The first cruise ship transit of the Northwest Passage took place in 1984 when the ice-strengthened Lindblad Explorer completed a 43-day journey from New York to Japan carrying 98 passengers. As the ice coverage has shrunk rapidly due to climate change, an increasing number of cruise ships and private yachts have made the passage. But even with less ice, the journey is still a difficult one, with challenging weather and isolation to contend with. Over the past three years, an average of only 10 passenger vessel and 19 private yacht transits were made.

We’ve long been interested in crossing the Northwest Passage, and had even done some preliminary investigations into making the journey in Dirona. Since that didn’t come about, we’d been considering a cruise ship passage instead. We’re always up for something a little different, however, so when we learned that our favorite icebreaker, Ponant’s Le Commandant Charcot, would be making the first ever east-to-west trans-Arctic cruise ship crossing, we booked right away.

The journey would not be through the relatively ice-free islands of the Northwest Passage, but instead right across the top of the planet. Starting in Svalbard, Norway and terminating in Seward, Alaska, the ship would break ice to the North Geographic Pole, the North Magnetic Pole and the North Pole of Inaccessibility. Less than a thousand people have reached all three of these points.

We boarded the ship in Longyearbyen, after spending a couple of days in town, and spent the next few days enjoying the dramatic scenery and wildlife of Svalbard.

One of the more captivating sights was Brasvellbreenn Glacier. The massive ice cliff is about 100 miles (160km) wide with spectacular meltwater streams and waterfalls

We made an excellent polar hike at Faksevagen, for sweeping views and much wildlife. We had a bit of excitement at the end when our guide spotted a polar bar a few hundred yards away. The bear seemed sleepy and uninterested, but the animal definitely had everyone’s attention as the guides quickly arranged an impromptu zodiac pickup and rushed us to safety to sea.

At Etonbreen glacier we dressed up warmly in drysuits and went kayaking in the glacial ice for a couple of hours, followed by a hot chocolate delivery to our little craft. Ponant does a great job of providing surprise treats throughout the trip.

We saw more polar bears before leaving Svalbard, this time from the safety of the ship where we could enjoy them at length. They are such majestic animals—we never tire of watching them.

And then it was off to the North Pole for the second time. When we were there two years earlier, we certainly didn’t expect to return, and so soon after. After reaching the pole in the late afternoon, the captain moored the Charcot in the ice for a quick shore excursion before a major on-board celebration. The Charcot also carries a scientific research team who carried out experiments and gathered data throughout the journey.

We remained at the North Pole overnight, drifting with the pack, then spent the following morning on an extended guided hike away from the ship. This was a nice change from previous cruises, where we weren’t allowed out of a relatively small perimeter. It felt unusual to be so far away from the ship in these conditions. On our return, we enjoyed warm soup served on the ice and found Santa!

Before departing from the North Pole, the crew setup a polar plunge of the ship’s stern. Jennifer bundled up for the snow and made the leap. It’s always a little scary up front, and very cold in the water, but satisfying afterwards. James enjoyed the plunge watching from our balcony, warm and dry.

As we left the North Pole, the caption took us on a quick blast around the world before heading to the North Magnetic Pole.

The North Magnetic Pole is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth’s magnetic field points straight down. This point is constantly shifting, currently about 20-34 miles (35-55km) per year, due to the flow of liquid in the planet’s molten core. In 2015 it was located over Ellesmere Island, Canada. But when we visited a decade later it was roughly midway between Canada and Russia, about 270 miles from the North Pole, and drifting toward Siberia. At the pole, we snowshoed and went on an extended cross-country skiing trek complete with hot chocolate. We celebrated with peach bellinis on the ice and, after warming up in our hot tub, on board to a bag pipe serenade from the Chief Engineer.

Our final major milestone was the North Pole of Inaccessibility, the point in the Arctic that is farthest from any land. We were 910 miles (1,465 km) from Utqiagvik in Alaska, 864 miles (1,390 km) from Franz Josef Land in Russia, and 665 miles (1,070 km) from Ellesmere Island in Canada. The geographic North Pole, by comparison, is only 435 miles (700 km) from the nearest land, Kaffeklubben Island off the northern coast of Greenland.

Le Commandant Charcot was the first ship to reach the North Pole of Inaccessibility last year, and this return trip is only the second ship arrival. We were among the fewer than a thousand people who had ever been there. We reached the pole at sunrise on a beautifully clear, but cold, morning. Ice was forming on the rails of Le Commandant Charcot in sub-freezing Arctic temperatures of 10°F (-12°C).

We enjoyed one more event on the ice before we left the pack for Nome: morning coffee and croissants before sunrise. This was our first time on the ice in the dark and the Charcot looked spectacular with spotlights beaming. The captain, always up for a gag, showed up in his bathrobe, having “just got up”.

A couple of days later we attended a final outdoor cocktail party on the helideck of Le Commandant Charcot to celebrate reaching all three Arctic poles.

In between all the activities and milestones, we loved taking in the surprising variety of patterns and shapes in the sea ice, and the disturbances as the Charcot broke through. We often spent an afternoon in the Detox bar with a smoothie, noses up against the glass, studying the ice.

Our trip ended in tiny Nome, Alaska where we took a lifeboat tender ashore and flew back to Seattle, getting one last look at Le Commandant Charcot from the air as we departed. The trip had been absolutely amazing and the Charcot , as always, an exceptional platform. We look forward to our next adventure on board.