HX (Hurtigruten Expeditions) has unveiled more than 80 itineraries for 2025-26 as part of the cruise line’s “strongest season yet”.
New itineraries are being offered in Svalbard, Iceland, the Northwest Passage and Greenland, alongside increased capacity to the Antarctic.
HX chief commercial officer Alex Delamere-White said: “Our continued investment in the regions and experiences we know best has created a firm foundation. This heritage, combined with our product teams’ dedication to fostering connections with the people and places we visit, will lead to our strongest season yet.”
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HX’s most extensive Greenland season, featuring fourth vessel MS Spitsbergen, will offer sailings from Nuuk’s new airport, set to open in 2024.
The new port will reduce transit time, according to HX, allowing for “immediate immersion in Greenland’s wildlife and scenery”.
Meanwhile, greater community engagement will be added to itineraries along Greenland’s west coast.
Four new Arctic Canada sailings have been announced for 2025, all starting or ending in Nuuk, encompassing two Northwest Passage crossings.
More cultural ambassadors will be added to the itineraries, alongside “enrichment programmes”, to help guests connect with Arctic Canada’s indigenous communities, HX said.
As part of the line’s largest-ever Antarctica offering, featuring 50 departures, HX said its science and education programme will support more than 20 projects and facilitate more than 16,000 data submissions.
The Svalbard sailings include the ‘Svalbard in Spring – Return of the Sun’ itinerary, starting in Longyearbyen and heading to the west of the archipelago. Wildlife will include Arctic terns, polar bears, whales and walruses.
The cruise line has also confirmed it will continue its focus on warm-water destinations. In returning to west Africa, HX said it will be the only cruise line to exclusively sail the archipelagos of both Cape Verde and the Bissagos Islands.
Meanwhile, two new Iceland itineraries have been added – ‘Iconic Iceland – The Maritime Ring’ and ‘Elemental Iceland – Circular Saga’.
All three sailings will depart from Reykjavik, where HX became the first cruise company to connect to shoreside electricity in Iceland this autumn.
HX’s fifth season in Alaska will see it continue to operate MS Roald Amundsen, the world’s first battery hybrid-powered ship.