Here, at the top of the world, nature has created unique wonders in astonishing variety. Our game-changing new expedition vessel Ultramarine, equipped with two twin-engine helicopters and 20 quick-launching Zodiacs, enables you to explore this breathtaking environment from brand new perspectives. You’ll experience the same sense of wonder felt by early explorers as they navigated the region’s formidable bays, inlets and channels.
On this exciting itinerary, we follow the natural guides of sea and ice to showcase the region’s cultural, historic and geographic treasures, aiming to approach the farthest stretches of this rugged, rarely visited landscape. Ultramarine’s unprecedented range of adventure options, including activities such as helicopter flightseeing, gives you an unrivalled polar experience. You’ll be able to view the magnificent wildlife that make their home in this forbidding region: sea mammals, polar bears, muskox, and possibly even the elusive arctic wolf. From soaring cliffs to mummified forests, spectacular glacial formations to stunning alpine vistas, expansive waterways to sheltered shores, Canada’s Remote Arctic provides the definitive experience of a mysterious, magical region few ever get to see
Inclusions
- 1 night pre-cruise and 1 night post-cruise hotel in Calgary
- Roundtrip charter flight between Calgary and Resolute
- 9 nights expedition cruise aboard Ultramarine (Quark Expeditions)
- Arrival and departure transfers in Calgary
- All meals, snacks, soft drinks and juices on board
- Free beer, standard wines, spirits, and cocktails during bar service hours and dinner
- All Zodiac transfers and cruising as per the daily program
- Shore landing and other activities, lead by experienced Expedition Leaders
- A photographic journal documenting the expedition
- A pair of waterproof expedition boots on loan for landings and Zodiac cruising excursions
- An official Quark Expeditions® parka to keep
- Complimentary Wi-Fi service on one device (basic service)
- Book by Mar 31: Save 15% off, plus receive $2100 Flight Credit and Priority Pass lounge access*! (price reflects discount)
September 9, 2025 | Calgary |
Explorer Suite/Oceanview | from |
Balcony Suite | from |
Deluxe Balcony Suite | from |
Taxes & Fees Included |
*Two free visits per passenger, must be used within 1 year.
New bookings only. Space and price are limited and subject to availability when booking. Cruise Only prices do not include airfare, transfers or hotel. The cost of airfare varies from other city gateways; please call to inquire. The prices listed are for lead-in categories (oceanview or balcony cabins may be obstructed), but upgrades are available. Promotional offers may be withdrawn at any time. Depending on the promotion, the deposit for the cruise may be non-refundable; however, we also provide a refundable option at a slightly higher price, ensuring flexibility in your booking. Ready to set sail? Call us now to inquire for more information or other sailing dates. We're here to help you plan your dream cruise. |
- Search for iconic Arctic wildlife, such as polar bears, walrus and muskoxen
- Learn about indigenous culture from Inuit guides onboard and ashore
- Enjoy unforgettable flightseeing and heli-landings aboard Ultramarine’s two helicopters
- Zodiac along the face of an active glacier
- Channel your inner explorer as we set out to reach Canada’s most northerly islands: Axel Heiberg and Ellesmere Island
Day 1: Arrive in Calgary, Canada
Your Arctic expedition begins in Calgary. Explore this vibrant city on your own before you spend the night enjoying the comforts and amenities of your designated hotel.
Day 2: Fly to Resolute and Embark
This morning, board your charter flight to Resolute, Nunavut. Upon arrival, you may have a chance to check out this small hamlet on foot before being transferred to your ship via Zodiac or helicopter (depending on ship location and weather conditions).
Day 3-10: Exploring Canada’s High Arctic
Cruising around the remote islands of the Canadian High Arctic aboard Ultramarine, the newest ship in our fleet, you’ll navigate the same icy inlets, channels and bays that fascinated legendary explorers of long ago. Designed to give polar adventurers unprecedented access to the hardest- to-reach places on the planet—and equipped with two onboard twin- engine helicopters for unparalleled access to areas only Quark Expeditions can bring you—this one-of-a-kind ship will take you beyond the familiar in polar exploration. Throughout your journey, your Expedition Team will keep an eye toward immersing you in the best the Arctic has to offer, including reaching Canada’s most northerly islands: Axel Heiberg Island and the rarely visited Ellesmere Island, at the top of the world.
Remember that no two polar voyages are alike, since each expedition presents new opportunities and different weather and ice conditions. While this voyage has no fixed itinerary, our objective is to visit as many of the incredible highlights the season has to offer, using our extensive expertise to give you the best experience. Each day, your highly skilled Expedition Team will read the conditions and choose the best course to set, but despite their knowledge of these areas, each visit brings something new to discover. That said, our expeditions will have some elements in common, including daily Zodiac cruising, land excursions, a robust education program, a community visit and wildlife viewing opportunities. And thanks to our onboard helicopters, you’ll also discover the ultimate polar expedition experience: While polar landscapes are spectacular from the sea and on land, the view from the air is uniquely stunning. Conditions permitting, you’ll enjoy an ultra-immersive flightseeing activity (short sightseeing flights around your ship and surrounding areas) unique to Ultramarine, giving you an awe-inspiring polar experience like no other.
While this waterway is known to European cultures as the Northwest Passage, this area has nurtured and sustained the Inuit and their predecessors who have called these shores home for almost 5,000 years. Moving through these remote landscapes you will be traveling through the ancestral homelands of this ancient culture, illuminated in person by Inuit guides onboard and ashore. Nunavut is an Inuktitut word meaning “our land” and the Nunavummiut (the people of Nunavut) are renowned for their incredible resourcefulness, hospitality, good humor, and a deep knowledge of the land and animals that has allowed them to thrive in the far north for millennia.
Ultimately, your Expedition Team will keep its eye northward, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the lucky few polar adventurers who have transited through the famous Hell Gate to reach the top of the world, the spectacular Ellesmere Island. If conditions are right, the soaring, ominous snow-capped peaks of this polar desert will come into focus as we approach. The northernmost island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Ellesmere is one of the most remote places on the planet, a land of deep fjords, jagged mountains and massive ice shelves. If we’re fortunate enough to reach here, you will be among the few polar explorers to do so. One of the goals of this expedition is to introduce guests to the unique glaciology of Axel Heiberg Island, Canada’s second-most northernly island, one-third of which is covered in glaciers. A glacier that spreads out as a wide lobe as it leaves a narrow mountain valley to enter a wider valley or a plain. Axel Heiberg is home to the most dramatic and impressive Piedmont glaciers in the world. The Piedmont glacier spreads out as a wide lobe as it makes it way out of a narrow mountain valley into a wider valley or a plain. Birders will want to have their binoculars and cameras at the ready, as the island also affords opportunities for sightings of snow buntings, ptarmigans, jaegers and arctic terns, among others.
Wildlife sightings are almost guaranteed, as many of the areas we hope to explore are home to a surprising number of birds and mammals that thrive in this challenging environment. You may see polar bears, muskoxen and several bird species, such as gyrfalcons and dovekies (little auks). If you’re lucky, you may even spot the elusive narwhal or arctic wolf, though sightings of these iconic creatures in the wild are rare, even in these areas where we have the highest chances of encountering them.
Coburg Island, for instance, is a wildlife reserve for such birds as snowy owls and peregrine falcons, while the impressive vertical cliffs of Prince Leopold Island are dotted with nesting seabirds like northern fulmars and black guillemots. The sheltered shores and steep cliffs of Arctic Bay, a hamlet located off of Admiralty Inlet, provide an ideal nesting habitat for various High Arctic birds such as snow geese, thick-billed murres (Brünnich’s guillemots) and kittiwakes. The region has been inhabited by Inuit and Thule cultures for almost 5,000 years. This community is an ideal spot to go ashore and learn more about the Inuit culture, sampling the local cuisine and mingling with artists, perhaps picking up carvings or other handicrafts as a memento of your polar adventure.
Devon Island is another possible locale for wildlife encounters, as walrus, polar bears and muskoxen inhabit the area, which is also the location of the remains of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police outpost, established at Dundas Harbour in 1924 to curb foreign whaling and other activities. Nearby is a small cemetery, one of Canada’s most northerly, still maintained by the RCMP to this day. Another exciting excursion your Expedition Team might offer, conditions permitting, is the opportunity to fly up to explore the Devon ice cap, one of the largest in the Canadian Arctic. History buffs will also be intrigued by the chance to visit an abandoned Hudson’s Bay Company trading post at Fort Ross, at the southern end of Somerset Island, and pay their respects to the ill-fated Franklin expedition of 1845–46 at the gravesite of three crew members on Beechey Island, one of Canada’s most significant Arctic exploration sites.
You may have the opportunity to cruise in a Zodiac along the face of an active glacier near Croker Bay and possibly even witness the wonders of calving ice, at a safe distance. Listen closely for the steady crackle and deep roars as slabs of ice break off and crash into the water below. You’ll also want to be on the lookout for the walrus that are often seen in the area.
There is no shortage of natural beauty, wildlife and history in Canada’s High Arctic. Each day, you’ll discover something new and inspiring, whether it is admiration of the tundra flora to survive the extremely rugged environment, a rare bird species soaring overhead, a polar bear on the hunt in its natural habitat, or the ancient remains of a Thule dwelling, predecessors of the Inuit who live here today.
Day 11: Disembark in Resolute, Canada and Fly to Calgary
After disembarking in Resolute, you’ll be transferred to your charter flight to Calgary, where you’ll spend the night at your included hotel.
Day 12: Depart Calgary
Today, make your way to the airport to catch your homeward flights, or spend the day exploring this fascinating city.
The Best Team
When you venture into the untouched wilds of the Arctic and Antarctic, you need a great team around you. And we have the greatest. You’ll join elite guides trained at Quark Academy—which surpasses every standard imaginable for safety and preparedness in the Polar Regions—and interact directly with world-class polar experts. Our philosophy? The team that explores together, discovers more together.
We Take You Deeper
Quark Expeditions goes where others simply can’t. Or won’t. But our expert guides’ abilities to read unknown terrain means where there’s a will, there’s a way—and that way could be by kayak, Zodiac boat, helicopter, or even hot air balloon. In an environment so unpredictable, it pays to have a few backup plans. We don’t just expect the unexpected, we embrace it.
Most Innovative Itineraries
We’ve been pioneering new types of expeditions into the Polar Regions for over 30 years now. We not only offer the most itineraries, but the most varied as well. Regardless of where you venture, you can explore culture, wildlife, science, physical activity, and more. To put it simply: More places to explore, more ways to explore them.
The Most Adventure Activites
Every voyage starts on a ship, but the real adventure happens off-ship. In the polar wilds, we camp, kayak, mountain bike, hike and fly by helicopter to remote locations. We paddleboard on icy waters, and rise above the polar landscape in hot air balloons. With the most adventure options available, how you experience the Polar Regions is entirely up to you.
Small Ships
When it comes to polar expeditions, you’re only as good as where your ships can take you. And our diverse fleet of small polar vessels, which includes icebreakers and expedition ships, can take you to places larger ships can’t navigate. Equally key is our fleet of Zodiac boats, which let us make landfall where others are not able. Trust us: when you travel all the way to the edge of the world, you’ll want to reach out and touch it too.