HX Expeditions

Is HX Expeditions good for Antarctica?

Yes, if price matters more to you than group size. HX's 2026-27 Antarctic fares start from $8,830 per person for 12 days with two sharing a cabin, and that fare covers a hotel night in Buenos Aires, the flights to Ushuaia and back, drinks and gratuities.¹ For two people sharing, the closest 12- and 13-day trips from Quark Expeditions and Viking start at $18,090 at Quark's brochure fare and $14,999 in a Viking sale.²³ What you give up is space ashore: the two ships that run most HX Antarctic departures carry 490 guests each.⁴⁵

HX belongs to both polar operator associations, IAATO for Antarctica and AECO for the Arctic.⁶⁷ We have not sailed with HX; this page draws on its published fares and inclusions, its company reports and the rules that govern where its ships may land.

Is HX the same as Hurtigruten?

HX is the former Hurtigruten Expeditions, and it is now a separate company. The HX Group in its present form was set up on October 1, 2024, when the expedition business was reorganized out of Hurtigruten, and it completed its legal split from the Hurtigruten Group on February 12, 2025, with new funding from a consortium led by Arini Capital Management, Cyrus Capital Partners and Tresidor, including a €140 million investment.⁴ Hurtigruten, which HX's annual report describes as focused on voyages along the Norwegian coast, carries on as a different business.⁴

HX is headquartered in London, employs just under 1,000 people and carried 21,000 guests in 2025.⁴ The 1896 founding year in our facts box is HX's heritage date, not the age of the present company: HX dates itself from a pioneering 1896 voyage from Hammerfest to Svalbard, which is why its 2026 marketing celebrates 130 years.⁸⁴

Which ships does HX use, and where do they go?

HX runs five ships, and four of them sail in polar waters.⁴

Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen are hybrid-powered ships, which IAATO's member profile calls the world's first hybrid expedition vessels built for polar travel.⁶ HX lists both at 490 guests, and its Antarctica FAQ gives 500 as their maximum in Antarctica.⁴¹⁶ Plan around 490; the Fridtjof Nansen ship page explains the other capacity figures in circulation. Every HX South Georgia departure in 2026-27 is on Fram.⁵

How much does an HX Antarctica cruise cost?

HX's 2026-27 Antarctic voyages start from $8,830 per person, and the cheapest fare on each trip works out to about $550 to $850 per person per day.¹ These are the lowest prices HX showed on October 14, 2026, per person with two sharing a cabin. They already include HX's anniversary discounts, part of which applies only to bookings made by November 9, 2026:¹⁵

The lowest fares fall at the edges of the season. On Fridtjof Nansen's Highlights trip, October 30 starts at $8,830 and March 9 at $9,274, while the December 9 departure starts at $13,606.¹ On Fram's 23-day trip, the December 18 and January 8 departures showed nothing below $38,075 when we checked.¹⁴ See the best time to visit Antarctica for what each month offers.

Treat the discounts as temporary. HX says the prices shown already include its 130th anniversary offers, and its September 1, 2026 announcement limits the extra 5% off cabins and 10% off suites to bookings made by November 9, 2026.¹¹⁵ Before discounts, the October 30 Highlights fare was $10,589.¹

Solo travelers pay a supplement from 45% on Antarctic trips while HX's solo cabin allocation lasts, and some departures drop it entirely, including October 30 and all four November departures of Highlights of Antarctica.¹ For a full budget with international flights and insurance, see what an Antarctica trip costs and the cheapest way to Antarctica.

What is included in an HX expedition?

An HX fare includes your cabin, all meals, wine, beer and spirits (premium drinks excluded), Wi-Fi that does not support streaming, gratuities, an expedition jacket, small-boat landings, lectures and the Science Center.¹ HX's FAQ describes the jacket as windproof and water-resistant but not built for warmth, so pack layers; the rubber boots required ashore are lent free, and the polar plunge is included, usually once per trip.¹⁶ Antarctic trips from Buenos Aires add a hotel night there with breakfast, economy flights between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia, and transfers.¹

International flights, travel insurance, luggage handling, spa treatments and the optional small-group activities cost extra.¹ Those activities are where the bill grows:

The page does not say whether these prices are per person, so confirm when you book. Places are limited: HX says the program it launched in October 2025 raised kayaking capacity across the fleet by 188% and doubled camping to up to 60 guests a night,⁴ though another answer in its own FAQ still limits camping to 30 participants.¹⁶ Even at 60, a 490-guest ship can put about one guest in eight in a tent or bivvy on a given night. When more guests sign up than there are places, HX fills camping by lottery, and kayaking and snowshoeing run in groups taken in turn, with no promise that every group gets out.¹⁶

Suite guests also get fine dining in the Lindstrøm restaurant, premium drinks, laundry and, on departures from Ushuaia, an afternoon at the Arakur Resort & Spa before boarding.⁸¹ Every guest going to Antarctica, children included, must submit a medical screening form through HX's partner Vikand; the portal opens 120 days before sailing.¹

How do landings work on HX's 490-guest ships?

You go ashore in rotating groups. The Antarctic Treaty's general guidelines for visitors allow at most 100 passengers from a vessel ashore at any one time (fewer where a site's own guideline says so), require one guide for every 20 passengers, allow only one ship at a site at a time, and say vessels with more than 500 passengers shall not make landings.¹⁷ The ceiling is worded in passengers, not berths: HX sails the pair with 490 guests and gives 500 as their Antarctic maximum, and IAATO files Fridtjof Nansen among ships of 201 to 500 passengers.⁹⁴¹⁶ With 490 on board, landing everyone at one site takes at least five rotations of 100. HX splits guests into boat groups called over the ship's speakers, and its expedition boats seat about 10 people.¹

Size also decides where the big ships can stop. Of the 45 visitor site guidelines the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat publishes, 11 admit only ships carrying 200 passengers or fewer, among them Baily Head on Deception Island, Paulet Island, Hannah Point and the Aitcho Islands. Another 14, including Cuverville Island, Petermann Island and Whalers Bay, cap how many ships carrying over 200 passengers may visit each day, and at six of those, such as Brown Bluff and Port Charcot, the cap is one.¹⁸ Fram, at 200 guests, meets every one of those passenger limits; the 490-guest sisters do not.

The sites HX names as possible landings on its Antarctic Peninsula trips are all open to ships of up to 500 passengers: Neko Harbour and Half Moon Island with no daily cap on large ships, Cuverville Island and Whalers Bay with one.¹¹⁸ If shore time per guest is your priority, read how to choose an Antarctica cruise before you book.

Does HX go to Svalbard and the Arctic?

Yes. HX sails Svalbard from May to September 2027 on Fram and Spitsbergen, its two smaller ships, while Fridtjof Nansen spends the northern summer in Iceland, Greenland, the Northwest Passage and Alaska.⁵ Small ships matter in Svalbard: since January 1, 2025, ships in its protected areas may carry no more than 200 passengers, and tourist landings there are allowed only at 43 named sites.¹⁹

These fares are for the versions that begin with a night at an Oslo hotel; HX also sells each trip with an overnight in Longyearbyen instead.⁵ All three include economy flights between Oslo and Longyearbyen, the two circumnavigations add eastern Svalbard, and all three include an attempt to reach the edge of the sea ice.²¹²²²⁰ HX's 14-day itinerary describes every day in the east as a chance to look for polar bears on the ice, and its spring itinerary calls that early season prime time for spotting them.²²²⁰ Solo travelers should compare ships: HX's Svalbard solo supplement starts at 45% on Fram but 70% on Spitsbergen.¹

HX vs Quark vs Viking: which is better value?

For two people sharing a cabin, HX's lowest fare costs 36 to 51% less per day than the closest Antarctic Peninsula trips from Viking and Quark, but its ship carries more than twice as many guests as Quark's Ultramarine.¹³²

All three are the cheapest cabin two people can share. HX's and Viking's are discounted prices, and neither discount is permanent: HX's extra anniversary discount covers bookings made by November 9, 2026, and Viking listed its fall sale as expiring October 31, 2026. Quark's is its brochure fare.¹⁵³² Viking's $14,999 fare applies only to its February 4 to 26 departures and was sold out on January 24 and 28, so we priced February 8, the first Octantis date with it still open; Viking's air package from select gateways was $999 more for that date.³ Three people traveling together pay less with Quark's Explorer Triple on the same March departure: $15,590 each, about $1,299 a day, including the hotel night and charter flights.²

The extra money buys space and equipment: Ultramarine's 199 guests go ashore in two rotations rather than five, and it carries two twin-engine helicopters, with flightseeing among the included options on that March departure.²³¹⁷² Viking includes kayaks and Zodiacs in its expedition kit at no extra charge, where HX charges for guided kayaking, but Viking's included beer and wine come only with lunch and dinner.²⁵ For a head-to-head of two other large lines, see Quark vs Lindblad.

Who should book HX, and who should skip it?

Book HX if you want Antarctica for under $10,000 per person with the Buenos Aires hotel and Ushuaia flights included: the October 30, November 19, February 27 and March 9 Highlights departures on Fridtjof Nansen and January 9 on Roald Amundsen all start below that.¹ It also suits solo travelers who catch a no-supplement departure, and travelers bound for South Georgia, since Fram carries 200 guests and HX covers the South Georgia entry permit.¹⁴

Skip HX's big ships if you want small landing groups or the sites closed to ships over 200 passengers; Fram, or a smaller ship from another line, fits better. Skip it, too, if you are counting on kayaking or camping, which cost extra and have limited places. And if you would rather not spend two days each way crossing the Drake Passage, as the Highlights trip does, note that none of the HX voyages above flies over it.¹ Compare the options in fly or sail the Drake Passage.