MURMANSK, April 6. /TASS/. The 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory) nuclear icebreaker will depart for the first cruise in 2017, taking tourists to the North Pole, on June 15, press service of the Atomflot (nuclear fleet) company said on Thursday.
"The first voyage to the pole is scheduled for June 15," the company said. "This year, we shall serve five cruises."
The biggest in the world nuclear icebreaker The 50 Let Pobedy serves sightseeing tours to the North Pole since 2008. It took over the route from The Yamal nuclear icebreaker. The first group of tourists got to the planet’s northernmost point on board The Rossiya (Russia) nuclear icebreaker on August 8, 1990.
A return trip to the pole takes about eleven days. It takes about five days to get to the northern point, then the icebreaker calls at islands of the Franz Joseph Land archipelago, where tourists watch huge rookeries, polar bears, walruses, whales, unique round stones and other amazing natural objects. Tourists are invited to make polar barbeque, to dance around the pole point and to take a swim in the Arctic Ocean. Besides, they take a helicopter ride to see the North Pole and the icebreaker from above.
Every trip to the Arctic brings about 100 tourists, mostly from the U.S. and Europe, though recently the voyage has attracted more visitors from Asia and also Russian citizens. The trip’s price begins from $28,000 (about 1.7 million rubles). As of now, the Russian nuclear fleet authority has agreements with freighters for up to 2019.
The 50 Let Pobedy is the biggest in Russia and in the world icebreaker - the recent icebreaker made in Russia. The work on the vessel continued with breaks from 1989 to 2007 at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg.