Three expedition cruises in Canada's Arctic and Greenland that should be on your bucket list.

When I was in the Arctic last, an Inuit girl approached our little group of travellers and asked if we wanted to see Arctic poppies. One of us, a botanist, got very excited as it was very early in the season for this particular flower. So we followed the girl to her home. She took us around the back and showed us a nest of new-born... puppies.

It is one of the many memories I carried home from my trip along the Greenland Coast and into the North-West Passage. I recall waking up early one morning to a pod of orcas swimming along the ship; our captain showing off his prowess and circling an iceberg; visiting the graves of the Franklin Expedition on Beechey Island and hiking to an old RCMP outpost in the middle of the mountains.

Exploring the Arctic is something I suggest everyone does at least once. Whether you want to travel in the wake of the explorers of old, get a sense of how large Canada really is, learn about Inuit culture, travel to remote places, see wildlife like polar bear and musk ox, or all of the above, travel to the Arctic should be on your bucket list.

Here are three of the best expedition cruises in the Canadian Arctic and Greenland.