ABOARD THE FRIDTJOF NANSEN — Gebhard Rainer, the new CEO of HX (formerly known as Hurtigruten Expeditions) stood on the balcony of an extra-large, upper-deck suite on the Fridtjof Nansen and spoke into a video camera about the brand’s transition to independence.
In one smooth take, he thanked HX employees for their diligence as the expedition line works to complete the separation in November from sister brand Hurtigruten, which sails coastal Norwegian cruises. The brands will be independent cruise lines under Hurtigruten Group. The transition begins in October.
Take a breather once the separation is final, Rainer said to staff in the recording, because 2025 will be a busy year.
HX is in the final stage of a reset, with a name change, a reorganization and the hiring of Rainer, who most recently was CEO of Sandals Resorts International. Rainer expects this multitude of changes to translate into bookings growth, specifically in the North America market, where HX currently sources 18% of its bookings. Rainer thinks 50% is possible.
But expeditions are difficult to sell, he said, which is why HX hosted 300 travel advisors, media and guests in September on the Fridtjof Nansen for its largest-ever fam trip. The two-day sailing from Vancouver to Seattle offered a taste of the HX experience, which included kayaking tours guided by an expedition team, cruising on a small boat to collect water samples and watching demonstrations of the scientific research being done onboard the ship.
This product “requires you to tell stories,” Rainer told advisors the first night onboard. Selling expeditions also requires advisors to learn about the product to have the confidence to sell it.
“It’s not an easy product to sell because you need to have the stories with it to make it interesting and enticing for people who typically don’t know much about expedition,” Rainer said.
Several of the travel advisors on this sailing agreed, saying they had never sailed on an expedition cruise before and barely had — if ever — sold expedition cruises. But they wanted to do so.
HX is part of the growing expedition sector in the cruise industry. Lines with strong name recognition in the U.S., like Silversea and Seabourn, have each launched expedition products, while new entrants like Atlas Ocean Voyages also eat up market share.
To attract advisors, HX has worked to make selling its product easier, such as shifting to an all-inclusive pricing model that includes food and beverages, alcohol, WiFi, gratuities, daily expeditions like hikes and community visits, professional photographs, an expedition jacket to take home and a reusable water bottle.
“We’re now able to afford a strategy tailored to HX,” said Alex Delamere-White, the brand’s chief commercial officer. “I firmly believe that for us to be successful in the U.S., we need travel advisors to love us. We’re not a mass-market product. We need a very passionate group of travel advisors who we have a strong connection and relationship with, and that’s central to what we’re doing here over the course of these few days.”
With the name change and other corporate transitions, Rainer considers 2024 a transition year for HX. While the company is slightly ahead in bookings, it is learning to schedule its itineraries further in advance to benefit from a longer booking window. HX opened its bookings through Q1 2027 shortly before this sailing, and executives plan to put cruises through spring 2028 on sale in March.
“You need to start selling as early as possible, because people are looking for that booking window,” Rainer said.
Bookings across the board for 2025 are up by 18%, he said. The Galapagos leads the way with bookings growth of 245% over 2024. Bookings for the Northwest Passage have also been strong and have grown more than 40% for 2025.
If all goes well in 2025 with its first year standing alone from Hurtigruten, Rainer expects to order the next generation of hybrid power ships in 2026.
