My sister and I went on a cruise in the Arctic Circle. With 24 hours of daylight, we had to ‘create’ nighttime in our rooms.

• My sister and I went on a two-week expedition cruise in the Arctic Circle.
• Every day was an adventure.
• We saw beautiful glaciers and polar bears and went on a once-in-a-lifetime hike.

In June 2024, I embarked on an extraordinary two-week expedition cruise throughout the Svalbard Archipelago in the Arctic Circle on the beautiful Sylvia Earle. It’s one of Aurora Expedition’s two eco-friendly, purpose-built small ships that explore wild and remote regions of the world.

My companion was my sister, Diane Ross, a travel advisor who specializes in river, ocean, and expedition cruises. We have both taken many cruises but this was our first expedition cruise. Although we had some preconceived notions of what this region of the world would look like, we had no idea just how majestic and other-worldly it would be.