Regent Seven Seas Cruises has canceled a Northwest Passage cruise
scheduled to depart Alaska next summer.
Based on this year’s weather pattern, Northwest Passage
navigational experts said too much sea ice was likely on the route during July.
The cruise was scheduled to depart July 19, 2017, from
Seward, Alaska, and terminate in Montreal, with calls in Alaska, Canada and
Greenland.
Regent spokesman Jason Lasecki said that the July departure
date became problematic when the climate variance this summer caused large
Arctic ice packs to flow south in July, producing transit delays. Postponing
the cruise until August, as experts recommended, would have had a cascading
effect on subsequent itineraries, Regent said.
Instead, the Seven Seas Navigator will do three cruises,
from Vancouver to San Francisco, San Francisco to Miami and then Miami to
Montreal.
Guests booked on the Northwest Passage voyage will get a
refund and a $1,000 credit that may apply to any other 2016 or 2017 Regent
cruises. Travel partners who had guests booked on the trip will get $250 per
booking.