North Pole Cruises & Expeditions

The nuclear-powered ice-breaker 50 Years of Victory is an integral part of the North Pole experience. The iconic 50 Years of Victory is the first Arktika-class icebreaker to be built with a spoon-shaped bow, capable of breaking through ice up to 2.5 meters (9.2 feet) thick. This is one of the world’s largest, most-powerful nuclear icebreakers. 50 Years of Victory, which is equipped with an onboard helicopter, is a ship unlike any other and is able to go where other vessels cannot. 50 Years of Victory is a working ship that spends nine months of the year keeping Siberian shipping lanes open for merchant vessels. During the Arctic summer the ship – with fine dining amenities, well-appointed cabins, library, bar, lounge and presentation spaces – carries travelers safely throughout the Arctic.

Polar bears and Arctic foxes are among the few animal species that occasionally migrate to the North Pole. The drifting ice is an unpredictable habitat. The constant shifting of the ice means there are no regular migration routes nor any means to establish dens to raise young.
The undersea ecosystem of the North Pole is more varied than what’s found above the ice. Shrimp, sea anemones, and tiny crustaceans live below the ice surface and provide food for Arctic cod.
A few ringed seals (food for the occasional polar bear that wanders through) are sometimes sighted. Larger marine mammals, such as narwhal whales, have been observed but such sightings are rare.
Birds are frequent visitors to the North Pole. The Arctic tern, which has the longest annual migration of any species on the planet, spends its spring and summer in the Arctic, though rarely as far north as the North Pole. Other migratory birds observed at the North Pole include the small snow bunting, gull-like fulmars and kittiwakes.