The unique opportunity to journey to the North Pole was first offered to travellers in 1990s. Fighting the industry crisis, Russian atomic fleet looked for ways to "optimise" their potential, and so refurbished two icebreakers and converted them into excursion ships.

      The following years showed the dissemination of popularity of cruises: Americans and British frequented the route in mid-1990s; Western Europeans and Japanese travellers joined the club in the first half of the noughties; and they have since been followed by the Eastern Europeans and Latin Americans. Only 9 Russians managed to travel to Arctic in 2009. Their number has since grown by 644%, to 58 travellers in 2011.

      The total number of cruises served in these years - 68, they were boarded by nearly 6000 passengers.

      Source: Travel.ru