HX (Hurtigruten Expeditions) hosted events for both previous and future guests and trade partners in Boston and San Diego.
According to a press release, the receptions took place onboard the brand’s battery-hybrid-powered ships Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen, while the vessels visited the two cities in September.
During each full-day event, HX and the Hurtigruten Foundation, Hurtigruten Group’s charity arm, welcomed guests on board to explore the ships, experience the Science Centers with the Chief Scientist, Dr. Verena Meraldi, and enjoy a plant-based five-course lunch in the à la carte restaurant Lindstrøm.
In both Boston and San Diego, Henrik Lund, Managing Director of the Hurtigruten Foundation, talked about the importance of guests’ impact in supporting the Foundation’s work.
Since 2015, the Foundation has funded more than 80 projects in 18 countries, HX (Hurtigruten Expeditions) said.
Grants are awarded twice a year, and recent recipients include a project that safeguards the critically endangered Gálapagos Petrel bird; beach clean-ups that have removed 8,845 kilograms of plastic waste and marine litter from Svalbard’s coast; the restoration of underwater kelp forests in Northern Norway; and educational support for young Greenlanders through the Association of Greenlandic Children.
In Boston, HX and Hurtigruten Group CEO, Daniel Skjeldam, sat down with Jan Rivkin, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, who authored the “Hurtigruten: Sailing into Warm Water” case study, published by Harvard Business School in 2020.
Their fireside discussion touched on Hurtigruten’s strategy and the development since this study and highlighted the two warm-water destinations that have been introduced since: the Galapagos Islands, which launched last year, and the new West Africa and Cape Verde itinerary launching next month.
The Galapagos has quickly become the third most popular destination among HX’s global offering, the company said, following Antarctica and Greenland.
Four different itineraries onboard the Santa Cruz II are currently being offered in the Ecuadorian Archipelago on a year-round basis.
In San Diego, guest speakers included Dr. Ari Fiedlaender, Professor of Ocean Sciences at the Institute for Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, and also Director of Research of HX partner California Ocean Alliance; and Ted Cheeseman, Co-Founder and Director of Citizen Science partner Happywhale.
In both Boston and San Diego, Allison Cusick, a PhD Candidate in the Biological Oceanography PhD program at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, shared experiments with guests in the Science Center.
Since 2017, she has traveled to the Antarctic Peninsula yearly on various ships running the FjordPhyto Citizen Science programs. She has spent more than 250 days at sea in Antarctica, HX said.
Allison is one of the guest scientists the company has hosted over the years. Supporting ongoing scientific studies, HX provides roughly one thousand cabin nights for researchers each Antarctica season alone, the company said.
The event in Boston took place on September 19, the same day Hurtigruten Expeditions announced its rebrand to HX, while the San Diego event took place on September 30.
Simultaneously, travel advisors were hosted onboard for ship inspections, which also included a science presentation and lunch in Aune, the main restaurant.
Photo: Allison Cusick presenting in the Science Center onboard MS Fridtjof Nansen in San Diego. (Credit: Ted Gatlin)
