An Interview By: Joanie Ogg, Co-Founder and Editor – Travel Professional NEWS
Interviewing: Jacqueline Day, Director of Home Based & Strategic Accounts- Hurtigruten
First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview and for sharing all of the exciting things happening at Hurtigruten!
Thank you for asking me! Hurtigruten Americas is growing by leaps and bounds and we welcome any opportunity to share our story with our valued travel partners.
With 2019 in full swing, what is new and noteworthy with Hurtigruten?
Well, we have two exciting additions coming to our fleet; MS Roald Amundsen will launch in May of this year, and MS Fridtjof Nansen will launch in 2020. (Not to mention a third sister ship to be built in time for 2021!) These vessels will be the world’s first hybrid electric-powered expedition ships, and their use of electric propulsion will reduce fuel emissions by 20%! These ships will certainly set a new standard for environmentally conscious expedition cruising.
In addition, we have recently announced that we are going to Alaska in 2020! Alaska is such a special place and we can’t wait to show our guests a truly unique experience, complete with one-of-a-kind excursions and rarely visited ports of call that larger cruise ships simply can’t get in to. We have itineraries that range from 14 – 18 days, and all are on board MS Roald Amundsen.
How many ships are currently in the fleet?
Including MS Roald Amundsen, set to launch this May, we also have MS Fram, MS Midnatsol, and MS Spitsbergen that journey throughout the world on our expedition cruises. We have another eight ships that travel along the Norwegian coast.
Will any more be added in the coming years?
As mentioned, MS Roald Amundsen will launch this May, MS Fridtjof Nansen will embark on her inaugural journey in 2020, and we’ll welcome another sister ship in 2021. All of these are purpose-built, hybrid electric-powered expedition ships.
Can you share the top-selling Hurtigruten itineraries?
Antarctica is the last continent, a truly magical place to visit. No two expedition cruises to this simply stunning region are quite the same, so it’s no wonder that it is our most popular destination!
Greenland and Iceland are an adventurer’s paradise as well, and our guests love exploring these destinations with us. Svalbard is also very popular; not only do our guests have opportunities to hike, kayak, and cruise in small explorer boats, there’s also the potential spotting of a polar bear!
Hurtigruten has been exploring the world since 1893. I enjoyed reading a bit about the company’s history on your website. Can you give us more insight on what an Expedition Cruise means for the cruiser?
Our purpose-built expedition ships serve as comfortable base-camps-at-sea. Each comes equipped with small explorer boats (specially designed for extreme conditions), snowshoes, trekking poles, and even kayaks; at a moment’s notice, our guests are equipped for adventure!
In addition, on board each ship is an experienced expedition team, including an expedition leader, two assistant expedition leaders, and a collection of experts ranging in fields like astronomy, biology, history, ornithology, etc. Each member of the expedition team is only too eager to share their expertise with like-minded travelers, be it during lectures, out on deck, or ashore during excursions. And speaking of excursions…
These are a great way for our guests to thoroughly explore the destinations we visit. Depending on the location, excursions include snowshoeing, hiking, dogsledding, snowmobiling, kayaking—even camping overnight in Antarctica!
You can see, with a combination of our purpose-built expedition ships, or expert expedition teams, and the variety of active and immersive excursions we offer, we offer tried and true expedition cruises.
How can Hurtigruten offer a Northern Lights guarantee?
Winter is an incredible time of year to explore the Norwegian coast—and the best time to experience the Northern Lights. This is a natural phenomenon that is most likely to occur in the winter months from October through March. During this time frame, we are so confident the Northern Lights will make an appearance during one of our 12-Day Roundtrip Cruises in Norway, that if they don’t, we offer either our 7-Day Cruise North or our 6-Day Cruise South completely free of charge… guests (and agents!) can visit our website for full details.
What does sustainable travel mean and how does Hurtigruten take on that responsibility?
Sustainable travel is the commitment to protecting wildlife and preserving the environment, and Hurtigruten is extremely passionate about both. We are leading by example in several ways:
– Last July, we were the first cruise line in the world to ban all unnecessary single-use plastic throughout our entire fleet;
– As previously mentioned, our brand-new ships are a world’s first—hybrid electric-powered expedition ships which, with the use of electric propulsion, will reduce fuel emissions by 20%.
By 2021, Hurtigruten plans to operate at least six of our ships using biogas (fossil-free, renewable gas produced from dead fish and other organic waste), batteries, and liquefied natural gas.
Aside from what we are doing with our ships, we also have the Hurtigruten Foundation which supports three main initiatives: conserving the world’s polar bear population, fighting against marine and plastic pollution, and financially supporting and raising awareness in both global and local projects in the areas we explore.
Travel Professionals reading this may have some questions on how to maximize their sales with Hurtigruten; are there any training or educational opportunities available for agents looking to learn more?
Absolutely – we have a terrific agent certification training course, the Amundsen Explorer Club Certification Program on our US agent website, www.hurtigrutenagents.com. You can familiarize yourself with Hurtigruten’s range of expedition cruises and destinations, and become a “Certified Hurtigruten Specialist.” And, once agents complete the course and register on our website, they will automatically be emailed training opportunities including webinars, product enhancement and offer details, and even FAM trips. We are here to help agents sell!
And, if you are unsure whether you have potential Hurtigruten clients, my first response would be that you do; and secondly, here is my advice on how to find them: Reach out to your clients who have done longer cruises, river cruises, luxury and/or adventure FIT, or even safaris. If you proactively let them know that you have recently discovered a truly unique vacation option for their next trip, they will be receptive!
Thank you for your time and for always being a supporter of the Travel Professional. Before we conclude, is there anything you’d like to add?
Thank you for the opportunity! Hurtigruten’s goal is to provide our guests with an opportunity to travel with meaning. Our journeys offer unparalleled experiences in the most remote corners of the world, and we provide our guests with enlightenment and personal growth. We are eager to get this message out to our travel partners; we want them to be an extension of our sales team, and we hope to welcome your readers and their clients on board soon!