Has anyone tried Ambassador ocean cruises.

[Summergee]

We love Cunard but having seen the adverts for Ambassador we want to find out more. Has anyone had experience of this cruise line?

[Martha1974]

We’ve sailed Ambassador twice and have really enjoyed it. However I did also

hear people on one of those cruises making very unfavourable comparisons to Cunard, Regent and Silverseas. My response to that would be “look at what you’re paying and adjust your expectations accordingly”. We were very happy that we got very good food, very good entertainment and fantastic crew for the money we had paid and were very happy with our holiday (wouldn’t suggest for a minute that everything was perfect but any issues were rectified quickly) I haven’t sailed with Cunard so can’t say if that would be better or worse but for the fare we paid we were very happy (we paid much more for Sky Princess and in our opinion Ambassador knocked spots off that)

[yorkshirephil]

On 6/20/2023 at 8:06 PM, Martha1974 said:

We’ve sailed Ambassador twice and have really enjoyed it. However I did also

hear people on one of those cruises making very unfavourable comparisons to Cunard, Regent and Silverseas. My response to that would be “look at what you’re paying and adjust your expectations accordingly”. We were very happy that we got very good food, very good entertainment and fantastic crew for the money we had paid and were very happy with our holiday (wouldn’t suggest for a minute that everything was perfect but any issues were rectified quickly) I haven’t sailed with Cunard so can’t say if that would be better or worse but for the fare we paid we were very happy (we paid much more for Sky Princess and in our opinion Ambassador knocked spots off that)

Agree, we have just come back from a Cunard cruise and the price was more than double what we paid on our two Ambassador cruises, the overall experience with Cunard was better but at more than double the price that is expected. 

[Britboys]

On 6/20/2023 at 2:18 PM, Summergee said:

We love Cunard but having seen the adverts for Ambassador we want to find out more. Has anyone had experience of this cruise line?

You can't make a direct comparison between Cunard and Ambassador. Ambassador offer a budget option in cruising aboard older ships. Food is fine but not gourmet. Cabins comfortable but neither luxurious nor contemporary. Entertainment is very good and the crew are lovely.

Feel free to ask any specific questions.

[Summergee]

How stable are Ambassador's ships?

[Britboys]

5 minutes ago, Summergee said:

How stable are Ambassador's ships?

I've only sailed on Ambience and we didn't encounter any lively seas. I have seen on another forum that when the weather has become particularly bad, Ambassador have made seasickness tablets available free of charge at the reception.

Ambition is only on her maybe third or fourth cruise with Ambassador...

[Martha1974]

We sailed to Iceland in March in an aft cabin on Deck 10 and there was some movement but nothing that I would say was bad (I’ve had worse sailing through the Bay of Biscay). I do get mildly sea-sick but with patches behind my ear I had no symptoms going north or south 

[Martha1974]

Just now, Martha1974 said:

We sailed to Iceland in March in an aft cabin on Deck 10 and there was some movement but nothing that I would say was bad (I’ve had worse sailing through the Bay of Biscay). I do get mildly sea-sick but with patches behind my ear I had no symptoms going north or south 

Sorry, to be clear that was on Ambience - haven’t sailed on Ambition yet, but I’d say it will definitely depend on the itinerary. As @Britboys said, I understand that Ambassador have meds available at guest services but we packed some so didn’t need to ask for them 

[Summergee]

How is parking? I see that CPS don't cover Ambassador.

[Waju]

8 hours ago, Summergee said:

How is parking? I see that CPS don't cover Ambassador.

We are sailing from Liverpool and the chance to book parking came on one of the pages during the booking process.

[Martha1974]

We sailed from Tilbury and parking was very easy - booked as part of the cruise fare (but can be added on later) - can’t remember how much we paid but I think it was around £10-£15 per night. Luggage offloaded in the car park then a 2 minute walk across the road to the terminal 

[Aulanis]

On 6/20/2023 at 2:18 PM, Summergee said:

We love Cunard but having seen the adverts for Ambassador we want to find out more.

 

Ambassador pester you to leave a review on trust pilot - I recommend you read some

of them.  Interestingly they dont respond to bad reviews .

 

For me it is so far so bad, we have no experience of cruising with Ambassador but the recent round of price cuts has meant we have paid well over the odds as a reward for booking early.   Also mentioned in reviews on TP

We have been away on a cruise and on our return thought we would get up to speed with
Ambassador.

Have to say I was shocked to find we paid around £400 each more for our standard plus inside cabin than they are now offering it at although the category is showing as wait listed???   So why still advertise it?

That is more then I have ever seen in a price drop on our 30 previous cruise.

I understand the price paid  is contractual so as I have seen other lines sometimes
cover the price drop with OBC  or an upgrade  I have asked our TA to see if anything is available.

They say it is unlikely but will try- could take 7 days for an answer!  Having since read TP

I think I know the answer.

Moving on from that I have been trying to find out when embarkation time is and find that the web site is pretty abysmal.   3 differing suggestions as to that!   Not our exact time but just an indication of when embarkation might BEGIN would help.  I have emailed them.
Auto response suggests 14 days for a reply.   Daft thing is it says I can request a callback
within 2 days??   go figure!   I might even try that.

More great news  Guest act  ” Mr Showbiz ”   Jimmy Nairn  been in the entertainment business  for 50 years .....   never heard of him,  anyone else?

So no good points so far including "for my convenience and comfort they are fixing the inside temperature on the ship at 21/22 deg " so doesnt sound ideal for sleeping.

Anyway its not true according to several reviews of winter cruises.   I think it must be

ambassador speak for  if its hot you cant cool it and if its cold you cant make it warmer.

   I am going to use this as the start of my review tho it will end up  TLTR.

[paulatsea]

14 hours ago, Aulanis said:

 

Ambassador pester you to leave a review on trust pilot - I recommend you read some

of them.  Interestingly they dont respond to bad reviews .

 

For me it is so far so bad, we have no experience of cruising with Ambassador but the recent round of price cuts has meant we have paid well over the odds as a reward for booking early.   Also mentioned in reviews on TP

We have been away on a cruise and on our return thought we would get up to speed with
Ambassador.

Have to say I was shocked to find we paid around £400 each more for our standard plus inside cabin than they are now offering it at although the category is showing as wait listed???   So why still advertise it?

That is more then I have ever seen in a price drop on our 30 previous cruise.

I understand the price paid  is contractual so as I have seen other lines sometimes
cover the price drop with OBC  or an upgrade  I have asked our TA to see if anything is available.

They say it is unlikely but will try- could take 7 days for an answer!  Having since read TP

I think I know the answer.

Moving on from that I have been trying to find out when embarkation time is and find that the web site is pretty abysmal.   3 differing suggestions as to that!   Not our exact time but just an indication of when embarkation might BEGIN would help.  I have emailed them.
Auto response suggests 14 days for a reply.   Daft thing is it says I can request a callback
within 2 days??   go figure!   I might even try that.

More great news  Guest act  ” Mr Showbiz ”   Jimmy Nairn  been in the entertainment business  for 50 years .....   never heard of him,  anyone else?

So no good points so far including "for my convenience and comfort they are fixing the inside temperature on the ship at 21/22 deg " so doesnt sound ideal for sleeping.

Anyway its not true according to several reviews of winter cruises.   I think it must be

ambassador speak for  if its hot you cant cool it and if its cold you cant make it warmer.

   I am going to use this as the start of my review tho it will end up  TLTR.

Thanks for this - look forward to further reviews from you - very useful.

[Britboys]

19 hours ago, Aulanis said:

 

Ambassador pester you to leave a review on trust pilot - I recommend you read some

of them.  Interestingly they dont respond to bad reviews .

 

For me it is so far so bad, we have no experience of cruising with Ambassador but the recent round of price cuts has meant we have paid well over the odds as a reward for booking early.   Also mentioned in reviews on TP

We have been away on a cruise and on our return thought we would get up to speed with
Ambassador.

Have to say I was shocked to find we paid around £400 each more for our standard plus inside cabin than they are now offering it at although the category is showing as wait listed???   So why still advertise it?

That is more then I have ever seen in a price drop on our 30 previous cruise.

I understand the price paid  is contractual so as I have seen other lines sometimes
cover the price drop with OBC  or an upgrade  I have asked our TA to see if anything is available.

They say it is unlikely but will try- could take 7 days for an answer!  Having since read TP

I think I know the answer.

Moving on from that I have been trying to find out when embarkation time is and find that the web site is pretty abysmal.   3 differing suggestions as to that!   Not our exact time but just an indication of when embarkation might BEGIN would help.  I have emailed them.
Auto response suggests 14 days for a reply.   Daft thing is it says I can request a callback
within 2 days??   go figure!   I might even try that.

More great news  Guest act  ” Mr Showbiz ”   Jimmy Nairn  been in the entertainment business  for 50 years .....   never heard of him,  anyone else?

So no good points so far including "for my convenience and comfort they are fixing the inside temperature on the ship at 21/22 deg " so doesnt sound ideal for sleeping.

Anyway its not true according to several reviews of winter cruises.   I think it must be

ambassador speak for  if its hot you cant cool it and if its cold you cant make it warmer.

   I am going to use this as the start of my review tho it will end up  TLTR.

I have seen massive price cuts on many lines this summer, including Fred Olsen, P&O, Cunard and Princess. Much more so than in previous years. So far it does seem that Ambassador are quite good at upgrading early-bookers.

Embarkation times are done by deck with the higher decks starting earliest, generally from about midday onwards. They do ask pax not to arrive early (certainly at Tilbury) as the Terminal has limited facilities.

It may be easier to call them. Most people seem to get through quite quickly and get their questions answered.

[Aulanis]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

generally from about midday onwards.

That is usual for most cruises we have boarded in the uk however  one of their  "advices"  say that it starts 4 hours before sail time  which in our case Liverpool would make first embarkation at 4pm. 

     I have also seen  somewhere that the selection is not only by deck but also by whether you have booked Ambassador fare or not.

     Not sailed to or from Liverpool  but  have "walked" around it on googlemaps,  its said to seat 400 and the same "building"  handles both  passengers boarding and leaving.

Not sure if those getting off to visit Liverpool have to go through the "building" as well, but the total numbers are relatively small as against the big ships.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Aulanis

[Aulanis]

On 6/22/2023 at 12:49 PM, yorkshirephil said:

My response to that would be “look at what you’re paying and adjust your expectations accordingly”

LOL!   I did look at what we were paying and adjusted our expectations accordingly.

compared to our  P&O 14 day cruise Tenerife to Malta in March including flights it was expensive but in view of the hype  they give themselves  offering Great food Great Entertainment  Great Ports  thought paying the extra for a Premium service acceptable.

    Presumably  we now have to adjust our expectations  to the price the cruise is now  

so are  expected to accept Poor food  Poor Entertainment and  Poor Service.

Fortunately the ports will be whatever we make of them.

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, Aulanis said:

LOL!   I did look at what we were paying and adjusted our expectations accordingly.

compared to our  P&O 14 day cruise Tenerife to Malta in March including flights it was expensive but in view of the hype  they give themselves  offering Great food Great Entertainment  Great Ports  thought paying the extra for a Premium service acceptable.

    Presumably  we now have to adjust our expectations  to the price the cruise is now  

so are  expected to accept Poor food  Poor Entertainment and  Poor Service.

Fortunately the ports will be whatever we make of them.

The marketing could be a bit clearer as what they are saying is they offer 'premium value' rather than a 'premium experience'. I've only sailed with them once so far but would say they offer a solid 3-star experience. I found the food to be decent without being exceptional, the entertainment very good quality in a simpler way and the service to be pretty good.

I am sailing with them again for 6 nights later this year and did look at booking again for next year but found the itineraries heavily weighted to Norway and Round-Britain or significantly longer cruises, which is not what I want for next year.

[tim_london0]

I agree with Britboys, Simple value for money, low to middle end cruising  I don't see how you can expect anything different at the price.

 

As to the price, all cruise lines in the world reduce price to move unsold cabins as you get nearer departure date, without refunding already booked passengers.  It's just that they don't do it via their own website, so booked pax don't get see it.  They sell them via one of the dozen (or more) cruise resellers that you will find if you google for "cruise bargains" (or similar).  And the situation at the moment is that cruises are not filling up.  Name a cruise line and I bet you that I can find a cruise with that company, within the next 6 months, at 50% off (I've been looking)

 

What you can expect is a cabin upgrade, but be careful what you wish for.  Several people on my cruise had their carefully selected mid-ships cabin upgraded to a fore or aft cabin.  They were not happy bunnies and wished that they had selected the no upgrades option.  Cabin upgrades are not that great on Ambience, upgrades from Standard to Superior to Premium are hardly noticeable.  Only if you get upgraded to Balcony will you notice.

 

As to poor reviews on TP, well the first one that I read was someone complaining about having to be double vaccinated.  I doubt very much that this is Ambassador's rule.  Half the countries of the world are still insisting on visitor being double vaccinated, and simply isn't something that travellers can give 1 star ratings to operators for.  The next couple were equally trivial issues so I gave up at that point.

[Martha1974]

On 6/26/2023 at 3:57 PM, Aulanis said:

LOL!   I did look at what we were paying and adjusted our expectations accordingly.

compared to our  P&O 14 day cruise Tenerife to Malta in March including flights it was expensive but in view of the hype  they give themselves  offering Great food Great Entertainment  Great Ports  thought paying the extra for a Premium service acceptable.

    Presumably  we now have to adjust our expectations  to the price the cruise is now  

so are  expected to accept Poor food  Poor Entertainment and  Poor Service.

Fortunately the ports will be whatever we make of them.

Sorry to be picky, but you quoted Yorkshirephil quoting me, and my comment was specifically in relation to people comparing Ambassador to Cunard and Silverseas - I think your comparison to P&O takes that comment out of context somewhat so I just wanted to clarify. 

[London-Calling]

My June review of Ambince:

 

Ambassador’s Ambience Ship: One Year On | WaterWorld by Malcolm Oliver (wordpress.com)

[Aulanis]

Thanks, great comprehensive review 🙂