If you like your expedition sailing served with clear rewards, HX Expeditions has just made life easier. The line has rebuilt its loyalty scheme around nights, simple earn rules, and tangible onboard comforts, so every voyage helps the next one feel smoother. The refreshed Explorers Loyalty Programme adds a points engine and four tiers, and it recognises not only time at sea but also how you engage with the brand between trips.
HX has evolved its loyalty model to feature four tiers, bronze, silver, gold and platinum, replacing the previous two-tier setup. Members earn 10 points per night sailed, with 5 extra points per night for suites, plus small point bonuses for onboard spend, HX learning and events. Core benefits span early offers, a welcome gift, a cocktail in the first two days, 5% off optional excursions and tiered extras like laundry, behind-the-scenes tours, spa, upgrades, no-change-fee flexibility and a price promise. Existing members have been recalculated from the past five years, with no cruises lost.
What’s Changing and Why It Helps Travellers
A programme designed for expedition cruising should be as straightforward as a compass bearing. HX’s update takes the guesswork out of earning, then pays you back in the places you actually feel on board, laundry, welcome touches and flexibility when plans shift. It also nods to the reality that expedition fans learn and participate outside the ship, which now earns modest points, too.
Four Tiers With a Clear Path Up
The new map runs bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Bronze lands the moment you join, which means you see recognition from day one. Silver layers in savings, gold begins to address day-to-day comfort like laundry and insider access, and platinum folds in flexibility and one-off treats that make a long or remote voyage feel easier to manage.
Points You Can Plan Around
Nights are the backbone. You collect 10 points per night, with an extra 5 points per night when you book a suite. That keeps things fair across quick seasonal trips and longer polar loops, while giving you a reason to consider a suite for milestone voyages where both comfort and progress matter.
Everyday Engagement Earn
Beyond nights, HX awards small bonuses for brand participation. An onboard spend of €250 (approx. A$408) earns 5 points, as do specific engagement moments like attending an HX webinar or event, completing designated University of Tasmania coursework, and, for the brave, taking the polar plunge. These are gentle nudges rather than shortcuts, a nice way to keep momentum between sailings.
What You Get At Each Tier
Expedition travel is about flow and focus, not keeping tabs on tiny benefits. HX’s list reads like a set of practical comforts that you will actually use on a ship that spends serious time far from cities.
Bronze Starts the Moment You Join
Every tier is first in line for news, offers and product updates, with invitations to exclusive events. On board, expect a welcome gift in your stateroom, a cocktail on the first two days of each voyage and 5% off optional excursions. Those excursion savings add up fast when you are choosing among high-demand activities.
Silver Adds Real Savings Across Voyages
From silver onward, you can access 10% off 2027/28 expeditions, 5% off other cruises and a birthday reward. That mix lets you hold value on a shorter trip while you build toward a bigger expedition, and it makes the step from bronze feel like a genuine upgrade rather than a label.
Gold and Platinum Focus on Comfort and Flexibility
Gold unlocks a behind-the-scenes ship tour and complimentary laundry twice a week, or once a day for suites. Platinum stacks everything below with a complimentary spa treatment, a printed photo logbook, a complimentary stateroom upgrade 30 days before sailing (subject to availability), no change fees and an always-on price promise that refunds the difference if the fare drops. Those touches reduce friction in exactly the places expedition travellers notice it.
How Points Accrue in the Real World
The earn rules are simple enough to plan around, which is the whole point. With nights and suites setting the pace, then small bonuses sprinkled through your experience, you can chart a calm route to the tier that suits your style.
Sailing Nights and Suite Strategy
If you are close to a threshold, consider a suite on a shorter seasonal itinerary to tip over the line before a bigger expedition. The extra 5 points per night add up over a long voyage, and the added space is a genuine comfort on cold-weather routes where layers and camera gear expand to fill every corner.
Onboard Spend and Engagement
That €250 (approx. A$408) onboard spend equals 5 points, and the same small bonus applies to HX webinars, events and approved coursework. None of this replaces real sailing; it simply keeps your points cadence ticking between trips so you do not feel stalled.
Polar Plunge, for Bragging Rights and a Nudge
The famous plunge into icy water now comes with 5 points. It will not change your tier on its own, yet it turns a memory you will dine out on for years into a tiny push up the ladder.
Transition Rules: What Carries Forward
Programme changes can make even seasoned travellers wary. HX has built this transition to feel fair, honouring recent history without over-complicating the past.
Five Years Count, Nothing Lost
Current members have had their totals recalculated from the past five years of HX travel. No cruises are lost, so your status reflects what you have actually done, just expressed in a clearer system.
Former Sister-Brand Sailings
Previous Hurtigruten voyages are not counted for detailed accrual; however, travellers who sailed with the former sister brand receive a 100-point bonus. It acknowledges the connection without distorting the new points model.
No Backward Step in Benefits
HX notes that the new bronze and silver tiers reflect today’s loyalty offering, which means no one slides backwards. You keep what you are accustomed to, then gain a clearer pathway to more.
Planning Your Loyalty Path With S.W. Black Travel
A sharper programme is most useful when your bookings line up with your goals. Our Sydney-based advisers help you map cabins, voyage length and calendar to the tier that delivers the benefits you will feel.
Choose a Target Tier and Work Back
If laundry and insider access appeal, plan for gold within the next twelve months by pairing a shorter seasonal cruise with a longer flagship expedition. If change-fee flexibility, upgrades and price protection are your pressure points, we will shape a two-sailing arc toward platinum.
Sequence Your Year Around Real Life
Use a compact coastal voyage to prime your points, then follow with the longer polar itinerary you really want. If you are celebrating, a suite may be worth it for the comfort and the extra nightly points, especially when the longer trip is on the horizon.
Book Smart, Keep Options Open
High-demand cabins near lifts or with easy tender access move first. We can place short holds while you confirm leave and flights, then lock in once the plan is tidy. We will also ensure your profile is set so points post correctly and your tier perks are recognised from embarkation.
Why This Matters for Australian and Global Travellers
Expedition travel attracts a wide circle, Australians sailing close to home, Kiwis linking in via Sydney, and international friends meeting in gateway cities. The beauty of a simple earn-and-enjoy model is that it scales for everyone without overthinking the maths.
Value Clarity Without Homework
Because nights are the core, you can estimate your progress at a glance. That clarity helps you decide between two itineraries or a cabin move, and it keeps the conversation focused on the experience rather than the spreadsheet.
Inclusive Planning Across Time Zones
We write from Australia, yet the logic is universal. Whether you are pairing short school-holiday hops with a once-in-a-lifetime Antarctic season or coordinating a sabbatical across countries, the new structure rewards the way people actually cruise.
Who Will Love This Refresh
First-timers get a visible start at bronze. Return guests see meaningful benefits kick in at silver and gold. Milestone travellers and suite fans will appreciate how platinum removes small frictions so the big moments shine.
If you want to see what is sailing and when, our Cruise Finder makes it easy to compare HX routes by destination, month and length, then save a shortlist that matches your tier goals.
Balancing travel with family or friends across cities or countries, use Cruise Finder to line up practical windows and cabins. We will refine flights, pre- or post-stays and shore picks so your loyalty plan and holiday plan move together.
Plan Your HX Loyalty Strategy With S.W. Black Travel
A clearer, points-based Explorers Loyalty Programme is good news for anyone who prefers their expedition trips to feel smooth and unhurried. Whether you are building confidence on a shorter seasonal voyage or finally saying yes to the polar epic, we will align dates, staterooms and shore time to your goals, then keep the admin light so anticipation takes over. When you are ready to map your next HX voyage around this update, contact S.W. Black Travel, and we will turn ideas into a plan that makes every night at sea count.
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