Ambition

No Frills Ship

Travelled on Ambition for Christmas and New Year. Paid to park at Tilbury Docks for the three weeks we were away, but as we arrived early we were prevented from entering the carpark by security who advised us to go to Asda and wait there! Not a great start but we did it. Returned to the carpark to be once again told we could not go in, despite it being almost empty. Security could not give any reason but would still not allow us entry. We lurked about and suddenly a lady from Ambassador called us over and apologised saying that was an error and allowed us in - we never saw the gang of security guards again - hopefully, they were sacked as they were very rude! We were then held outside the waiting area in a drafty corridor with all our luggage which soon filled up with passengers waiting to board. As we had booked a suite we were supposed to have priority boarding but this never happened. Despite this rocky start, once we boarded, our suite was lovely and we enjoyed our cruise very much. Everyone was really nice and we met some great fellow travellers - having cruised on many lines, we would not say that the food or entertainment was 5* and the ship was definitely no frills but probably perfect for the older traveller who likes bingo and crafting. The staff were all nice, everywhere was kept spotless and reception was always helpful. The size of the ship made it easy to get around and we were lucky to have a couple of sunny days to enjoy the hot tub and sit on the deck. We tried the Saffron Indian restaurant and enjoyed the food although the restaurant itself lacked any atmosphere. Overall, we had a nice holiday and were even invited onto the Captain's table - would recommend.

Lovely relaxing cruise for older generations.

Great cruise on a smaller ship. Beautifully clean and the staff are wonderful and cannot do enough for you. The food was absolutely excellent. The only negative for me personally was the passenger demographic which was mostly people in their 70s and 80s. I have never seen so many mobility scooters in one place! We had seven stops on our 16 night Cruise which was a great balance of sea days. There are five lounges offering an excellent variety of drinks, two main dining rooms plus a couple of buffet restaurants and one speciality restaurant. There was an average amount of entertainment available during the days and a theatre production every evening. There were three drinks packages available to purchase as well as three Wi-Fi packages. My ocean view cabin was very comfortable and cleaned once a day. The only improvements would have been a larger TV and an armchair instead of a desk chair.

A 26-year-old's view on Ambassador Cruise Line.

After 12-night cruises and the British Isles (and Belgium), I just got off the Ambition. It wasn't my first cruise, but my first with Ambassador. I didn't think I would enjoy it because I was only 26, and it is mainly marketed for people aged 50+. I did go with my parents, both in their 60s, and my grandad, who is 94. Bein able to board and disembark was much easier than flying to Southampton or another City. The ship was a lot smaller than what I am used to, but it was still big enough. The gym is a good size, with plenty of machines and cardio equipment; however, the rower wasn't working the whole cruise. The sauna and steam room were free, and all the classes were free. The entertainment was 10/10. The best that I have witnessed on the waves. The hip has both singers and dancers and four actor hosts. These people doubled up as the cruise director staff. The four actor hosts (Casey, Conor, Lee and Maddy) were my favourite. They ran all the quizzes, theatre at sea and the interactive game shows (the spy one was my favourite). The only downside was that the assistant cruise director who got on near the end of my cruise seemed to be a do-it-by-the-book rather than the flow guy—nothing was wrong with how the cruise director's staff worked before he came aboard. The food was terrific; however, whatever was served in the main dining room was also served in the buffet, which was ok but annoying. The service from my servers in the Buckinghamshire Restaurant from Adi and Irfan was stellar; I could not fault them! The tender operation was flawed; the same can't be said for the gangway. There was only one, so there were long queues and no separate gangway for wheelchairs/mobility scooters. If possible, I'd like to see a forward and midships/aft gangway introduced, one for getting off and one for getting on. Many people didn't get a chance to get off in Portsmouth, which leads to my next point. In the small islands, we had a good 9-12 hours in port; however, in Portsmouth, we only had 7. I wanted to explore the historical dockyard, but it closed at 5.30, and the ship docked at 1 pm... I purchased the premium Wi-Fi for £156 for the whole cruise. The ship uses Starlink, and I never had any issues with connection, even when streaming. It may be different depending on the age of the people on the ship and how much bandwidth is available, but most of the people seemed to be around 70-90. Despite some negatives, I would definitely go on another Ambassador cruise. This was my first cruise post-COVID, and they didn't seem to be as pushy about handwashing as other cruise lines I have been on have been (RCCL, P&O, MSC).

Can't wait to travel on Ambassador again.

This should have been our third time with Ambassador. I didn’t write a review of our first cruise as it was badly affected by horrendous storms – enough to pull the ship from the dock and let the gangway fall into the sea! Then, when we got back, I tested positive for Covid. That said, we enjoyed that cruise enough to book another which was supposed to be to the Caribbean for the festive season, however, with three days to go, it was cancelled. But that’s another story – Ambassador gave us a discount on a future cruise and we chose this interesting and unusual itinerary. This was our first time boarding in Bristol and the only small hold up with boarding was getting into the car park. Other than that, it all went very smoothly and we were onboard and having lunch in no time at all. There’s not too much to say about the ship itself. It’s well cared for and doesn’t really show its age. It’s comfy rather than full of Instagrammy opportunities, befitting the clientele, more Instagranny and Hip Op rather than Hip Hop. We fitted right in! Our cabin was fine – we chose it as it didn’t have the third and fourth beds on the side and was much more spacious as a twin set up, although it was still quite compact, especially the shower/toilet. There was plenty of storage, however we would have appreciated some wall hooks for our coats. As we bring our own toiletries and don’t need a chocolate on our pillow each night. As for dining, our tablemates were absolutely wonderful and we got on very well indeed. Our waiters were also great, however, there was a problem trying to get the more premium wine which came with our package. The only real use we got from the top package was the upgraded wine and it certainly wasn’t worth paying the extra fiver a day each. We both thought the food more than acceptable and we enjoyed everything we ordered. The buffet was a little more basic than on other ships but again, perfectly acceptable and rather nice that it isn’t twenty-four hour wall to wall food like on other ships. A couple of times, the afternoon Al Fresco area came in useful when we’d come back too late for the lunchtime buffet. Daytime entertainment was fairly low key, and on our first sea day, there was very little going on in the afternoon. However, we thought the nightly entertainment was far superior to any other line we’d been on and very much enjoyed the vignettes which are an excellent touch. A stand out show was the Murder Mystery which took place on the afternoon of the last sea day and was as good if not better than anything we’d ever seen on a ship. A special mention should also go to the production shows which were excellent. An LGBT meetup was put into the daily schedule once it was requested, with timings a little all over the place, but at least they happened – all in all, nearly twenty came and went during our ten-day cruise. -- Excursions were very well organised, if a little brief, we could certainly have done with a little more free time in Bayeux after seeing the Tapestry and especially Bilbao. Falmouth - A larger town than we thought and we didn’t have time to see everything. A free shuttle was provided, but the walk into town was only about 10-15 minutes. Cherbourg – For independent travellers a €4 shuttle was provided, but it’s less than 20 minutes to walk into town for those able to do so. We had been here before so took the opportunity to see the Bayeau Tapestry which was wonderful. The town is very picturesque and we wish we’d have had more time there. The hour difference meant we were very tired indeed afterwards, having to be on the coach for 8am (7am according to our body clocks). It’s a shame we couldn’t have gone a bit later as we were back not long after lunch with very little to do onboard in the afternoon. “Bordeaux” – We docked around an hour away from Bordeaux. For independent travellers, a free shuttle into a nearby village was provided. We took an excursion to a Chateau and then to Bordeaux as it’s not somewhere we’d been before. Our guide was excellent. He moved to Bordeaux from the UK with his parents when he was three so had excellent English and pitched the tour just right. He told us privately about the horrific problems caused by Brexit as he now has to apply for French citizenship, not only costly, but due to the backlog, has so far taken over three years. We went to a wine Chateau on the way to Bordeaux (we’d have preferred that on the way back) and then had a panoramic tour of Bordeaux and given some free time – with time to see things like the Place de la Bourse, the Grosse Cloche and Porte Cailhau, but not get to the Cite du Vin. Getxo – For independent travellers, a free shuttle into Getxo was provided, and the tram to Bilbao cost a couple of Euros. We hadn’t been to Bilbao before, so thought it was best to have an excursion. Rather than having a full day in Bilbao which we thought might be too tiring, our tour firstly went to the small town of Castro Urdiales and had a very interesting tour of the town, with very little free time, just enough for a cuppa/toilet break – there was no public toilet stop until we got to Bilbao and visited the market where we were given 20 minutes to grab some lunch. There was far too much to see and do in Bilbao than the time we had permitted. Gijon – It’s too far to walk into the town, but a free shuttle was provided. We caught the 10.30 shuttle which stopped near the Gijon artwork and cider tree. Just a short walk away was the Termas Romanas (Roman baths) which were interesting. We then walked into the shopping area, had a cuppa and got talking to someone who was from El Ferrol (our next stop) and had studied in Wolverhampton (where I learned Spanish)! We had a simple lunch in a café, then another walk round (including Cimavilla area) then caught the 3.30 shuttle back to the ship for a well-deserved rest. El Ferrol Although there was a free shuttle provided, it was only a few minutes’ walk into town which is quite workaday and not particularly touristy. That said, there is a Naval Museum and another one dedicated to the Semana Santa (Holy Week) and the town is on the “English” route to Santiago. There’s more than enough to see and do for a few hours, but it’s fair to say it’s not the prettiest place but interesting nonetheless. For obvious reasons, no mention is made about the most infamous person to be born in the town (Franco). We struggled to find somewhere for lunch, but eventually did enjoy a sandwich in one of the bars. St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly The tender operation was smooth and we didn’t wait too long for a boat either going or coming back. We met up with a friend who lived here – there’s not a huge amount to do, but we spent a few hours catching up and then having a look around the town, venturing into the Star Hotel at the top of the hill. All in all, this was a wonderful cruise from start to finish and we can’t wait to sail with Ambassador again.