An autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, the huge island of Greenland lies to the north east of North America. In recent years this country has opened up to tourism, with several companies offering Greenland cruises.

Small communities of indigenous people can be found by the water's edge, whose prosperity has relied on fishing, hunting and small-scale farming, but with a tiny population of about 60,000 this is the least densely populated country in the world. Greenland cruises tend to focus on Disko Bay and the south and southwest, and most cruises start in Kangerlussuaq, which is usually reached by a specially chartered flight.

Sometimes expedition cruise lines will schedule a one-off Northwest Passage cruise from Greenland during the warmest summer months, aiming to find a route through the moving pack-ice to the Pacific Ocean and northern Alaska. This extraordinary journey is particularly exciting because you can never be completely sure the journey will be successful. Cruise ships monitor the ice - which can change its patterns daily - closely, and can call upon ice-breakers to help them through the passage.