Just a few short weeks ago, Hurtigruten Expeditions (HX) organised a call between a member of its new guest experience team, a travel agent and a customer who was firmly sitting on the fence about whether to book.

“We recognise expedition cruise can be a bit niche, so we make sure we’re there when the trade needs us,” says Nathaniel Sherborne, the line’s vice-president and managing director, Europe and global sales enablement.

The customer was interested in expedition cruising but was unsure about booking a Svalbard sailing, the fare inclusions, the various cabins types and flight options. “We were able to talk the customer through everything and secure the booking for the agent,” Sherborne continues.

“This is a big part of what we are about.” Is it any surprise, then, that with this level of trade support, HX’s agent sales are 40% up year-on-year? To put this in context, when TTG last spoke to Sherborne in March 2024, trade sales were up by just 5% year-on-year. It’s all part of HX’s market leadership mission in the UK.

The line claims to be the number one expedition cruise operator in terms of UK passenger numbers. 

But there’s no shortage of competition; National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions recently took the opportunity, while one of its ships was docked at London’s Tower Bridge, to state publicly its target is also to become the UK’s number one expedition brand. Sherborne is bullish. He recognises the importance of competition as the sector continues to establish itself.
 
“As a company, nobody takes more people to Antarctica than we do,” he says, before adding diplomatically: “Anyone who adds a voice to the expedition sector, I welcome.”

Increased investment

HX has recently expanded its trade sales team. Previously, only UK and Ireland sales director Mark Walter was helping agents secure bookings. Sherborne explains having more people for agents to call on was making “a big difference”.

“We’ve now also got a guest experience team,” he continues. “We’ve been recruiting a team of 10 people in London and another five in Prague, where there’s another hub.”

HX is clearly reaping the rewards of recent investments, as well as its separation from Hurtigruten – a protracted process which has taken several years to complete. Now is not the time to slow down, though, Sherborne insists.

“We’re investing the best part of €6-€7 million into a new booking system to make it even easier for the trade,” he reveals. “That’s a global investment.”

Following its own investment, HX’s 2025 educational programme has been “better attended than ever before”. “Just this year, we will have taken people to Antarctica, the Galapagos, Alaska, Greenland, Svalbard and Iceland,” Sherborne says. “This is significantly larger than it has ever been.”

Next year, HX will mark its 130th anniversary in a big way. At the heart of these celebrations will be a two-night global mega fam trip sailing on the 500-passenger vessel Fridtjof Nansen from Hamburg in May.

In July, HX announced a new global incentive for travel agents to celebrate the anniversary, with details about how agents can secure their spots on what Sherborne describes as a “statement event” poised to be announced soon.

Agents who make three new deposited bookings on any eligible HX expedition before 31 October 2025 will each the chance to sail for free – with a guest – on one of HX’s 2026 expeditions. 

A total of 65 cabins will be awarded to agents across the world, with winners choosing from select voyages of 12 nights or fewer.

Sherborne says: “Our [booking] incentive is part of our biggest giveaway ever, with 130 adventures up for grabs to commemorate our anniversary. 

"It’s one of several ways we’re recognising this landmark moment and showing our sincere appreciation to the travel advisor community for their continued partnership and support.”

Clia membership

HX has made another interesting move this year. It decided to rejoin trade body Clia (Cruise Lines International Association). Its former parent, Hurtigruten Group, has not been a member since 2016. At the time, it said: “Hurtigruten has ambitions to be seen more as an adventure travel business than a mainstream cruise line.”

Sherborne suggests that now HX stands on its own, it makes sense to become a Clia member again. “One of the benefits of being our own entity is we can now make our own decisions,” he notes.

“Since I came into the business two years ago, we’ve always had an agenda to push much harder through the trade. We’ve seen really strong growth with agents. We felt joining Clia was the next natural step on this journey.” 

HX is also a member of another trade body, the Expedition Cruise Network (ECN). Sherborne, though, insists it’s vital HX continues to be a member of both.

Being part of ECN, Sherborne says, is “really important for working with expedition experts” regularly, while through Clia, HX can communicate with agents who “have been selling cruise for years and maybe want to do something a bit different”.

In other words, sell more expedition cruises. “We felt the timing was absolutely right to get in front of more of the trade and partner with these organisations,” he adds.

Fleet expansion

Asked about HX’s fleet expansion plans, Sherborne insists the five-ship line would not remove any capacity and is always on the lookout for opportunities that match the company’s sustainability values. HX’s website outlines how the line aims “to be the most sustainable travel operator in the world”.

“Our chief executive Gebhard Rainer has been quoted as saying we’re looking at what expansion plans are available to us,” Sherborne says. “We’ve got to be sensible because clearly we’re very conscious of our sustainability credentials so any hardware purchase or build, we need to make sure it’s right for us. 

“We will never rush into anything. We’ve got areas, destinations or opportunities on the list for expansion should we need to. We do feel there’s a huge opportunity to land the HX name [with the trade] and ensure more people are coming into the sector more generally.”

As the sector develops and more people – and agents – think about booking expedition cruise, Sherborne is clearly confident HX is well placed to capitalise on demand, and cement that claimed number one status.