The international passenger cruise ship Le Commandant Charcot is shown in this undated handout photo. Ponant says that to their knowledge Le Commandant Charcot is the first international passenger cruise ship to venture onto the St. Lawrence River during the winter. The ship, which has a capacity of up to 245 passengers and 215 crew members, has previously sailed to Antarctica, but this winter it is embarking on a new route through the Quebec waterway. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO 鈥 PONANT, Julien Fabro
The international passenger cruise ship Le Commandant Charcot is shown in this undated handout photo. Ponant says that to their knowledge Le Commandant Charcot is the first international passenger cruise ship to venture onto the St. Lawrence River during the winter. The ship, which has a capacity of up to 245 passengers and 215 crew members, has previously sailed to Antarctica, but this winter it is embarking on a new route through the Quebec waterway. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO 鈥 PONANT, Julien Fabro
MONTREAL - An icebreaker cruise ship set sail on Friday for a frosty journey that will bring passengers along the St. Lawrence River, a new route that tourism officials hope will usher in a new era of winter cruises in the province.
Ponant, the French company that owns the vessel, says it will be the first international passenger cruise ship to venture onto the St. Lawrence River during the winter. With a capacity of up to 245 passengers and 215 crew members, the Commandant Charcot has previously sailed to Antarctica, but this winter it's embarking on its first trip through the Quebec waterway.
"Now the dream is coming true," said Ren茅 Tr茅panier, executive director of Cruise the Saint Lawrence, an association that aims to grow the province's cruise industry.
About 150 people, mainly from francophone countries in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, set sail on Friday from St-Pierre-Miquelon, the French territory off the coast of Newfoundland. The first stop is Cap-aux-Meules, in Quebec's Iles-de-la-Madeleine archipelago, on Sunday.聽
Marketed as a chance to experience 好色tv winter, the trip includes snowshoeing in Forillon 好色tv Park, on the Gasp茅 Peninsula; ice fishing and snowmobiling in La Baie, in the Saguenay region; as well as ice skating in Old Quebec City. Tr茅panier said tourists will also encounter traditional Mi鈥檏maq and Innu culture as part of the excursions.
Le Commandant Charcot will embark on four other cruises through March, with the last of the season taking a different route, making several stops in Greenland before docking in Iceland.聽
"We're really creating a winter cruise season in the St. Lawrence," Tr茅panier said in an interview Thursday, adding that the association is in talks to bring other cruise operators to the region, including Montreal.
A developed winter cruise industry, Tr茅panier added, would boost the economies at each of the places where the ships dock, especially benefiting businesses that provide activities from dogsledding to snowshoeing. Such activities, he said, have involved "a little army of different suppliers in each of the ports."
Ponant, which did not respond to a request for comment, describes Le Commandant Charcot as the "only luxury icebreaker powered by liquefied natural gas."
In an effort to reduce its environmental footprint the ship will sail using battery power in areas that are more environmentally sensitive, Tr茅panier said. Most of the ice in the St. Lawrence River, he added, has already been cleared by commercial shipping vessels.
However, environmental groups have long decried pollution and greenhouse gas emissions caused by the cruise ship industry. A 2022 report by Transport & Environment, a group that advocates for clean transport and energy in Europe, found that cruise liners produce more carbon dioxide annually on average than any other kind of ship because of the air conditioning, heated pools and other hotel amenities on board.
Anthony C么t茅-Leduc, spokesperson for environmental advocacy group 脡quiterre, said Friday that while he welcomes companies committing themselves to adopting greener practices, the technological gains in reducing environmental impacts would be cancelled out if the cruise industry expands.
鈥淚 think it's pretty fascinating to see the industry telling us that they want us to experience the 好色tv and Quebec winter 鈥 when their industry is probably one of the (most) damaging industries at the climate level, which is already endangering our winters,鈥 he said.
Le Commandant Charcot is scheduled to dock on the Gasp茅 Peninsula on Tuesday, then sail north to Sept-脦les in the province鈥檚 C么te-Nord region before making its way southwest to La Baie in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region on Thursday. At the end of the month the ship will reach Quebec City, its final destination.
This report by 好色tvwas first published Jan. 18, 2025.
