- 1 day ago
We went aboard a cruise ship navigating some of the world’s most dangerous waters. In the Arctic, drifting icebergs, sea ice, sudden storms and fierce winds make sailing unpredictable. Yet every year, around 100,000 cruise passengers travel to Greenland to explore its remote coastline and experience one of the world’s last great wildernesses.
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00This cruise ship is navigating some of the most dangerous waters in the world.
00:10One wrong move could seriously damage the ship.
00:15The captain has to find a safe way through hundreds of moving icebergs.
00:20Pushing, but not away yet. But keep on flushing, keep on flushing.
00:24Flushing on both sides.
00:26And if anything goes wrong, rescue can be a very long way away.
00:32If something happens, you are on your own.
00:36Every year, around 100,000 cruise tourists make the journey to Greenland
00:41in search of one of the last untouched wildernesses on Earth.
00:46But the Arctic is warming far faster than the rest of the planet.
00:51It's not about if it happens that Greenland loses its ice, it's about when.
00:57Retreating glaciers are releasing more icebergs into the ocean,
01:01and storms are becoming more frequent.
01:04The weather is getting tougher. We feel it on the ships.
01:08We joined a cruise ship as it navigated Greenland's west coast
01:12to see how its crew keeps hundreds of passengers safe in a fast-changing Arctic.
01:27In the Arctic summer, the sun never sets.
01:32It's 5 a.m. aboard the MS Frikshof Nansen.
01:36And the ship is navigating the treacherous waters off western Greenland,
01:41heading into a maze of drifting ice.
01:48The journey is fraught with risk.
01:50There's some black ice there.
01:53But Captain Terje Willison has seen it all before.
01:57He has commanded this Polar Class 6 vessel for five years,
02:02after decades with the Norwegian Navy, and onboard cruise ships around the world.
02:18The MS Frikshof Nansen was specifically designed and built to operate in polar waters.
02:25Its hull is reinforced to withstand impact with ice,
02:29and its engines are built to function in extreme cold.
02:32The ship is about 140 meters long, has 11 decks, and carries 490 passengers.
02:41Some have paid up to $22,000 for this trip,
02:47seeking adventure and a glimpse of places few get to see.
02:54The journey begins in Nuuk, Greenland's capital.
02:58Over 11 days, the ship will sail 500 kilometers above the Arctic Circle,
03:03before turning back south.
03:06Here, the sea ice and unpredictable weather can rewrite the itinerary at any moment.
03:16That's why the crew is constantly scanning what's happening around the vessel,
03:21both above and below the water's surface.
03:25Eyes open.
03:26Just keep straight ahead.
03:30We have plans, A, B, C, but the weather might change,
03:36or the ice concentration makes us look another way.
03:39You have to improvise, and that's what I love.
03:42Ice can move unpredictably around the ship,
03:45and poor visibility can make it even harder to spot.
03:51On day three of the cruise, Captain Therier brings the ship to a stop in Ilulisat,
03:56so passengers can explore the town, known as the iceberg capital of the world.
04:12It's famous ice fjord is fed by one of the world's fastest moving glaciers.
04:19Today, hundreds of icebergs fill the bay.
04:24There's no need to think that you are stronger than them.
04:27They are hard, and they can flop.
04:29They can break up.
04:36So we have respect for them.
04:39The ship can push through some of the smaller ice chunks,
04:42but the larger icebergs have to be avoided.
04:46This one is nothing to worry about, but this one I don't like.
04:50The icebreaker can go into two to three meters ice and break it up.
04:56We can crack one meter New Year ice, open it up, but we cannot break it.
05:05If you put us together, the icebreaker will continue,
05:09and I will slow down and just hit it.
05:13In open water, the ship can sail up to 15 knots,
05:17about 28 kilometers per hour.
05:20But here, it has slowed almost to a standstill,
05:26searching for a safe way through.
05:30We should avoid that area.
05:33But in that direction, it looks like we have an opening also.
05:37Yeah, we go down there, aim for the big one down there,
05:41and then down again, and then we are there.
05:44We are there.
05:46Some of this ice is estimated to be up to 250,000 years old.
05:52That means that it's incredibly dense and hard,
05:55because it has been compressed under years of layers of snow.
05:59When it breaks off the glacier, it forms enormous icebergs.
06:03Some of the ones here are the size of office buildings,
06:06weighing millions of tons.
06:09But most of the ice, and the risk, is hidden below the waterline.
06:14Around 90 percent of an iceberg is underwater.
06:21So in Greenland, ships are required to carry specialist ice pilots,
06:26who work with the bridge team to track the ice and read its movements in real time.
06:31And this one will keep up, of course.
06:33Yes.
06:35Together, they build a 360-degree picture of the water around the ship.
06:42They also use sonars to map the seafloor,
06:45and ice-detecting radar to pick up ice lurking just below the waterline.
06:53Ice is always moving, so the crew has to identify routes as they go.
06:59To navigate in the Arctic, you cannot learn that on a simulator.
07:06You have to grow your skills by experience, because the ice is changing.
07:11The view is changing.
07:13So our local knowledge is probably the biggest tool we have.
07:21The Arctic has warmed at more than twice the global rate.
07:26That is speeding up the loss of Greenland's glacier ice,
07:30and releasing more of it into the sea.
07:35After two hours of navigating through hundreds of icebergs,
07:39the captain and his team finally find a way through.
07:52We all know what can happen when a ship gets it wrong.
07:57In 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
08:01The luxury ocean liner sank less than three hours later, killing over 1,500 people.
08:09The iceberg likely broke off from a glacier in southwest Greenland,
08:13an area known as Iceberg Alley.
08:17The disaster led to the creation of the International Ice Patrol,
08:21to monitor iceberg dangers in the North Atlantic.
08:24They have come aboard peaceful U.S. Coast Guard cutters,
08:27which for years have patrolled the Arctic Ocean.
08:30Every year, it detects on average 300 icebergs that could pose a serious threat to ships.
08:38But accidents still happen.
08:41In 2007, this Canadian cruise ship hit ice off Antarctica and capsized.
08:47All passengers and crew survived, but spent hours in lifeboats in sub-freezing temperatures
08:53before rescue arrived.
08:57And in 2019, the cruise ship Viking Sky was caught in rough seas off Norway,
09:03when its engines suddenly lost power.
09:06With the ship drifting dangerously close to the rocky coast,
09:10the captain sent out a distress call.
09:12Things just started violently flying across the room.
09:17The furniture was sliding here and crashing into the wall,
09:21and everything was falling around, and we were being thrown around.
09:25It was a horrible storm. I've never experienced anything like that. Never.
09:32Five rescue helicopters were brought in to evacuate passengers.
09:38Over 400 people were airlifted from the ship in a rescue mission that lasted 18 hours.
09:47The responsibility you have is so far away from help.
09:52In some areas we go on, it's only us. And if people get sick and need evacuation,
10:01then we cannot give it to them. And they die aboard.
10:06Fatalities on cruise ships are rare.
10:09But when something goes wrong, crews have to act fast.
10:15In December 2023, a Norwegian vessel was caught in a major storm.
10:21Causing a power outage that disrupted its navigation systems.
10:31Losing power is not something the Frigchef Nansen is willing to leave to chance.
10:37It has four separate diesel generators, so if one fails, the others can keep producing power.
10:44It also has two large lithium-ion battery packs, which together can provide as much power as one
10:51generator. If an engine stops, you have a backup. The batteries take over. You still have your
10:57propulsion. So we are in alert. We are ready. We are prepared if something should happen.
11:02But the batteries bring a risk of their own.
11:06If there should be fire or any thermal runaways, any danger with the batteries. So every single of the
11:15engine team member is specially trained in these kind of situations.
11:21Tommy Alfheim has spent 25 years at sea.
11:26He leads a team of 18 engineers and mechanics.
11:30I'm a kind of tech geek, so that's my favorite view when I come down there. You always will make
11:37your
11:38round and smell if there is something. You can feel if something is hot. So you always go and touch
11:45everything that your pipes and different systems and looking for noise or any vibration.
11:52After a day's stop in Ilulisat, the ship keeps heading north.
11:58Today, the crew is taking one of the engines offline for routine maintenance.
12:04After 4,000 hours of running, it's time for an inspection.
12:09Under normal cruising conditions, the ship burns between 12 and 18 metric tons of fuel a day.
12:16The ship's battery packs help limit that use. They handle sudden spikes in power demand,
12:22so the diesel engines burn less fuel. Still, carbon emissions have a direct impact on the Arctic.
12:35Black carbon can settle on the ice, darkening its surface and causing it to absorb more heat,
12:43which can accelerate melting.
12:46If you really want to see how beautiful the world is before it melts down or disappear a little bit,
12:54you should go as soon as possible.
12:56As sea ice shrinks, Arctic routes are becoming more accessible.
13:01But in this hostile environment, that doesn't make them safer.
13:06Now, it's beautiful. But in 10 minutes, it can be a full storm here.
13:13It comes so fast. Everything's blowing off.
13:17And yet, more visitors keep coming.
13:25Around 94,000 cruise passengers came here in 2025.
13:31That's almost twice the entire population of the island, around 57,000.
13:39For centuries, Greenland was mostly isolated.
13:43After Denmark colonized it in 1721, Danish authorities controlled trade and restricted foreign access.
13:52It's a huge Arctic island, with about 80% of its surface covered by ice.
14:00But Greenland is becoming easier to reach.
14:03We were in nuke in 2025, when United Airlines began a direct flight from the US.
14:10We really want to grow the tourism sector. It's a very good fit for many in Greenland.
14:14We want to grow it to the double amount of what it is now.
14:17At the same time, growing geopolitical interest, especially from the US, has put Greenland in the spotlight.
14:24I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland.
14:28We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.
14:32I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don't do it the easy
14:36way, we're going to do it the hard way.
14:37We're going to have a tremendous relationship, a secure relationship, and we look forward to it.
14:44We have never been on the spotlight before, and it kind of feels weird now.
14:49Suddenly, everyone wants to go to Greenland. Everyone wants to see Greenland.
14:54Nils Rasmussen grew up in a remote town in eastern Greenland, with around 350 residents.
15:01Now, he works as an expedition guide on the Frikshaft Nansen.
15:06His job is to take passengers in small groups to explore Greenland's wilderness.
15:12Here, I'm traveling now with around 500 people.
15:16That changes after every voyage, and I get to see new places.
15:20So it's almost like a mini culture shock every single time.
15:24We are now on day five of the cruise, and the ship has finally reached the Umanac Fjord.
15:33Passengers board small Zodiac boats to get a closer look at the ice.
15:40The water here is right at the freezing point.
15:44That's cold enough to become life-threatening within minutes if someone falls overboard.
15:51The crew trains regularly for such emergencies,
15:54and can deploy the fast rescue boat within five minutes.
15:58But there is another threat somewhere out there on the ice.
16:04Nils is trained in managing any potential encounter with wildlife, as uncommon as they may be.
16:11I work as a member in charge as well, which is a technicality for firearms master.
16:17So I also take care of the rifles that the expedition team uses.
16:23But Nils says the rifles are an absolute last resort, in the unlikely event of an attack.
16:32After six days, the ship has now begun its journey back south.
16:39Below deck, the crew is getting ready for dinner service.
16:47For every trip, the ship carries 75,000 kilograms of food.
16:53Enough to serve roughly 850 meals a day.
16:58To make sure they don't run short, the crew loads about 15% more food than they need.
17:06Part of the challenge is keeping the food fresh, and making sure there's enough variety.
17:12It's not like a food operation on land, where if you run out of something,
17:18you can just pop off to the supermarket and go and get it.
17:20We cannot do that. We're at sea.
17:23Greenland has very little farmland.
17:25So even basic ingredients can be hard to source locally.
17:30You've got to go out to Greenland to a supplier and see if they can supply 400 kilos of onions,
17:37which is not an easy feat.
17:38That means most of the food here is shipped from mainland Europe.
17:42So David Greaves starts planning each order two months before the cruise starts.
17:48Down on the lower decks, every box is counted, labeled and stored.
17:54The galley is a very organized department where you're not working on the day for the day.
18:00You're working today for two days ahead all the time. You're always planning ahead.
18:05David leads the galley teams, including the chefs preparing meals for passengers across three restaurants.
18:13If you're not organized, you're running around burning things or you're not on time.
18:18And if you're not on time, that means you don't open on time. That means guests suffer.
18:27On day 11, the ship arrives back in Nuuk, where passengers will catch their flights back home.
18:36For Captain Thierry, the challenges of the Arctic are exactly what keep him coming back.
18:42Can you go up here now?
18:43Yeah, let's go now.
18:44Okay, that's fine.
18:45Close to that.
18:48I spent 10 years in tropical waters and my family says, why don't you go back?
18:57I love hot water to go for a swim or whatever, but it doesn't give me that challenge work-wise
19:03as I have here.
19:12I?
19:17It might be sad.
19:19It's true to me.