Most ships voyage up Baffin Bay or through the North West Passage, which European explorers attempted to navigate between the 15th and 20th centuries.

When sailing up Baffin Island, look out for walruses and narwhals around Broughton Island and bowhead whales in Isabella Bay, while Sam Ford Fjord and Gibbs Fjord have near-vertical 1,500m cliffs. Husky dogs’ melancholic howls signalled my arrival at Pond Inlet, where the indigenous community greeted me with drum dances and throat singing. While some passengers grumbled about the settlement’s bare supermarket shelves, boarded up social housing and women’s shelter, I found it a fascinating insight into Inuit life.

Ice conditions dictate routes inside the Passage, but most lines attempt to visit Dundas Harbour, where I rambled past whale skeletons and abandoned shacks. We held a minute’s silence around explorers’ graves on Beechey Island, which was enveloped in mist. Fog blanketed the migratory birds circling Prince Leopold Island, but when it lifted, I spotted a polar bear and her cub. You may continue to the abandoned trading post Fort Ross; Coningham Bay, where beluga whales attract polar bears; and Cambridge Bay’s Arctic visitor centre.

Some lines, such as Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, sail beyond the North West Passage, north of Devon Island. Depending on ice conditions, you might experience Pim Island, Ellesmere Island or Lady Ann Strait.