Change is afoot, though, after the cruise operator claimed two awards at last week’s Travel Industry Awards by TTG – Expedition Cruise Line of the Year and UK and Ireland Travel Company of the Year – and was highly commended in another, Sustainable Travel Company of the Year.

Speaking to TTG after the awards, Daniels refuses to be drawn on which accolade gives him the most pride.

However, when pushed, he admits it was “special” to claim the inaugural Expedition Cruise Line of the Year award, before candidly revealing the Hurtigruten team were “shocked” to take home the coveted Travel Company of the Year award. 

“We always expect it to be given to the bigger companies,” he tells me.

Daniels believes the triple honour will go some way towards ensuring Hurtigruten isn’t dismissed in a hurry by consumers, even if it is smaller than its rivals.

“From a customer point of view, our brand awareness is nowhere near the big companies,” Daniels adds.

"Even though we have a good size fleet across both products [expedition and coastal], we don’t even scratch the surface against the big companies. The work we do to build our brand awareness needs to go on. We’re pushing harder to be recognised.”

Two years ago, Hurtigruten took a huge step towards building brand awareness by splitting into two units – Hurtigruten Expeditions and Hurtigruten Norway. 

The aim was to have two dedicated teams promoting and selling Hurtigruten’s compelling mix of products, which would ultimately help drive growth across both brands.

See all winners from the awards

Last month, the brand awareness work entered a new phase; Hurtigruten Norway became Hurtigruten and Hurtigruten Expeditions’ name was changed to HX.

At the time, Hurtigruten chief executive Daniel Skjeldam said: “Today’s evolution of our brand identities is the culmination of the work that started in 2021 when we split the two brands.”

Daniels, who was recently promoted to his current role at Hurtigruten, heading up the line’s coastal, heritage and iconic products, says the level of change has been “astronomical” – but necessary.  

“Internally, we’ve changed – the challenge now is external,” Daniels says. “We still deliver the best coastal experience in Norway, but there are so many opportunities for different styles of holidays.

“We’re putting out that message so people don’t think we only operate in the winter. I would say our winter products equate to around to 70% of the business, so a significant share."

Daniels continues: “In the summer, we don’t have Northern Lights sailings, but there are opportunities with us to do touring in Norway which could be part of a Hurtigruten sailing. 

“When we look at our counterparts, their peak season is summer, so there’s a nice dovetail from our point of view.”

Agents key

Another aim for Daniels is growing the company’s agent database. “We’re trying to get more agents – that’s one of the key targets,” Daniels continues. 

“If you look at the make-up of our trade partners, we’ve got an incredibly long tail that do one, two or three bookings a year so there’s consistency, but around 80% of the business is driven by 20% of the agents.

“We must get our USPs across to the agencies that just sell our winter products.”

He adds the company wants to ensure the recent restructuring effort doesn’t “derail” what agent are doing with the line.