Our tour will explore the remote Arctic Regions from the comfort of the Peregrine Voyager, a 110-passenger ship outfitted specifically to navigate icy waters. Look for marine mammals, sea birds and polar bears as we cruise from Svalbard, Norway to Greenland to Iceland crossing the Arctic Circle along the way.

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Wonderland of wildlife: Frequently-Asked Questions about High Arctic Cruise

For twelve days, we’ll sail along the coast of Spitsbergen Island, Greenland and Iceland to witness an area few travelers have ever seen. We'll enjoy diverse wildlife including sea birds, marine mammals and great white polar bears. We'll sail through the Svalbard archipelago, see the massive glacial fjords of Greenland and walk along some of the newest land in the world in Iceland's Westmann Islands before we complete our journey in Reykjavik.

This FAQ page is intended to accompany other pages about this trip and about our company. Some of the answers below may include links to other other sites; please use the BACK key of your browser to return to this page.

Contents:

• What kinds of cabins are available for the High Arctic Cruise, and what are their prices?
  
• When and where does the High Arctic Cruise start and end?
  
• What flights are available for the High Arctic Cruise
  
• Do I need any special medical or cancellation insurance?
  
• I'm traveling alone. Will everyone else be in couples?
  
• Is it any problem if a straight friend joins me on a trip?
  
• I'm a vegetarian. Will that be a problem?
  

What kinds of cabins are available for the High Arctic Cruise, and what are their prices?
For the August 12-20, 2007 High Arctic Cruise from Spitsbergen, Norway to Greenland and Iceland, the cabin configurations and cruise-only prices are as follows. All prices are in US dollars, and are per person, double (or triple) occupancy for the 12-night cruise (flights and optional pre-cruise and post-cruise extensions are priced separately):

Main Deck Triple (total of 2 cabins): $4,050 for bunk beds and sofa bed; shared bathroom facilities; washbasin in the cabin; writing desk.

Main Deck Twin (total of 11 cabins): $5,490 for bunk beds; shared facilities; washbasin in the cabin; writing desk.

Upper Deck Twin (total of 10 cabins): $5,750 for 1 lower berth and 1 sofa bed; semi-private bathroom (shared by 2 cabins); writing desk.

Superior (total of 20 cabins): $6,150 for 1 sofa bed, 1 lower berth, 1 upper berth; private bathroom; writing desk.

Superior Plus (total of 5 cabins): $6,650 for 2 lower berths, private bathroom; writing desk; armchair.

Peregrine Suite (total of 5 cabins): $6,990 for 1 double berth, 1 sofa bed; separate sleeping quarters and living room; private bathroom; upgraded bedding; refrigerator; VCR and TV for playing videos; writing desk.

Cook Suite (total of 1 cabin): $7,490 for Double berth, 1 sofa bed; separate sleeping quarters and living room; private bathroom with bathtub; upgraded bedding; refrigerator; VCR and TV for playing videos; writing desk.

Single travelers: pending cabin availability, should you request sole occupancy of a twin-berth cabin, you will be charged 1.6 times the published rate.

When and where does the High Arctic Cruise start and end?
The cruise starts in one of the northernmost towns in the world, Longyearbyen, on Svalbard Island in the Spitsbergen Archipelago, off the northwest coast of Norway. Embarkation is on the afternoon of the first day of the cruise, but we strongly urge you to arrive in Longyearbyen a day or two before the cruise starts, since it is nearly impossible to catch up to the cruise if you miss the sailing. The cruise ends in Reykjavik, Iceland on the morning of the last day of the cruise, so you can fly out that afternoon, or stay on in Reykjavik for a day or two.

What flights are available for the High Arctic Cruise
Flights are available to Longyearbyen (LYR) from Oslo, Norway, via Tromso, on SAS, which has flights from North America to Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm. The only airline that flies between Iceland and North America is Icelandair. They also fly to Oslo, so one option would be to fly to Oslo via Reykjavik on Icelandair, then connect to the flight to Longyearbyen on SAS (a partner of Icelandair).

We recommend booking flights as soon as you book the cruise, since August is a very busy time for airlines to the region. If you would like flight assistance, please contact our office.

Do I need any special medical or cancellation insurance?
We are one of the few companies that includes basic medical and evacuation travel insurance for all of our trips. In other words, we cover you for any illness or injury which occurs during the tour (except while in the water for scuba diving, for which we recommend DAN insurance).

We also recommend that everyone on our trips have personal medical insurance, in which case the coverage included with our tours is secondary coverage, which is intended to cover deductibles, co-pays and other costs not covered by your personal insurance.

To protect your financial investment, we also encourage you to add trip cancellation insurance to the tour fee for your trip, at the time of your deposit, or within 10 days after the deposit is paid. The price varies by trip, so please ask us for the amount for your tour, or see your statement.

This coverage can be useful if you, your traveling companion, your business or life partner, or a family member have an occurrence that causes you to need to cancel your trip. Please read our Terms & Conditions carefully so that you understand our cancellation policy.

Many other companies offer this coverage as well. Be sure to read the policy carefully, so that you know what situations are and are not covered by the policy.

I'm traveling alone. Will everyone else be in couples?
Most of our trips draw more single travelers than couples. When couples do join us, it's usually because they're looking forward to interacting with a gay group; if they wanted a holiday by themselves, they wouldn't have signed up to travel with us. Furthermore, the activities included with our trips serve as natural ice-breakers. Within a day, you'll be traveling with friends.

You don't need to pay the single supplement if you're traveling alone. We'll be happy to match you with a roommate. Pay the single supplement only if you want a bedroom to yourself.

Is it any problem if a straight friend joins me on a trip?
We define our trips as being for "gay men, lesbians, and friends." Some of our trips are designated for gay men only. The company was founded because, even these days, gay men and lesbians sometimes encounter a cool reception from people who aren't gay, and many of us would rather take a vacation in an atmosphere where that's not an issue. Our groups are also mostly small and intimate (some with as few as six participants) and the camaraderie is as important as the scenery. So while we occasionally welcome friends and family to join us, we tend to keep our groups essentially for gay men. It has been our mission since the start and we still believe it is important to offer trips for men to be together without the pressures they may experience at home (in smaller cities) and in their jobs. At the same time, we also acknowledge a wider mix of participants and personalities can also make for a great trip and are willing to consider anyone who wants to travel with us.

So your friend is certainly welcome to travel with us. We think you'll have a great time, and the kind of people who come on our trips will enjoy having a friendly but wider mix of participants and personalities.

I'm a vegetarian. Will that be a problem?
No. Let us know about that, or other special dietary restrictions on the questionnaire we send out before the trip.

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