Driven by Expanded ‘Signature’ Portfolio, Hurtigruten Marks Best Month Ever in North America

February 2026 was Hurtigruten’s best month ever in North America, topping its previous record set last November around Black Friday.

“I remember looking. Wow, we just topped November,” Carly Biggart, Hurtigruten’s vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas told TMR at last months Seatrade Cruise Global conference in Miami. “It was just on fire. Now I looked at the numbers again… for ’27, we’ve two times delivered what we were planning on.”

Biggart cited the cruise line’s newly expanded portfolio of “Signature” cruises, which expand beyond the Norwegian coastline to include time spent in Copenhagen, Finland, or Iceland.

“We’ve made it easier, especially for the travel trade market. It’s already packaged for them and they’re not fiddling around with pre/post. At the end of the day, it’s also nice from a commission perspective, because that’s commissioned on the whole tour.”

Leading the pack of these new tours are the Arctic Frontier, which combines half of the traditional Svalbard Line with a land tour in Svalbard, as well as the 13-day Nordic Winter Journey, which starts in Finnish Lapland before ending with a Signature Hurtigruten cruise.

The original Signature Svalbard Line route is also doing so well that Hurtigruten is adding a second ship to the itinerary. Currently undergoing refurbishment, it will start sailing this summer.

“Every time I look at the summer Signature Svalbard Line series, our growth is so awesome year over year,” she said.

It doesn’t hurt, she added, that Hurtigruten is doing a better job of marketing itself than it has in the past. A lot of that involves beefing up its interaction with the travel trade.

“A lot of helping travel trade, increasing their awareness of Norway and Hurtigruten in general, because we know that they’re not selling Norway every day.”

To aid advisors understand the product, and pass that understanding along to their clients, Biggart said the Hurtigruten is leaning into storytelling versus promotions when it comes to marketing.

“It’s really about this is what you’re going to experience and this is what you’re going to feel when you’re with us in Norway,” she said.

Hurtigruten — Not H/X

The first thing that advisors need to understand, Biggart said, is that Hurtigruten and H/X are not the same company, having officially split from each other in 2025.

“I always start with, we’re Norway. All day, every day.”

Unlike most traditional cruise lines, including H/X, Hurtigruten offers two types of sailing options. The first is the classic coastal voyage, which Hurtigruten has been sailing for some 130 years and is essentially a ferry, with people getting on and off at every stop, and varying amounts of time spent at each stop. Clients who choose this can opt for a half- or full-board option and can purchase excursions in select ports.

The second style of cruising Hurtigruten offers, which is most akin to the cruise product North Americans understand, is Hurtigruten’s “Signature” collection of voyages.

Choosing Between Classic Coastal & Signature Cruises

Generally speaking, Biggart told TMR, the Signature portfolio is an easier product for advisors and their clients to understand. However, for more adventurous clients or those who are more “price conscious” the classic coastal voyage can be a good option.

We asked Biggart for advice on how to determine which product is right for which client.

“Signature leans in on culinary, and it has the beer, wine, and most spirits included. That can be a differentiator right there.”

Additionally, if a client has done conventional cruising in the past, they’re more likely to enjoy Signature because of the similarities.

“If they have done adventure, though, or even river, they could go in for Coastal cruising,” she said, adding that past land vacationers might also like the classic coastal option.

“Land-only agencies have repeatedly told me they would absolutely sell a product like ours, specifically the coastal cruise, to their land clients because it fits with what they’re looking for from an experience.”

Leaning Into B2B

With all of that said, Biggart told TMR that when it comes to marketing to the trade, Hurtigruten is leaning in to and leading with the Signature product, “because it’s easier to get your head around.”

As part of this Hurtigruten plans to unveil new tools that its working on for travel advisors.

“We are constantly building a new tool set, video set, building out personas and segmentation to support the B2B channel. We’re also working on more automations. There’s a lot more in the B2B journey that we’ve been working on to make it simpler.”

Hurtigruten also has partnerships with Approach Guides and BranchUp, both of which are free for advisors to use.

“We just want them to think of us when it smells like Norway, and then we’ll make sure they’ve got the repository of all the tools they need. And I’ve got an amazing sales team and they’re always available for training, consumer nights and they can get help get sales on the spot.”