Yet another strange sense of timing!

[PrincessPete]

We were looking at an advert today for the cruise in September advertised as “Canada, Greenland and Iceland.”

That is indeed factually correct, but the one visit to Iceland is an “early PM” arrival to Reykjavik. There is no reference to a late departure (which does feature on another itinerary in the same advert) so I can only assume that it’s a late PM departure, meaning just a very few hours there.

The previous 7 days have been at sea (albeit the first two are spent cruising the St Lawrence River).

My point is that surely in the 5 of those 7 days which are spent heading east, they could sail a fraction of a knot quicker to arrive in Iceland for a whole day?

I can also only agree with the posting (on a different question) about the lack of “experiences” available on Ambassador, and this very short time in Iceland, which could clearly have been increased, is another example, in my view, of poor planning.

I know a poster said you could book independent tours but there should be at least the option to do “experiences” from the ship, with the added comforts that brings re not potentially missing the ship. 
Despite one good cruise on CMV I still have my reservations about Ambassador, particularly with the numerous reports of air-conditioning problems. I know it is an old ship but surely they had enough time in the many months of refurbishment to sort out their problems.

My final observation (sorry I seem to have veered off my original topic!) is that until they introduce freedom dining, as opposed to fixed times only, then it’s not for us anyway.

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Is Reykjavik the end of the cruise?  Then you can spend as much time in Iceland as you like.  [And they won't have people complaining that they missed their flights if the ship is delayed for some reason.]

[tring]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Is Reykjavik the end of the cruise?  Then you can spend as much time in Iceland as you like.  [And they won't have people complaining that they missed their flights if the ship is delayed for some reason.]

 

No, the ship is sailing out of Tilbury, UK, so will return to there.

 

The Ambassador website lists be the Reykjavik call as 13.00 until 21.00, so an eight hour call there.  True there is seven days without a port preceding that and also another three days at sea before Tilbury.  Only one port returning all that way from Montreal, which would not please us at all.  We will not be repeating the cruise line after our recent cruise though anyway.

 

Having experienced a cruise on that ship, I would also not call a ship's excursions an easy option.  The destinations department was an utter shambles, which I will address in my review next week.  We returned on Tuesday and are still pretty tired, though the ports and amount of time spent in Greenland on our cruise was really good, compared to other standard cruise lines.

 

Edited July 15, 2022 by tring

[tim_london0]

Long treks across the Atlantic is just the cost of choosing a no-fly cruise

 

If you don't want to suffer that the solution is to fly to somewhere in the Americas and start from there.

 

Personally, I'm keen do the trip down the Amazon, but 43 days on a boat just for a 10 day cruise down the river plus a couple of Caribbean islands is just too long.

 

Ideally, I'd like out and back from Barbados, but I can't find anyone who does that.

 

Presumably your new found dislike for this cruise company is based upon the AC problem.  You seem to have got very unlucky.  My cabin wasn't perfect, but it was nowhere near bad enough to refuse to travel with them again (if there were any itineraries that I might want to do, which there aren't 😀)

[indiana123]

We had no A/C problems on our Ambience cruise, or any other problems at all.

 

Not a fault, just a personal thing, but I felt the MDR didn't have quite such a luxurious/special feel  as on some ships.

[tim_london0]

I wasn't impressed by the MDR either.

 

I simply can't believe that the people I see posting (elsewhere) about how wonderful (insert list of alternative superlatives) the food was, were on the same boat as me.

 

For me, the food was (on average) OK.  Though some of it was poor.  But never did it reach the heights of being something to recommend as a reason for choosing this cruise line.  It was more than adequate as a form of sustenance during my incarceration on the ship.  As a holiday experience to remember - no chance!

[Britboys]

The original itinerary for this cruise actually only had 5 sea-days on the return leg, with two port days immediately before the eastbound transatlantic crossing. Not sure why it has been changed but it is now the same for next year too.

With regard to 'Freedom Dining', it seems that very few mid-market, smaller ships operate this. I would also think that it is harder to operate on a ship that only has one, single-level main dining room, which is the case with Ambience.

In respect of the food quality, it is of course very subjective. I haven't yet sailed with Ambassador but at the prices on offer I would expect warm, tasty food as opposed to fine dining.

Time will tell with Ambassador but in some respects they maybe need to be cut some slack at present in light of the many problems arising due to Covid and supply-chain issues etc. I know of at least one other line that has pared their menus back to the bare minimum in the main dining room and are warning that the speciality restaurants on board are subject to reduced hours and closures.

[Vivaldi]

On 7/17/2022 at 6:56 AM, tim_london0 said:

For me, the food was (on average) OK.  Though some of it was poor.

 

Sorry for being a bit off-topic with this, but Ambience is doing a Round-the-World cruise in 2024 and has been quoting a price which works out at £77 pppn for the cheapest inside cabin. Given the costs of running a ship, including fuel costs, crew, repairs and upkeep, admin costs, port charges, to say nothing of advertising, and depreciation of the vessels, at  this price I can't see that there is a huge amount left for food! The food cost allowance per head for all the passengers must be fairly modest and it would be a challenge to provide outstanding meals. It is sometimes true that you gets wot you pays for!

[Vivaldi]

Apologies again for being off-topic (won't do it again!). 

 

My last post spoke of £77 pppn but an advertisement in today's paper for a cruise on Ambience this September to Canada, Greenland and Iceland says that cabins are available from £44 pppn. High quality food can't be a priority.

[yorkshirephil]

On 7/21/2022 at 2:00 PM, Vivaldi said:

an advertisement in today's paper for a cruise on Ambience this September to Canada, Greenland and Iceland says that cabins are available from £44 pppn. High quality food can't be a priority.

You do need to consider that a lot of passengers will have initially paid double that amount for inside cabins and much more for higher grade. We were on the Greenland cruise and enjoyed the whole experience, the food was no better or worse than we have had on other cruise lines, sometimes it can be a case of making the wrong choice, the buffet was a bit so-so but we only used it for a light lunch and twice for afternoon tea.