When going to the Arctic or the Antarctic picking the right ship can make a difference in what you experience. However, that does not mean that that choices are limited. There are many choices with well-known companies like Aurora Expeditions, Hurtigruten, National Geographic (Lindblad), Ponant, Quark, Seabourn, Silverseas, and Viking for example. Others are new Scenic and Atlas Ocean. Additionally, specialty travel companies like Abercrombie & Kent and Wilderness Travel offer these expeditions on ships from the major companies that they have chartered for specific voyages.
Ships must comply with the Polar Code adopted by the International Maritime Organization to operate in these two areas. The code provides safety and environmental protection requirements which the ship, its crews and passengers must meet. Each ship must comply with the operating limits of its certificate. Ships are divided into three categories A, B, and C. Category A and B ships meet the requirements for IACS Polar Classes. Category C ships have been designed to operate in open water and in ice less severe than first year ice and do not meet the IACS Polar Classes.
Ships are grouped into seven Polar Classes. PC 1 the highest allowing for year-round operations in all polar waters (Above the 600 North or South with some exceptions for Iceland, Alaska, and other locations in the Arctic region). The lowest classification PC-7 allows for summer and autumn operations in thin first year ice.
PC2 is currently the highest class of ship in operation and the only ship currently certified is the Ponant expedition ship, Le Commandant Charcot. It can break ice up to 8 feet thick. Several Governments have PC2 class icebreakers under construction with deliveries in the next couple of years.
Four expedition ships have been built to the PC 5 rating for National Geographic (Endurance and Resolution) and Swan Hellenic cruises (Minerva and Vega) which all for year-round operations in medium first-year ice and some older ice.
All the other expedition ships are either PC 6, PC 7, not assigned an Ice Class or rated by another authority. These ships are usually limited to summer/autumn operations in either open waters or in less severe ice condition.
Some of the cruise lines use the guidance from Lloyds Register to describe their ships ice handling capability based on the thickness of the ice and whether first or multi-year ice. Their rating of 1A is for first year ice with a thickness of up to one meter (3.2 feet). Their AC3 rating is for Arctic or Antarctic conditions of up to 3 meters. PC 6 and 7 the lowest level of the Polar Class is roughly equivalent to two highest levels under some of the older certification requirements.
In addition to the ship’s Polar class, size in an important consideration. If you want to go ashore, then a large ship is not an option. In the Antarctic no more than 100 people can land at a site at the same time. So, a zodiac cruise may be offered to the remaining passengers until the site is again available for landing. In the Arctic new regulations have been proposed by the Norwegian Government which would among other things ban access to all 29 protected conservation areas around Svalbard to ships with a capacity of more than 200 passengers.
