This season, Hurtigruten Expeditions – rebranding in December to HX – has booked 1,158 cruise nights for third-party researchers in Antarctica, marking the highest number of cabins donated by the cruise line.
By year-end, the line will have provided over 1,500 cabins to researchers across its global itineraries, spanning 30+ countries.
More than 20 projects
Hurtigruten Expeditions will provide support for more than 20 research projects and as many as eight citizen science initiatives. Researchers collaborate closely with the line’s expedition team, fostering guest education through lectures, demonstrations, and real-time data analysis in Hurtigruten’s Science Centers.
In the 2023-2024 Antarctica Science Program, projects span drone-based whale research, penguin colony monitoring, and baleen whale population studies. A new project, part of Hurtigruten Expeditions’ ongoing collaboration with the California Ocean Alliance, will study Humpback whale bubble net feeding behaviour.
The University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies will also continue its social science study, examining the effects of Citizen Science activities on guest behaviour during and after the travel experience. Participating institutions include University of California Santa Cruz, Oxford Brookes University, ORCA, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Norwegian Polar Institute and Western Washington University.
Submissions expected to exceed 16,000
In 2013, Hurtigruten Expeditions started contributing data to the citizen science project Happywhale. A decade later, in 2023, passengers submitted 15,500 observations to projects like iNaturalist, eBird, Secchi Disk Study, HappyWhale and Cloud Observer through the line’s Science & Education Program. This collaborative effort significantly increases data collection in remote regions, particularly in projects focusing on animal populations – including whales, penguins, seabirds, and seals – and the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems.
Verena Meraldi, Hurtigruten Expeditions’ chief scientist, anticipates higher engagement this season with submissions expected to exceed 16,000.
Since 2019, the Science & Education Program has facilitated the publication of 17 scientific reports and papers. The findings have contributed critical data to the scientific community and supported research at institutions such as UNIS, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Oceanites, Institute for Marine Research, University of Tromsø, California Ocean Alliance, and more.
130 years of expedition cruising
‘It’s been almost 130 years since HX pioneered expedition cruising. With this history, we have a profound responsibility to safeguard the places we explore,’ said Meraldi.
‘Beyond minimizing our footprint, it is our duty to leave these places better than we found them.’
Since 2018, HX's Science & Education Program has forged partnerships with some of the world’s leading science institutions.
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