One hundred and thirty years ago today — on 8 July 1896 — the steamship DS Lofoten cleared Hammerfest on Norway’s northern tip and set course for Svalbard, carrying paying guests towards an Arctic that was still barely mapped.
Passengers landed on the icefields of Bjørnøya. It was, by common consent, the world’s first expedition cruise.
The company it grew into, London-headquartered HX Expeditions, is marking the anniversary today with a video message from chief executive Gebhard Rainer, a pair of birthday booking offers — and the most eccentric cabin afloat.
From coal smoke to hybrid batteries
The line draws a straight line from that 1896 voyage to its modern fleet of five expedition ships. Today it carries more travellers to Antarctica than any other operator, and its MS Roald Amundsen was the world’s first hybrid battery-powered expedition ship.
The company still sails guests to the same Svalbard glaciers that drew its first passengers, now with science centres, Zodiac fleets and rather less coal smoke.
“Our greatest discoveries still lie ahead,” the company said in its anniversary statement.
Sleep like it’s 1896 — wooden toilet seat included
The anniversary’s centrepiece is gloriously odd: the 1896 Cabin, now open aboard MS Fridtjof Nansen, a one-night add-on that recreates a late-19th-century expedition cabin in obsessive detail.
Built by ship-interior specialist AROS Marine over 309 working hours, it uses more than 140 pieces of timber — including 90 square metres of recycled threshing-barn planks on the walls and ceiling, and reclaimed wood from an old German cabin in the sleeping berths.
Vintage maritime artefacts were hand-picked from markets across Europe. There is a bar hidden inside a barrel, a stove-inspired fireplace, an old-fashioned wooden toilet seat, and a custom “scent pod” recreating salt air and aged timber.
The project even survived a shipwreck-worthy setback: the cabin’s walls, ceiling and flooring were lost in transit to Buenos Aires in January, forcing a rebuild.
“History, after all, is best remembered when lived,” said Rainer.
The practical details: €100 per person per night, one night maximum per guest, up to three guests, bookable before departure or on board on selected Fridtjof Nansen voyages through 2026.
Half of all profits go to the HX Foundation, which is aiming to raise £130,000 for conservation, science and heritage projects in this anniversary year.
Guests not staying the night can still visit: the cabin is open for viewing on each voyage, with historians giving talks on the line’s early expedition heritage.
The birthday offers
The reader-relevant part: to mark the anniversary, HX is offering a choice of up to 25% off its all-inclusive expedition sailings (discounts vary by destination) or a free suite upgrade.
On Fridtjof Nansen, for example, that means an upper-deck balcony suite for the price of a standard Arctic Superior cabin on selected departures.
Selected sailings within six months also periodically carry no solo supplement, a rarity in expedition cruising worth watching for.
HX’s all-inclusive pricing covers excursions, meals, drinks and gratuities, which makes its headline fares easier to compare honestly against less inclusive rivals.
The bottom line
Expedition cruising has dominated this week’s news — Silversea’s 2028–29 collection, Hapag-Lloyd’s festive Antarctic sailings.
Today’s anniversary is a reminder that the entire genre is, at root, a Norwegian coastal steamer’s summer excursion that got wonderfully out of hand.
For UK cruisers, HX is the segment’s most accessible heavyweight: London-based, sterling-friendly, all-inclusive — and, for one anniversary year, offering either a quarter off or a suite for cabin money.
A £-conscious way in, 130 years to the day since the whole idea set sail.
