Northwest Passage: Eastern Gateway – Save 25% on this cruise until 8th December 2026!

Cruise Itinerary

Highlights:
– Experience High Arctic summer in motion beneath long daylight as sea ice shifts, tundra flowers, seabirds gather, and wildlife follows seasonal routes through productive waters.
– Travel through Inuit homelands alongside Inuit, sharing community welcomes, country food, local languages, cultural traditions, and time on the land with Inuit guides and educators.
– Explore one of the Arctic’s great marine ecosystems with five days in Tallurutiup Imanga, watching for abundant wildlife among protected waters and Devon Island’s polar desert landscapes.
– Enter an age of Arctic ambition through the intertwined histories of whaling, science, empire, and the relentless European search for a Northwest Passage.
– See ice take centre stage at the Ilulissat Icefjord, among Greenland’s great procession of icebergs, and within High Arctic waters animated by drifting pack ice.

Itinerary:
Day 1: Kangerlussuaq, Greenland – Cross the Arctic Circle to the Sea
Kangerlussuaq lies within a broad glacial valley between the Greenland Ice Sheet and the sea. Its dry climate and unusually stable weather led to the establishment of an American air base here during the Second World War and continue to make it one of Greenland’s most important aviation gateways. The surrounding region has a much longer history as a place of Inuit travel and hunting.

After arriving by charter flight from Toronto, board the expedition vessel and begin the long passage through Kangerlussuaq Fjord. Mountains, glacial valleys, and pale meltwater mark the transition from Greenland’s interior to its western coast. Crossing the Arctic Circle, the route opens towards the long light and expansive waters of High Arctic summer.

Day 2: Sisimiut Coast – A Landscape Travelled for Millennia
Greenland’s Sisimiut coast unfolds as a complex meeting of islands, mountains, sheltered waterways, and deep fjords. At the height of summer, white cottongrass, dwarf birch, willow, and Arctic wildflowers spread across the tundra beneath dark rock. Seabirds are active along the coast, while whales may be encountered in the waters offshore.

Human history here reaches back more than 4,500 years. Archaeological traces left by successive cultures, including Saqqaq, Dorset, and Thule peoples, speak to generations of movement and adaptation along this coast. Zodiac cruises, hikes, and time ashore offer different ways to encounter a landscape where the sea has long connected hunting grounds, settlements, and travel routes.

Day 3: Ilulissat – Where Icebergs Are Born
Ilulissat means “icebergs,” a fitting name for a city beside one of the world’s great moving ice systems. At the head of the UNESCO-listed Ilulissat Icefjord, Sermeq Kujalleq ranks among the fastest and most active glaciers on Earth. Its immense icebergs travel slowly through the fjord before entering Disko Bay, continually transforming the seascape.

The icefjord has shaped human life here for more than four thousand years. That relationship continues in contemporary Ilulissat, a lively Greenlandic city where fishing boats crowd the harbour and the streets bustle with residents and travellers. Restaurants showcase Greenlandic ingredients, while cafés, shops, and the striking Ilulissat Icefjord Centre reflect the city’s growing cultural and creative energy.

Here, deep human history, contemporary city life, and constant environmental change come together at the edge of the ice.

Day 4: Western Greenland – Among Islands and Moving Ice
Northwest Greenland is a far-reaching world of islands, narrow channels, sheltered bays, and deep fjords enclosed by steep mountains. Glaciers descend from the ice sheet, while summer loosens sea ice and opens passages along the coast. The West Greenland Current carries immense icebergs northward, many beginning their journeys in Disko Bay before joining bergs released by glaciers farther north. Together, they form a moving flotilla of towers, arches, and fractured blue faces. During the nineteenth century, European whaling ships pressed through these ice-laden waters and across Melville Bay towards bowhead grounds in northern Baffin Bay and Tallurutiup Imanga.

Small communities occupy rocky islands and natural harbours throughout this intricate seascape. Fishing and hunting remain central to life, while boats connect settlements separated by water and rugged terrain. Explore by ship, Zodiac, and on foot, following shorelines busy with breeding seabirds and walking across tundra brightened by white cottongrass and summer wildflowers. Long hours of daylight illuminate the coast, where every channel offers a different arrangement of rock, water, and drifting ice.

Day 5: At Sea – Across the Great Northern Bay
Baffin Bay extends between Greenland and the Canadian Arctic, carrying currents, wildlife, sea ice, and immense drifting icebergs between its coasts. Icebergs moving north along Greenland may turn west through these waters before joining the southbound current along Baffin Island. Whales, seals, northern fulmars, kittiwakes, murres, and dovekies also travel and feed across this vast marine ecosystem.

A day aboard offers time to experience the scale of the crossing from the decks and observation spaces. Presentations, workshops, and conversations with Inuit cultural educators, naturalists, historians, and other expedition team members explore the wildlife, geography, cultures, and exploration history connecting both sides of the bay. Ahead lie Tallurutiup Imanga and the eastern gateway to the Northwest Passage.

Day 6–10: Tallurutiup Imanga (Lancaster Sound) and Devon Island, NU, Canada – Where the Passage Opens
Between northern Baffin Island and Devon Island, Tallurutiup Imanga opens westward from Baffin Bay into the waterways of the Northwest Passage. Known on many maps as Lancaster Sound, it is the great eastern gateway through which wildlife, people, ice, and ships have moved for generations. Its name means the waters surrounding Tallurut, the Inuktitut name for Devon Island, whose markings are said to resemble the lines of traditional chin tattoos.

Powerful tides and currents mix nutrients through these waters, sustaining one of the Arctic’s greatest concentrations of marine life. Narwhal, beluga, and bowhead whales, walrus, seals, and polar bears move through the region, while immense colonies of seabirds gather along its cliffs and islands. In High Arctic summer, long daylight offers time to watch for wildlife from ship, Zodiac, and shore as sea ice continues to shift through the channels.

Tallurutiup Imanga is also an artery connecting Inuit communities and an important place for travel, harvesting, and cultural practice. Its protection as one of Canada’s largest National Marine Conservation Areas recognizes both its extraordinary ecological value and generations of Inuit knowledge and stewardship. Inuit expedition team members and naturalists interpret how currents, ice, wildlife, and human life interact across this complex marine environment.

Tallurut rises from these waters in broad plateaus, glacial valleys, gravel plains, and polar desert. Known in English as Devon Island, it is the world’s largest island without a permanent population, although archaeological sites attest to a long history of Paleo-Inuit and Inuit presence. Walks and Zodiac explorations bring its immense geological scale and delicate summer tundra into closer view. Across water and land, Tallurutiup Imanga gathers the defining elements of the eastern gateway into one remarkable High Arctic region.

Day 11: Ikpiarjuk (Arctic Bay) – A Warm Welcome in the High Arctic
Ikpiarjuk sits within a natural amphitheatre of tall hills at the head of Adams Sound, where cliffs and sculpted rock formations rise above a sheltered harbour. Its Inuktitut name means “the pocket,” a fitting description for a community held between mountains and sea on the northern coast of Baffin Island.

The surrounding waters and lands have drawn people here for generations. Fishing and the harvesting of seal, narwhal, and other wildlife remain important to food, travel, and community life. Inuktitut is widely spoken, carrying knowledge particular to this coast, while carving, sewing, education, local businesses, and other forms of contemporary work reflect a community continually defining its own future.

Ikpiarjuk is one of the communities most closely connected with Tallurutiup Imanga. Its waters provide travel routes and harvesting areas while linking the community with the wider Qikiqtani region. Time shared with residents offers an experience of Tallurutiup Imanga from the shore, expressed through language, creativity, daily life, and the welcome of those who know these waters as home.

Day 12: Beechey Island – In the Wake of Franklin
Beechey Island holds one of the most tangible chapters in the history of Northwest Passage exploration. Franklin’s expedition spent the winter of 1845–46 here before sailing onward and disappearing. Three graves, remains of the camp, and stone structures left by later search expeditions still mark its stark shoreline.

Beechey became a gathering point for those who came north in search of Franklin, leaving supplies, messages, and traces of their own journeys. A fourth grave belongs to Thomas Morgan of HMS Investigator, who died during one of these searches. In the decades following Franklin’s disappearance, dozens of expeditions entered the Arctic, charting extensive areas and extending European scientific and imperial attention across Inuit Nunangat.

Inuit testimony proved essential to tracing the expedition’s final movements and, generations later, locating its lost ships. Beechey Island connects Franklin’s failed voyage with its wider legacy, including expanded geographical knowledge, growing colonial ambitions, and an increasingly sustained southern presence in Inuit homelands.

Day 13: Qausuittuq (Resolute), NU, Canada – At a Crossroads of the High Arctic
Set among the gravel plains and raised beaches of Cornwallis Island, Qausuittuq occupies a strategic place within the waterways of the Canadian High Arctic. Its Inuktitut name means “place with no dawn,” a reference to the long polar night, while the summer season brings light that lingers around the clock.

The modern community began with the Canadian government’s High Arctic Relocation of 1953. The Qausuitturmiut who call it home have built a distinct community that now serves as an important centre for northern research, transportation, and expedition travel.

Disembark in Qausuittuq and transfer to the airport for the charter flight to Ottawa. Here, at a historic crossroads of Inuit travel, Arctic exploration, and contemporary northern life, the sea journey ends and the route turns south.

https://youtu.be/9nwWQ7Ksi4o

The Ocean Victory, launched in 2021, is one of the most modern small expedition vessels at sea. Purpose-built for discovery, it combines comfort, capability, and a deep commitment to sustainability – an ideal platform for Adventure Canada’s small-ship journeys to some of the world’s most remarkable places. Its innovative X-BOW® hull delivers smoother, quieter crossings and greater stability, while its ice-strengthened design ensures safe passage into areas few ships can reach.

On board, travellers are welcomed into bright cabins, panoramic decks, and inviting spaces designed to spark conversation, laughter, and learning. Shared meals, engaging presentations, and quiet moments of reflection as icebergs drift past create a sense of community and curiosity. The Ocean Victory offers a rare combination of comfort, connection, and environmental care.

Founded in 1987, Adventure Canada was created to bring travellers to Canada’s “blank spaces”, those areas whose remoteness alone made them special. Over the last fifteen years, along with our guests, we have discovered that there is so much that is extraordinary about the places we travel, from the landscape, wildlife and culture to the history, art and archeology that is unique to every destination. It is our belief that there is so much to see “beyond the binoculars” that drives us to delve deeper into our favourite places with every expedition and continually seek out new destinations.

We travel by small expedition ship, the best suited mode of transportation for remote exploration. The number of passengers on our voyages run between 45 and 100, depending on the ship we choose. We believe that these small vessels are superior, as they not only allow us to gain access to places not accessible by larger vessels, but our fleet of Zodiac landing craft permit us to visit some of the most remote places imaginable – the key to expeditionary travel.

Select the Deck to view detail.

Ocean Victory - Deck 3

Ocean Victory - Deck 4

Ocean Victory - Deck 5

Ocean Victory - Deck 6

Ocean Victory - Deck 7

Ocean Victory - Deck 8

Ocean Victory - Deck 9

Select the Cabin to view detail.

Category A - Single Cabin

– Porthole window
– Double bed
– Bathroom with a shower
– Selection of bath products (body wash, lotion, shampoo) and hair dryer
– Bathrobes and slippers
– Desk and a chair
– Refrigerator
– Private air conditioning
– Television
– Wi-Fi access (basic service included)
– Several 230V outlets and USB ports
– Safety box
– Approximately 151 square feet (14 sqm)
– Cabin layout and size may vary

Category 9 - Premium Suite

– Private balcony
– Two-bedroom suite
– Double bed or twin beds
– Spacious bathroom with shower
– Selection of bath products (body wash, lotion, shampoo) and hair dryer
– Bathrobes and slippers
– Sitting area with sofa bed
– Desk and a chair
– Refrigerator
– Private air conditioning
– Television
– Wi-Fi access (basic service included)
– Several 230V outlets and USB ports
– Safety box
– Approximately 452 square feet (42 sqm)

Category 8 - Junior Suite

– Private balcony
– Double bed or twin beds
– Spacious bathroom with shower
– Selection of bath products (body wash, lotion, shampoo) and hair dryer
– Bathrobes and slippers
– Sitting area with sofa bed
– Desk and a chair
– Refrigerator
– Private air conditioning
– Television
– Wi-Fi access (basic service included)
– Several 230V outlets and USB ports
– Safety box
– Approximately 388 square feet (36 sqm)
– Cabin layout and size may vary

Category 7 - Balcony Suite

– Large private balcony
– Double bed or twin beds
– Bathroom with a shower
– Selection of bath products (body wash, lotion, shampoo) and hair dryer
– Bathrobes and slippers
– Desk and a chair
– Refrigerator
– Private air conditioning
– Television
– Wi-Fi access (basic service included)
– Several 230V outlets and USB ports
– Safety box
– Approximately 280-344 square feet (26-32 sqm)
– Cabin layout and size may vary

Category 6 - Grand Balcony Cabin

– Balcony
– Double bed or two single beds
– Bathroom with a shower
– Selection of bath products (body wash, lotion, shampoo) and hair dryer
– Bathrobes and slippers
– Desk and a chair
– Refrigerator
– Private air conditioning
– Television
– Wi-Fi access (basic service included)
– Several 230V outlets and USB ports
– Safety box
– Approximately 269-323 square feet (25-30 sqm)
– Cabin layout and size may vary

Category 5 - Superior Balcony Cabin

– Balcony
– Double bed or twin beds
– Bathroom with a shower
– Selection of bath products (body wash, lotion, shampoo) and hair dryer
– Bathrobes and slippers
– Seating area featuring a sofa, table, and chair
– Optional connecting staterooms available upon request
– Refrigerator
– Private air conditioning
– Television
– Wi-Fi access (basic service included)
– Several 230V outlets and USB ports
– Safety box
– Approximately 237-269 square feet (22-25 sqm)
– Cabin layout and size may vary

Category 4 - Balcony Cabin

– Balcony
– Double bed or twin beds
– Bathroom with a shower
– Selection of bath products (body wash, lotion, shampoo) and hair dryer
– Bathrobes and slippers
– Desk with a chair
– Refrigerator
– Private air conditioning
– Television
– Wi-Fi access (basic service included)
– Several 230V outlets and USB ports
– Safety box
– Approximately 194-237 square feet (18-22 sqm)
– Cabin layout and size may vary

Category 3 - French Balcony Cabin

– Floor-to-ceiling windows
– French-style balcony
– One queen size bed
– Bathroom with a shower
– Selection of bath products (body wash, lotion, shampoo) and hair dryer
– Bathrobes and slippers
– Desk with a chair
– Refrigerator
– Private air conditioning
– Television
– Wi-Fi access (basic service included)
– Several 230V outlets and USB ports
– Safety box
– Approximately 151 square feet (14 sqm)
– Cabin layout and size may vary

Category 2 - Albatros Cabin

– Porthole window
– Double bed or two single beds
– Bathroom with a shower
– Selection of bath products (body wash, lotion, shampoo) and hair dryer
– Bathrobes and slippers
– Desk and a chair
– Refrigerator
– Private air conditioning
– Television
– Wi-Fi access (basic service included)
– Several 230V outlets and USB ports
– Safety box
– Approximately 140-237 square feet (13-22 sqm)
– Cabin layout and size may vary

Category 1 - Triple Cabin

– Porthole window
– Two twin beds or double bed, plus sofa bed
– Bathroom with a shower
– Selection of bath products (body wash, lotion, shampoo) and hair dryer
– Bathrobes and slippers
– Desk and a chair
– Refrigerator
– Private air conditioning
– Television
– Wi-Fi access (basic service included)
– Several 230V outlets and USB ports
– Safety box
– Close to mud room and loading platforms
– Approximately 194-237 square feet (18-22 sqm)
– Cabin layout and size may vary