BRING THE WHOLE FAMILY

Think river cruises and expedition ships are off limits for kids? Christine Chitnis reports on the growing trend of welcoming tweens and teens on these eyeopening adventures.

- DAVID VARGAS

"LOOK, MORE ICE," said my son Vijay, his preteen sarcasm finely tuned. We were hiking in the otherworldly Ilulissat Icefjord, on the rugged western coast of Greenland, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2004. As we reached a lookout point and watched colossal icebergs drifting on the water below, I had to laugh. Most travellers would meet this moment with hushed reverence, but my then-12-year-old's wisecrack was right on the money.

It was one of many unexpectedly amusing moments on our 16-day cruise aboard the Fridtjof Nansen (nine-day trips from ₹3,13,888), a cutting-edge, 265-cabin ship operated by HX, as Hurtigruten Expeditions is now known. The round-trip itinerary began in Reykjavík, Iceland, took us across the Denmark Strait to the western shores of Greenland, and into the icy waters north of the Arctic Circle. Along the way we encountered musk oxen, walruses, and whales. We kayaked through fjords and visited residents of small towns such as Qaqortoq, where we learned firsthand about the rich Norse and Inuit history of the region.