Svalbard Arctic Cruising: Seven Things Travel Advisors Should Know

Polar cruising is growing every year; with many clients having both ends of the planet firmly on their bucket lists. For clients eyeing the Arctic, there are a few choices, namely the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, and Svalbard.

TMR sailed with Quark Expeditions on an early season (late May) Svalbard cruise onboard Ultramarine. Even before the cruise had ended, we’d already picked up some key knowledge that can help your clients have a better overall experience.

Here are seven things travel advisers should know about Svalbard cruising, in order to better prepare their clients.

1. High Season versus Low Season

Like every destination, Svalbard has a high season and a low season. Low season is late April into early May, and late August into the month of September. High season is June through mid-August.

As with all low-seasons, Svalbard’s low-season features less crowds and often better pricing (and even close-in promotions). As an example, in July there will be nearly 25 port and/or turnaround calls of 15 different ships to Longyearbyen, the main jumping off point for Svalbard arctic cruises. In May, there are 18 port and/or turnover calls scheduled, and only three in September.

Additionally, early and late season Svalbard sailings don’t sell out, as many cruisers want to visit only during high season. On our late May sailing of Ultramarine, which can accommodate up to 199 passengers, there were just 108 onboard. With an expedition team of 25 people, that meant there was one expert for every four passengers. (In full transparency, many of our talks with expedition lines that do Svalbard cruises revealed that even high season sailings aren’t selling out anymore.)

While your clients will be sharing Svalbard with fewer other cruisers in the off-season, they’ll also have to contend with colder temperatures and possibly less wildlife. Many migrating birds don’t make their way to the region until mid- to late-May. These same birds generally depart mid-August, so cruisers visiting in late August and September will likely miss out.

Additionally, more pack ice might limit the number of landings your clients will do, and how far the ship they’re on can go. High season cruisers get the opportunity to go farther and possibly see more. With that said, however, the more pack ice there is, the greater your clients chances of seeing polar bears closer up, as opposed to in the distance on dry land.

2. You Will See Polar Bears (Sorta)

When you do see them, it’ll be through the lens of a powerful scope, binoculars, or zoom camera. If your clients have their hearts set on seeing polar bear, a Svalbard cruise may not be the best option. These elusive bears are rapidly becoming harder to spot… and starting January of this year (2025) Norway enacted a law that all cruise ships must stay at least 500 meters (about 1,500 feet) away. In speaking with one of the expedition leaders onboard our Quark sailing, she told us, the new rule has made it much more difficult for the line to provide “good” polar bear sightings.

This means unless your clients have great eyesight, they’ll probably only be seeing polar bears through a lens. While that might be enough for some clients, you’ll want to qualify them beforehand. (Also, let them know a high-magnifying pair of binoculars – preferable with stabilizer if possible – is a must-pack item.)

Additionally, it’s good for clients to know that all polar bear sightings are done from ship. Lookouts are always watching for bear when cruisers are onshore and at the first sight of a bear, the landing excursion is canceled and cruisers are quickly sent back to the ship. Polar bears are dangerous animals and no cruise line will permit its passengers to be anywhere in the vicinity of a wandering bear.

On our late May sailing of Ultramarine, we saw four polar bears, two from a very far distance on land, one a bit closer — also on land, and the fourth on the pack ice from just about the 500 meters away required. This last one was the only one we could really see with the naked eye.

3. You Will See Other Wildlife

While a true viewing of polar bear is highly unlikely, clients heading to Svalbard will see plenty of wildlife, including dozens of species of birds, Arctic fax, walrus, seals, and possibly whales (primarily beluga and minke).

Throughout our journey, we saw several species of birds – including some 60,000 nesting Brunnich’s Guillemont – along with reindeer, Arctic fox, hundreds of walrus, and two species of seals. Others on our ship spotted both Beluga and minke whale. 

Keep in mind, if your clients’ primary goal is to see wildlife, and they haven’t done Antarctica yet, the Southern pole is a better choice for a larger variety of wildlife observation.

4. There’s No Set Itinerary

As with all polar expedition sailing – at both ends of the planet – there is no set itinerary to follow during a Svalbard cruise. Because the experience of an expedition sailing depends on Zodiac excursions and landings, the captain and expedition leader must work around ice and sea conditions to ensure the maximum number of both.

The amount of pack ice and/or fixed ice, combined with wind speeds determine where both the ship and Zodiacs can go. On our sailing, it wasn’t unusual for our expedition leader to not know where we were heading the next day, as future conditions for the direction he wanted to head were not yet clear.

Additionally, itineraries can be changed by the presence of wildlife. On our third night, two polar bears were spotted at a distance (over a mile away), and the captain essentially “parked” the Ultramarine next to the pack ice for the night, just in case one or both of the bears decided to move closer – they did not. We stayed ice-side from about 9pm to 5am. As a result, we missed out on an excursion the next morning.

If your clients have never done a polar sailing before, prepare them to be flexible. If they’re the rigid schedule type of people, they might find the laissez-faire nature of Svalbard cruising uncomfortable.

5. Fly In Early or Grapple with Exhaustion

Most travel advisors and veteran travelers know that flying in early is important when it comes to being in a destination on time for their tour or cruise to start. Equally as important for expedition cruising is being able to get started with little to no jet lag in order to get the most out of each excursion. (There are no easy bus ride excursions here.)

Svalbard cruises are active. They start early, usually include two outings per day, and incorporate time for a lecture or two. On top of that, being cold on a regular basis and the act of sitting on the Zodiacs for two hours at a time is extremely taxing on the body. Being jet lagged on day one, makes participating in all these activities much more difficult.

For North American travel advisors, the trip to get to Svalbard for their clients is a long one. Our Quark expeditions package started with a night in Helsinki, followed by an early morning wakeup to transfer to the airport for a charter flight to Longyearbyen. Once in Longyearbyen, we headed straight to a bus tour and then free time in the sleepy little town with not much to do. (For us, this occurred on a Sunday, meaning, several of the few stores that are there were closed.) By the time we got on the ship, it was near 5pm. The next morning’s wakeup call was 7am.

Unfortunately, we had made the decision to arrive in Helsinki the night before the transfer to Svalbard. That left us reeling from jet lag for at least half our sailing, making the lectures (particularly in the evening) more difficult to sit through.

6. It’s Dry in Svalbard!

While there’s lots of snow and ice in Svalbard, there’s nearly zero humidity in the air. That might be great for frizzy hair, but it’s hard on the body. It’s essential to remind your clients to stay hydrated.

Most cruise operators in the region will provide guests with reusable water bottles – and all have moisturizer in the bathrooms – but a great bon voyage gift from you for these clients could be a water bottle with a reminder to drink plenty of fluid, or travel-sized bottle of nice moisturizer. They’re going to need both.

7. Svalbard versus Spitsbergen versus Longyearbyen

When looking at itineraries, particularly multiple itineraries, clients (and their advisors!) might find all the names confusing. While one ship might say it embarks in Spitsbergen, another might say Longyearbyen. Some cruise itineraries, which claim to be Svalbard cruises, might only stop in Longyearbyen.

The biggest island in the archipelago is Spitsbergen. The biggest “city” on Spitsbergen is Longyearbyen. It is the main Svalbard port, where most ships begin and end their Svalbard itineraries (unless your client is looking at an itinerary that incorporates more than Svalbard). Longyearbyen offers several hotels and a smattering of restaurants and shops, and cruisers can fly in on their own to spend a day or two here prior to their sailing.

To help clear things up up, here’s what’s essential to know: Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic Circle that belongs to Norway. A “proper” Svalbard cruise explores all along the Spitsbergen coastline, and one or two other islands in the archipelago (during later season sailings), sticking primarily to spots that require Zodiacs to disembark.

There is one other port on Spitsbergen, Ny-Ålesund, where ships can actually dock, but it is not frequently visited as there is not much to see. It is mostly used by Hurtigruten, HX Expeditions, and Hapag-Lloyd, with less frequent visits by Atlas Ocean Voyages and Scenic.

Most other stops are along the Spitsbergen coastline and require Zodiacs to visit. Later season voyages may be able to reach other islands.