- HX Expeditions won four awards including Favourite Expedition Cruise Operator
- The ceremony took place at Glaziers Hall in London on 29 September
- PONANT won Favourite Expedition Cruise Operator for Luxury
- Danielle Bates was named top sales representative for the second year
- John Galligan received the Lifetime Achievement Award
John Galligan of John Galligan Travel, who retired last month, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Expedition Cruise Network Awards 2026
HX Expeditions won four awards including the overall Favourite Expedition Cruise Operator award. The ceremony has taken place at Glaziers Hall in London on 29 September following the first day of the ECN Conference. Around 120 travel advisors, brands, expedition cruise operators and tour operators attended.
HX Expeditions also won Favourite Expedition Cruise Operator for Polar Regions, Favourite Warm-Water Expedition Cruise Operator and Favourite Responsible Expedition Cruise Operator. PONANT was named Favourite Expedition Cruise Operator for Luxury while Aqua Expeditions won Favourite Micro Expedition Cruise Operator. Heritage Expeditions was named Favourite Specialist Expedition Cruise Operator.
Danielle Bates from National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions was named Favourite Expedition Cruise Operator Sales Representative in England for the second year running. In the trade categories, Eclipse Travel won Best Expedition Cruise Travel Agency while Swoop Travel was named Best Expedition Cruise Tour Operator.
John Galligan has attended every conference since the organisation was set up and was not expecting to be presented with the award.
Galligan reported the award was an honour to be recognised by an important international trade body. The award came a few weeks before his retirement and marked the end of a long career with success in bringing affordable polar expeditions to the people of Ireland. He reported he was delighted to have the award in his display cabinet and that the hard work on expeditions is now being continued by his team in Sandyford.
Galligan’s team will keep the polar expeditions going into the future. John Galligan Travel is now part of the AW Travel Group.
John Galligan shared “I was not expecting to be hauled out from my seat and presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. What an honour to be recognised by such an important international trade body and I was rightly chuffed to be so lucky.”
