by Sarah Kuta
Last updated: 1:45 PM ET, Mon April 20, 2026
It’s April 20—aka 4/20, a beloved unofficial holiday for stoners—and Hurtigruten is using it as an opportunity to shine the spotlight on a different kind of weed: seaweed.
Deeply rooted in Nordic food traditions and increasingly embraced for its culinary versatility and sustainability credentials, seaweed is featured across Hurtigruten’s guest experience—from dishes and drinks to onboard bath and body products. The cruise line also serves seaweed gin and beer produced exclusively for Hurtigruten by Bivrost.
“Seaweed has become an exciting expression of modern Norwegian cuisine—flavorful, versatile, and deeply connected to the coastline we sail every day,” says André Pettersen, chief product and hotel officer for Hurtigruten. “Innovating with local ingredients from the sea, such as seaweed, allows us to showcase a highly sustainable resource with a low environmental impact. From cocktails and fine dining dishes to tea, bread, and amenities on board, it allows us to bring guests closer to both Norwegian traditions and the ingredients shaping the future of food.”
Around 60 dishes served onboard Hurtigruten’s ships feature seaweed, representing approximately 20 percent of all meals. It’s a key ingredient in Hurtigruten’s food and beverage program, Norway’s Coastal Kitchen, which features fresh, sustainable produce sourced from more than 70 local producers in Norway.
For instance, in Kysten, the fine dining restaurant on Hurtigruten’s original Coastal Express itineraries, seaweed is featured in every dish of the menu. Truffle seaweed is included in dishes like raw shrimp with sea urchins, butter-fried snow crab and Aquavit-marinated cloudberries with Arctic ice cream.
Hurtigruten also has seaweed caviar on its menu, which is available in the fine dining restaurant onboard Hurtigruten’s Signature ships. More recent additions include the seaweed signature bread made with freshly harvested sugar kelp from Lyngen Seaweed, which Hurtigruten partly owns. The company also works with Lofoten Seaweed, which guests on its culinary voyage itineraries get to visit.
On the beverage side, seaweed also appears in tea, gin and beer. Hurtigruten’s seaweed gin is an exclusive collaboration with partner Bivrost, distilled by Lyngen Fjord in Arctic Norway. The seaweed is harvested from the Hurtigruten Seaweed Farm on the opposite side of the fjord.
Hurtigruten’s seaweed lager is developed in collaboration with the brewery Bådin, made with seaweed harvested from nearby coastal areas.
In their cabins, guests can also enjoy hair and body wash, as well as conditioners that include seaweed, as well as body lotion available in the ship’s gift shop.
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