New Cruise Line - Ambassador Cruising

[jeanlyon]

Just had an email re Ambassador Cruising.  First ship called Ambience holds 1400 passengers.  Some of the Cruise Maritime people are running it.  Sails from Tilbury April 2022.  Interesting.

[Aulanis]

Its the old Regal Princess:

Regal Princess (1991–2007) Pacific Dawn (2007–2020) Satoshi (2020–2021) Ambience (2021–present)
Owner:	Princess Cruises (1992–2003) Carnival Corporation (2003–2020) Ocean Builders (2020–2021) Ambassador Cruise Line (2021–present)

[jeanlyon]

Interesting,  thanks.

[MX-Drew]

Tilbury is just down the road for me. 🙂

I have had a look at the website here.

The itineraries look interesting (for me) but I hope they run the ship differently to the old CMV as I didn't like them much. 

[Britboys]

Only did one cruise with CMV, on the lovely Marco Polo and really enjoyed it. I hope to book with Ambassador for a short Christmas Markets cruise as a birthday pressie to me...

[MX-Drew]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Only did one cruise with CMV, on the lovely Marco Polo and really enjoyed it. I hope to book with Ambassador for a short Christmas Markets cruise as a birthday pressie to me...

We went on Columbus and you get better service in a motorway service station. One one occasion the waiter walked of with my seapass when we ordered drinks, when the drinks were delivered no seapass. On trying to find it I was told the waiter had gone of duty and to return to that bar next day! In the end I had to force someone to look for behind the bar. It was found after a search of the store room behind the bar. That was not our only issue. 

I take the view things happen it is how they are resolved is the indicator. Well they scored very low.

[jeanlyon]

Our friend who we cruise with went on the Marco Polo and didn't like it at all.  Surly Eastern European staff and she didn't rate the food, but it's just the right size ship for us, so we will probably give it a try, but the Med cruises are 32 nights, so far too long and I have no interest in Northern climes.

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

We went on Columbus and you get better service in a motorway service station. One one occasion the waiter walked of with my seapass when we ordered drinks, when the drinks were delivered no seapass. On trying to find it I was told the waiter had gone of duty and to return to that bar next day! In the end I had to force someone to look for behind the bar. It was found after a search of the store room behind the bar. That was not our only issue. 

I take the view things happen it is how they are resolved is the indicator. Well they scored very low.

That's not good! Pleased to say we didn't experience anything like that on Marco Polo. There was one bar waiter who seemed somewhat lazy but all the others were efficient and friendly. Our dining waiters were fine too. The main waiter was quite reserved but very polite and the assistant very smiley and friendly, doing a good job of keeping our all-inclusive glasses of wine topped up.

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

Our friend who we cruise with went on the Marco Polo and didn't like it at all.  Surly Eastern European staff and she didn't rate the food, but it's just the right size ship for us, so we will probably give it a try, but the Med cruises are 32 nights, so far too long and I have no interest in Northern climes.

I didn't find Marco Polo like that at all Jean. The food wasn't quite up to P&O standard but the menu was more interesting and the food well-cooked and tasty enough. Smiling doesn't come naturally to some of the Eastern European staff but we found if you engaged them in conversation, they warmed up a bit. I loved the 10 nights on her and would happily have sailed with them again.

[tring]

We had done two CMV cruises (Discovery after they took over and installed their staff and a three night on Marco Polo to Antwerp and Amsterdam).  Both were appalling on a number of points, though if you want a cheap holiday and are prepared to look upon the ship as a ferry to get you to a number of ports, which admittedly form some very interesting itineraries, then they fit the bill IMO.

 

Whether I would want to give business to the ex CMV management who left a number of non Brits to loose some very large amounts of cash is another matter.  As Brits, we got their cash back through cc's or abta/atol of course, so easier to have a short memory. 

 

Interesting the new company are not members of abta.  They say they intend to use an alternative method of protecting customers cash by setting up a trust fund, though they say the money will be paid over to the company as the holiday begins, yet it seems that money should stay in the fund until the holiday is complete - so if something goes wrong whilst the holiday is in process, I do wonder if people would get their cash back, or be taken home if required.

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by tring

[MX-Drew]

15 hours ago, tring said:

Interesting the new company are not members of abta.  They say they intend to use an alternative method of protecting customers cash by setting up a trust fund, though they say the money will be paid over to the company as the holiday begins, yet it seems that money should stay in the fund until the holiday is complete - so if something goes wrong whilst the holiday is in process, I do wonder if people would get their cash back, or be taken home if required.

I did spot that and wondered why they have not registered with abta. Maybe they will once they get some money in.🤔

[John Bull]

Like Tring, we sailed CMV "by default" when they took over MS Discovery after we'd booked, and we had a similar experience. Totally different crew, a lot of them eastern Europeans, some of them very brusque - whereas the original crew ( all from one village in the Philippines) were the best we've ever experienced. But still an interesting and enjoyable cruise.

 

What originally appealed to us about Discovery - cheap cruise, elderly ship, but interesting itineraries - was broadly true about CMV. 

 

I won't apologise for referring to CMV - it's the same ownership, and like others on this thread I am anticipating that Ambassador will be now-defunct CMV in new clothes. 

 

I'll hazard a guess that not registering with ABTA  wasn't by choice. 

I reckon that's down to the management's track record or its inability to show adequate funding or something similar. 

 

We'd consider Ambassador for a cruise with an unusual & interesting itinerary - after double-checking the security that comes with payment by credit card. 

But for the same itinerary as other cruise lines offer, we'd splash out more on a different ship for a better experience and more peace-of-mind.

 

Just MHO as always

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

[jeanlyon]

I think for us, while Aurora and Arcadia are still with P&O, we would stay put, but it's a consideration when they are gone as I am sure they will be.

[MX-Drew]

As I said before, I can't ignore it for a 3 or 4 night break as they are just down the road but I would wait for a few reviews I think.

[ann141]

Our 6 night cruise with Cruise and Maritime wasn't great (apart from the ports of call around Scotland) but if the Itinerary was right I might try them