Ambassador Cruise Line Review – What I Loved & Didn’t Love

I just disembarked a cruise to Norway with Ambassador Cruise Line.

I was invited onboard, so I didn’t pay for my ticket. Some people might think that means that everything I say is controlled by the cruise line. And I can see why you might think that’s the case. But in reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth! I never let a cruise line have any control over what I write, and in fact, you’re probably reading this before they do!

Ambassador Cruise Line, in particular, isn’t afraid of people sharing their opinions on their offering. After all, I was onboard with Dan and Jay from Sail Away magazine – a pair of cruise critics who are known for being outspoken, and have been banned from other cruise lines as a result.

So in this review, I’ll be sharing my experience of cruising on a 35-year-old cruise ship, where tickets can be purchased for as little as £50 per night.

Embarkation

Ambassador Cruise Line offers sailings departing from eight regional ports across the UK.

Previously, I had cruised from Bristol, which is just a 10-minute drive from my house. Cruising really doesn’t get any more convenient than that!

This cruise however, departed from Tilbury. Getting there from Bristol involved four trains, and due to my lack of proper planning with regards to the London Underground, I had to carry my heavy suitcase up several flights of stairs.

If you choose to cruise with Ambassador, I would certainly choose your departure port very carefully. With so many to ports to choose from, I really wouldn’t recommend Tilbury unless you live in the South East of England.

That said, Ambassador does often provide coaches from London Victoria, so your journey to the port should be easier than mine!

Tilbury Cruise Terminal is beautiful and embarkation was very quick. When we arrived by taxi from our pre-cruise hotel, the terminal staff were waiting to lift our bags out of the boot and into a trolley before they whisked them away. So no complaints there at all!

First Impressions Of The Ship

Ambassador Cruise Line has three ships, and they’ve all had interesting histories prior to being acquired by the company.

Ambience was first launched in 1991 as Regal Princess for Princess Cruises and has also sailed as Pacific Dawn for P&O Australia. It’s hard to believe that this ship once had waterslides and a splash park, because she’s certainly very different now!

Ambience is a charming mix of old and new. The public areas have tasteful and modern décor and the atmosphere onboard is warm and homely.

It’s clear, however, that the cruise line has had to make some careful decisions when it comes to where to spend its budgets…

There are a few tell-tale signs that this is an older ship. The buttons inside the lifts are a mish-mash of styles as they have been replaced over the years, the retro in-cabin hairdryers take forever to dry your hair, and the gym has certainly seen better days too…

But, these are not big things. They’re minor details that don’t matter to most people.

It’s clear that Ambassador Cruise Line has spent its budget in the right places when acquiring its first ship. When it comes to the important things, such as safety, cleanliness and service, the ship is impeccable.

Accommodation

One thing you might have noticed about older cruise ships is that balconies are much rarer than they are on newer vessels. On Ambience, only around 25% of the rooms have balconies, with around 50% having windows and the remaining 25% being inside cabins.

If you’re usually a ‘balcony or bust’ type of person, I would certainly advise you to reconsider that stance if you take a cruise with Ambassador.

I was able to look around both the outside cabin and the balcony, and in many ways, I found the outside cabin to be better.

I’ve made a video where I tour both cabins, so look out for that coming soon. If you don’t want to miss it, you can sign up to my email list so we can stay in touch and I’ll send it to you when it’s ready.

Whichever room you choose, you’ll find it to be spotlessly clean, spacious and with a very comfortable bed. The pillows that Ambassador Cruise Line uses are so loved by guests, that you can buy a fresh one onboard to take home with you.

As with most older ships, the plug sockets are very limited. My cabin has just one UK socket, one US socket and a USB socket. However, that’s something that’s easily solved with a multi-point adaptor that lets you charge all your devices at the same time. It’s not a big deal, if you’re prepared.

Food

In my opinion, the food served on Ambassador cruises is exceptional. It seems to be more in line with a what’s served on luxury cruises that come with a far higher ticket price.

You can choose to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in either the buffet or the main dining room. Whichever you choose, the menu is almost identical. So really it comes down to whether you fancy a quick meal, or a more elaborate and luxurious affair.

Breakfast is served from 7 am until 10 am. Personally, I find that to be a little early. Factoring in showering and dressing, it required me to set an alarm for 9 am, which is not something I usually want to do on a sea day – especially if I’ve been on the dance floor until 2 am!

There are two dining times in the evening – 5.45 pm and 8.15 pm. Again, I like it when cruise lines offer the flexibility of open seating, but I understand why it makes sense to do it this way. And after all, many cruisers do prefer the traditional set times, sitting in the same seat every night, with the same waiters.

There’s a poolside snack bar that’s open from 12-6 pm serving burgers, hot dogs, pizzas and chips. There’s afternoon tea at 3.30 pm and then waiters come around with canapes at 11 pm. You can also buy crisps and nuts in the bars.

Ambience has two speciality dining restaurants. They’re very reasonably prices at £20-£30 per head and ideal if you want to celebrate a special occasion. We ate in the Indian restaurant, Saffron, and it was the best curry I’ve ever had!

When it comes to special diets, I felt very well catered for as a vegan. Everything is clearly marked with allergens, there are always options available.

What I especially loved was that in the main dining room, my food came out on a blue plate, instead of the usual white plate, so there’s no chance of it being mixed up.

Drinks

Ambassador Cruise Line has an extensive drinks menu and the drinks are very reasonably priced. You can have pretty much any cocktail you can think of for £7, which is much cheaper than most bars on land!

The wine tends to be a little pricier at £9 or £10 per glass. But Ambassador’s drinks packages are very reasonably priced too, so I’d recommend taking a look at those if you plan on cruising with Ambassador.

If you’re not sure whether to get a package or not, then you can let my drink package calculator do the maths for you. You just enter which drinks you would have in a typical day, and it will let you know how much your bar bill will be both with and without a package.

The drinks menu is extensive, with pretty much any drink you can think of. I noticed that the measures of spirits are 40ml, which is much larger than the standard 25ml you get in pubs in the UK.

Entertainment and Activities

On the cruise, there were lots of activities onboard on the sea days – bridge, ukulele lessons, watercolour painting, dance classes, choir, crafts, guest lectures, cooking demos and so much more. You certainly won’t be bored!

The trickiest part is deciding which to go to, as many of them take place at the same times in the morning.

I did plan to do watercolour painting, but I was put off by the £25 per person charge to buy the paints. However, many savvy cruisers in the class had brought their own equipment, so next time I’ll probably buy a cheap set off Amazon and bring it with me.

There’s lots happening in the evenings too with plenty of live music around the ship as well as bingo, quizzes, comedians and gameshows. Each night there’s a West End-style performance in the theatre. The cast are so talented.

There is also a casino, but it’s very small. It’s also cash only, and there are no points schemes as you’ll find on the American cruise lines. The upside though is that some of the machines have a minimum bet of 9 pence, whereas on the American ships it’s often 75 cents, so your money lasts a lot longer!

Service

I found the service on Ambience to be absolutely spot on. Every crew member was so friendly, polite and happy to help.

The ship was never crowded and I never had to queue for anything. As soon as we sat down in any bar or in the buffet, someone would be over to take our drinks order.

The ship is kept spotlessly clean, and my cabin steward did an amazing job too. I would rate the service on this ship as 10/10 without hesitation.

Destinations

Ambassador Cruise Line sails all over Europe from the UK on Ambience and Ambition. They just added a third ship, Renaissance, which is based in the Caribbean for fly-cruises from UK airports.

My cruise was a 16-night round-trip sailing from London to Scotland and Norway. However, due to other commitments, I was only able to sail for the first seven nights, and I flew back from Tromso in Northern Norway.

Highlights of my cruise included a visit to Loch Ness, a day in Alesund where I climbed up a mountain to enjoy spectacular views of the ship, and Trondheim, where I took myself on a self-guided walking tour of the city.

I’ve visited Norway several times, but always in the summer. The winter is very different and I definitely recommend cruising then. It’s much less crowded, and offers a different experience.

I was hoping to see three things on my cruise – snow on the deck, whale and the Northern Lights.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get lucky with any of those. Although it was November, the temperature never dipped below freezing, the sea was a little bumpy for whale-spotting and the sky was a little too cloudy for the lights to make an appearance.

However, the day I disembarked, other guests on the ship, including YouTuber Travel Blog Jamie sent me photos of the Northern Lights!

Shortly after that, Steve who works for the ORCA charity, sent me a photo of a whale that he spotted by the ship!

I think I definitely need to book this cruise again and experience the full itinerary next time.

As it happens, the cruise will be repeated in the spring, so if you’re interested, you can view and book that cruise on the Ambassador Cruise Line website.

Conclusion

This was my second cruise with Ambassador Cruise Line. The ships are quite different in terms of layout, but each offers a warm welcome, fantastic service, excellent food and outstanding value for money.

I would recommend Ambassador to anyone looking for a relaxing, adults-only experience at sea. Most guests are couples over 50, but there are also a good number of solo travellers onboard and with the mixed tables and solo meetups its really easy to make friends onboard.

I think that Captain Egil hit the nail on the head when he said: “We’re not the biggest, we’re not the fanciest, but we are the friendliest”.

Related Posts:

• Who Owns Ambassador Cruise Line?
• What Ambassador Cruise Line Does Differently (And Why It Works)
• Ambassador Cruise Line Ships Compared