ships, servicing remote communities along the route. Small recreational boats routinely conduct tours. The World – a cruise-ship-size vessel that carries residents who have bought living space aboard – slipped through with 481 passengers in August, 2012.

The Crystal Serenity will be the largest ship that maritime officials can recall attempting the voyage. And it will be the first, large-scale cruise liner packed with tourists. Demand was so high, Crystal Cruises said, it is planning a second cruise for 2017.

That has maritime officials viewing the Anchorage, Alaska, to New York City voyage as a kind of test case for the bigger ships they expect to come calling more frequently. Some worry the new traffic is arriving before the region is ready.

Jeff Hutchinson, a deputy commissioner at the Canadian Coast Guard, said he is satisfied the Serenity has done adequate planning for the journey. “What I'm just as, or more, concerned about is shipowners who might be looking at this voyage and saying 'Well that looks profitable, why don't we think about that,’” he said. “And they won't, or may not, bring the same level of planning and forethought.”

A rise in traffic in the region has already translated into higher accidents rates. German insurer Allianz SE said in a March report that there were over 70 reported shipping incidents in Arctic Circle waters during 2015, up almost 30% from the year before. (WSJ)