Cruise passengers get a closer look at glacial ice on a Zodiac boat. [Photo by Bruno Cazarini/For China Daily]

Our luxury vessel is small as cruise ships go. American TV's Love Boat may have had a thousand cabins, sports courts and a pool－and there are massive ships like that in the next harbor with a big herd of passengers－but things are more intimate here.

Silver Explorer's relative pettiness is key to our itinerary. At the moment, we are cruising over a channel 240 meters deep, but yesterday, winding through Skoldungen Fjord, we had scooted over depths as shallow as 69 meters. You can't do that on the QEII.

That flexibility is essential to the "expedition" ships and cruises offered by Silversea. While the line offers the more traditional cruises focused on shipboard entertainment and port calls for shopping and nightlife, the expedition variety is targeted at more adventurous souls.

"We started these as outings to more out-of-the-way places, specifically the Arctic and the Antarctic, for active travelers who wanted to learn about and explore wilder places up-close," says Kernel.

If parking your butt in a deck chair is your idea of a deluxe cruise, you're on the wrong ship. Each day, Silver Explorer works its way as close to shore as possible before dropping anchor. Then we pull on our waterproof pants, jackets and boots, and climb single-file into Zodiacs－the big, motorized rubber rafts that will take us to the day's adventure.