The Nunavut Arts Fair in Cambridge Bay was busy, but no one was buying sealskin, which can’t be brought back to the United States, or some of the more expensive items.Ĭambridge Bay artist Elizabeth Hadlari said that cruise ship passengers, who are often tight with their money, might have preferred a studio tour to an art fair. The Johnsons didn’t spend much money during their visit to Cambridge Bay - although in the Northwest Territories’ community of Uluhaktok they said they spent hundreds of dollars on RCMP paraphernalia and a chance to meet - and be photographed with - a real Canadian Mountie. There, the passengers would switch from their Crystal Serenity dining room menu of dishes such as veal cheek with gingered yam, cherries and poppy seed crumble, to a diet of Arctic char soup, bannock, maktaaq, moose and muskox burgers.īut the day-long encounter between Crystal Serenity passengers and the roughly 1,700 residents of Cambridge Bay was a success, said some passengers, who paid a minimum of $22,000 US for berths on the 32-day voyage from Alaska to Greenland and then New York City.įresh off the boat, Deb and John Johnson, who grow potatoes on their Pennsylvania farm, wandered into Kiilinik High School, where they admired its airy, modern architecture as well as its many rainbow decorations promoting diversity and tolerance, and spoke to some teachers and students.įrom there, the couple paid $25 each for a guided tour of the May Hakongak Library and Cultural Centre, where they sat with executive director Pamela Gross and two students in a sealskin qalvik (qaqqiq) tent to discuss Inuinnait history. Early in the morning, the first of 1,000 or so passengers disembarked for black zodiacs wearing bright red parkas and heavy black rubber boots onto the stone-covered beach known as Gravel Pit, or Akulailgok in Inuinnaqtun, about 10 kilometres outside Cambridge Bay.

Crystal serenity pictures