To Antarctica & Beyond: Cruising with HX Hurtigruten Expeditions

Originally I’m from Trondheim in Norway, and I started working on the coastal ships along the Norwegian coast for Hurtigruten back in 2009. I moved over to the expedition part – HX – three years ago. I studied languages and started in the service industry, so that’s where my background is. I love the logistics of it.

They are pristine. There's something about looking out at that landscape and you feel calm. It's so untouched, so beautiful, so far away from your everyday life, from cities and civilization. You feel that you actually get a break. It shows you something. And it changes you in a way. You come back with a different perspective.

It's seeing how people change through a voyage, seeing how they start rethinking their life, their existence. And when they see these places, learn about how they actually work, and also see the danger they're in. You understand the climate change, you understand the dangers of it more, when you have visited these places.

There are different degrees. Some are aware but haven't really thought that much about it, and some are very aware. But I think the desire to protect these areas, and do what you can at home as well, changes. We see that a lot in conversations with the guests that we’ve had, they really start to think about what small things they can do at home to help the planet.

We have a long history. For 130 years we've been doing expeditions, starting with Svalbard in the north in 1898. And even though there’s been lot of people, and a lot of changes since then, there is a big history there. We are the best on sustainability in the expedition cruise world with our two hybrid ships, Amundsen and Nansen, and we also have a huge focus on science. So you're actually doing science, assisting science and research, when travelling on our ships.

Most guests know that we have an expedition team. They know that we have geologists, ornithologists, or historians with us on the voyages and know about the specifics of the areas, but also we have guest scientists onboard doing their research. You can actually see research being done during the voyage, and can then also talk to these guest scientists, and get the results that they find during the voyage. It is very special.

Also, when we're in other polar areas like the Northwest Passage or Greenland, we also have cultural ambassadors onboard from the local communities that can talk about the life and history of the Inuit population, and this is something that is very special for HX.

What we at HX have, opposed to many other companies, is a permanent expedition team that is with the ship throughout the year. So this creates a permanent base and continuity in the team and content. And then, for each destination, we add on experts for those regions. We have people that we have worked with for a long time – our researchers and authors and so on and so forth – and for the guest scientists we collaborate with different universities. These universities have researchers with different projects and it’s expensive for them to hire a boat and go to Antarctica to do their research. This gives the scientists a much bigger chance of actually going to the regions they want to study.

Just expect the unexpected. In Antarctica especially, the days change all the time, so we can never tell you exactly where we are going because of ice and weather conditions. So just open your mind and go with the flow.

It's always good to look at a few documentaries to get a bit of insight, but you’ll get a lot of insight onboard as well.

Always when you’re going anywhere, have a look at what the weather is usually like in that season, but in Antarctica, you can expect it to be cold. So, pack layers and layers of clothing. What we often see, with those who aren’t used to going to cold areas, is that the layers are of not very insulating fabric. Wool is much, much better than anything else. Make sure everything is waterproof, take extra gloves, extra hats.

For those sea days, we have a packed onboard programme, but bring a good book. We have a library onboard as well where you can borrow books.

At the beginning of the season, for the first trips to Antarctica, there’s much more snow. The penguins have just started to arrive in their colonies, it can be more difficult to walk on landing sites because of the amount of snow, and also the ice conditions are more exciting. More ice means you can see seals and so on on the ice floes.

And then later in the season, less ice of course. You have more penguins arriving – so many that, in some places, because of the restrictions of avian flu, you can sometimes only cruise and observe from the water. Penguin chicks will be around just before and after Christmas.

Whales are throughout the season, more towards the end maybe.

Every trip has its charm. It has its charm. All of it. 

Penguin behaviour. You can just stand and watch the penguins for hours just to see how they interact with each other. Stealing pebbles from each other's nests and wandering around.

There are so many beautiful things to just observe in Antarctica and, when we're onboard, we go through these narrow channels with ice, like the Lemaire Channel, and then you might see a whale popping up, some seals, and then you have the sun closing in on the horizon, reflecting off the ice and snow – it’s just amazing to see.

What also amazes me is the history. You go past these old huts where people overwintered and you see how people stayed in the thirties, forties and fifties – it’s just unimaginable. Places where they were frozen in ice over the winter, it’s hard to imagine the early polar explorers and how it was back in those days on those ships. 

I think people come with a lot of expectations of Antarctica. But they are often surprised at the sound and the feeling of Antarctica.

The wildlife, it’s abundant. A lot of penguins. A lot of whales. A lot of seals around. People are so eager to see wildlife, but they are surprised by just watching the landscape, by all these moments inbetween wildlife encounters, where you can just stand there and be amazed.

Every evening we tell the guests what we'll do tomorrow and we have that plan set. But that has probably been changed many times because we have seen the conditions. And then in the morning we get up, we talk to the captain and the bridge, and we make sure that we can actually do what we said the evening before! Because there might be ice in the way or some condition blocking the route.

Depending on the weather conditions, we aim to do a cruising and a landing so where they get an hour or so on the boats cruising around the icebergs, seeing wildlife – hopefully whales – and then a landing where we have a penguin colony, either chinstrap, gentoo or Adélie penguins.

We also try to fit in kayaking and we have a science boat, where guests can sign up to go out and take water samples using the underwater drone. These are samples that are used in the research and sent to researchers.

We have microscopes onboard in the Science Centre too, so guests can look at what was in the water sample afterwards. You’ll see what is underneath the water, what you cannot see with your naked eye, which is also a big part of the wildlife, so to speak, in Antarctica.

Finally, we have snowshoeing and, on one evening of the trip, we do some overnight camping. We try to fit in as much as possible every day.

It varies a lot between different companies. Our tips are essentially included, so it's not mandatory to tip further. It's also not an expectation, but if you had a fantastic voyage you give what you want to give. This is then gathered and divided between all the crew that works in service equally.

Yes, many times. I'm Norwegian – I love it! I do it during winter at home all the time, so for me it's not new. I know how refreshed, how energetic you are when you come out. It’s hell going in, but when you come out it's like your body has a boost. And you also feel a sense of accomplishment. You know, you've done something that scares you in a way; I absolutely recommend it. You will feel so much better.

Many people, they lie down in their cabin, they close the curtains, they have the duvet over their head – that’s not the best idea when you're starting to get sick. It's much better to move around a bit, look at the horizon and get some fresh air. Remember to drink water and eat salty crackers, take sickness pills – they can make you a bit drowsy, but they do work. You also have these acupuncture wristbands that people talk very highly about. It's only one and a half to two days, depending on the weather, and then you arrive at Antarctica... it's worth it.

Be it Antarctica – which is, of course, a long, long voyage for many – Svalbard (Norway) or, closer places like Greenland, just get to the polar regions. It is something truly, truly special, that I think everyone should see and learn about.