Typification of ice conditions in the Arctic is an essential step to solve important applied problems in the field of arctic marine transportation since in such studies a variety of ice conditions is often described by a predefined set of typified scenarios that directly influence the results. Criteria for ice typification traditionally include the parameters that represent all the sea area, e.g., total ice coverage, area of old ice and other. However, our practical experience shows that such criteria do not always capture the real severity of ice conditions for navigation. This paper describes an idea of using the duration of ship voyage as an alternative criterion for typification of ice conditions in the Arctic. Such approach makes it possible to eliminate contradictions between regional ice characteristics and ice parameters on a given shipping line. To estimate the voyage time, it is necessary to take into account the real practice of arctic navigation, according to which ships tend to sail by optimized routes with the minimum duration of the voyage. To solve the task of ice route optimization we developed an original algorithm that is based on wave isochrone method. We calculate ship speed using an empirical formula taking into account the main particulars of ship and parameters of ice. As a case study, we typified the ice conditions in the Barents and Kara Seas from 1997 to 2017 on the route from Murmansk to Dikson. These calculations showed that the voyage time criterion gives different results in comparison with the conventional criteria. We suppose that the further study and refinement of the described approach is a promising way to typify ice conditions in the Arctic with regard to ship navigation.