Important topics to know:
- Community-Driven Approach: The program is a pioneering collaboration between a global cruise line (HX Expeditions) and Inuit communities, ensuring excursions are developed and led by local elders, residents, and Inuit staff.
- Authentic Cultural Engagement: The excursions aim to provide guests with genuine and intimate access to Inuit daily life, culture, and traditions through the perspectives of those who live there.
- Launch Details: The new program will launch in the summer of 2025 in Gjøa Haven, Pond Inlet, and Cambridge Bay as part of HX’s Northwest Passage sailings.
- Unique Experiences: Guests will participate in a variety of unique activities, including storytelling with Elders, learning traditional skills like Arctic char fishing, and engaging in small-group discussions about life in the North.

Global expedition cruise company HX Expeditions is launching a new community-driven excursion program in Arctic Canada, developed in collaboration with Inuit community elders, local residents, and Inuit staff. This initiative, debuting in summer 2025, marks a significant step for a global cruise company in the region, focusing on authentic cultural engagement.

The program will be featured on HX’s 25-day Northwest Passage sailings aboard its hybrid-powered vessels, MS Fridtjof Nansen and MS Roald Amundsen. The initial communities involved are Gjøa Haven, Pond Inlet, and Cambridge Bay, accessible only during a brief summer period.

A key figure in this development is Mariah Erkloo, an HX Product Planner and Inuk from Pond Inlet, who emphasized the importance of centering Inuit voices and priorities in Arctic tourism. She believes this collaborative model will enhance the experience for both locals and visitors, fostering lasting positive impacts. Each excursion has been co-created with Inuit hosts to offer guests intimate insights into daily life, culture, and traditions.

Alex McNeil, HX’s chief expedition officer, highlighted that these small-group excursions (averaging 10-12 guests) aim to create meaningful personal connections and offer a level of cultural integration not found elsewhere.

This program is positioned as a “game-changer” for Arctic travel, particularly through the historically remote Northwest Passage. Guests will have unique opportunities such as guided hikes with Inuit storytelling, learning about the traditional Qilliq (seal oil lamp), engaging in “Arctic Conversations” with community members, trying Arctic char fishing using traditional methods, visiting summer cabins to understand traditional living, participating in collaborative art-making, hearing stories from Elders, and joining community events. These experiences are designed to foster genuine connections between guests and their Inuit hosts.

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