Ambassador Cruise Line Reviews 

This was our first cruise and we were very impressed. The inside cabin we had was larger than we thought with plenty of cupboard and hanging space as well as a kettle with tea and coffee, TV, hairdryer, fridge and safe (although the safe was a bit small). The food was plentiful and there was so much choice in both the restaurant and buffet. Sometimes it was a bit difficult to find a seat in the buffet especially at breakfast and we hardly ever managed to find a table for 4 with our friends. All the staff were extremely helpful from the man who cleaned our room, to all the catering, restaurant and bar staff.as we as those on guest services. The shows were brilliant - like going to the West each night and the daily entertainment was plentiful. I also participated in a spa treatment which was really good. The drinks were priced very favourably. We did think WIFI would be included in the price and felt this was very expensive. We also thought that the £7 a day per person gratuities were steep for a 14 day cruise and that the company should ensure staff are paid a good wage and not rely on customers to contribute. We felt that we also had and wanted to tip those we came into most contact so again this brought the price up - though I understand you can opt out of gratuities. Bingo cards were also expensive even though the prizes were good. There was only one table tennis table in the games room with a long queue so more tables please. One of our excursions was cancelled and another changed which was a bit disappointing and also there were long queues at times to get off the boat or onto the shuttle buses. All in all we really enjoyed our trip and would definitely book another with you in the near future.

Enjoyed everything. Tilbury operation was an easy transfer to the ship and nice to have no flights etc involved. Staff were amazing, and we will be back.

Small ship but ALL staff very helpful and friendly . The two waiters who waited on table 51 ( SHIBA and PUNIA) were excellent

Update - the guest relations replies have not read my complaint, copy and paste style response. E.g., failure in the expedition drinks package yeah that was the weather! Photo package - six weeks after complaining the reply of this is a concession, complain to them. Paid ambassador, photographer is badged as ambassador. The photo sale is ambassador. If everything goes to schedule and as planned you won’t have need to complain. If it doesn’t, and they have frequent port changes/misses, and you feel that a complaint is appropriate, don’t hold out hope. Book with a company that has a better customer experience when things go wrong.

Ambassador are the Ryan air of cruising. Would I fly with Ryan air? Yes. Would I spend two weeks on Ryan air? No.
Arctic explorer and northern lights 13 night cruise, changed into a Baltic cruise with very mixed communications, limited amount of time in port, ship at rest in the day and cruising at night leading to heavy judder midship deck 8. Photo package misleading. Complaints process staggeringly poor. Crew excellent, but don’t have a problem, ambassador the worst company I have dealt with, speed of response, copy and paste approach, and little to no consideration for the customer. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid, if you do book and have an issue, expect the absolute worst, and don’t say you weren’t warned! (Provided you read this of course!)

Found the cruise enjoyable but mainly due to the people on it.

Poor excursions and entertainment management
Average restaurants
Customer comms also appalling

Only worth it if you get it super cheap

First time cruiser with ambassador and it exceeded my expectations. 1) delighted to have a formal night on a 3 day cruise. 2) Bar and wine prices very reasonable (and no service charge added!), 3) Some of the entertainment was excellent, 4) staff were all very courteous, 5) Food was very good, especially the formal night, 6) Upgrade to suite was very cheap!!! 7) Canapes at 10.30 each evening was a pleasant surprise, 7) (Dis)embarcation all went smoothly. Only one criticism - we would have loved to have "Old Speckled Hen" to drink. However, Doombar was a very acceptable alternative. Thank you Ambassador

We had an enjoyable time,made special by having our daughters and their husbands along with us.

From the embarkation until the disembarkation you did a fine job! We were very pleased with the -smaller- vessel, Ambition, with the helpfull crew and staff, with the excursions and the shows. Especially the Tour behind the scenes was very instructive and we enjoyed it very much. We had a very good time on board!

My only gripe is that there is nor enough to do on sea days. They are very.boring every cruise is the same including the shows. Made for old people sadly .

As with others on the March sailing to Alta for the Northern lights, I too was scammed by their change of destination 24 hours after leaving port.
The captain said that there would be 12 to 14m seas so we had to head to the Baltic.
A check of a number of different sea state sites showed 2 to 3m seas with medium winds. In addition P&O and Fred Olson managed to get their ships there with no problem at the same time according to ship tracker.
There was no acknowledgement of the complaint form I put in in and an email to guest services went unanswered.

Ambassador don't really seem to care about keeping customers.

Obviously, I will never sail with them again as I'd never be sure of getting to the destination I booked.

I received a reply from Ambassador on Trust pilot asking to put my complaint in writing.
I'd done that 5 weeks ago, while on board followed by 2 emails - none of which were even acknowledged.
They're trying to make out that I didn't follow their procedure.

We were impressed with the cleanliness and appearance of the ship generally. Entertainment was good and food in the main restaurant was excellent

Lovely staff , amazing theatre shows just like London westend. Food excellent with great choices and well presented my daughter is vegetarian and she had so many options, beautiful bars with entertainment and quizzes. Lots of trips to choose from. Only had one issue, some of the chair covers on the top deck were a little dirty and should be checked and cleaned more often. But we will definitely be booking again. Thanks for a great holiday to the Norwegian fjords.

Springtime Fjords Cruise(A12605) on Ambience: Even though the captian had to divert the ship to Oslo due to Storm Dave (98mph gusts being recorderd on the Norwegian SW coast), everything went very well. Unfortunately we were not able to visit Stavanger or Eidfjord due to the storm, however the Amassador staff quickly arranged a variety of tours/excursions for Oslo. The catering was excellent, the ship was immaculately clean and the ship's staff were friendly, helpul and always seemed to be happy. We were also very happy and booked another Norwegian cruise for April 2028 on Ambition (A22706PO). Well done to all and thanks for a safe but interesting cruise.

Planned a holiday of a lifetime for my 50th Birthday with my partner with Ambassador. Arctic explorer & northern lights (A22604) we had saved up for this very special holiday. We sailed from Tilbury and the capitan knew it was going to be bad weather but he still set sail in to the north sea. On the evening of day 2 after he had just got up on stage and introduced all the senior crew and said how he was looking forward to taking us to Norway, a couple of hours later he came over the tanoy saying that due to bad weather we would be going to Oslo instead of Bodo to shelter. Thinking we would then carry on with our Planned itinerary BUT oh no they changed the FULL ITINERARY and we just had to accept it!
We were and still are absolutely gutted we didn't get to see Norway. We felt like we were held hostage on a ship going to cities which we didn't want to go to, after all we paid for an Arctic explorer and northern lights NOT cities in Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Ambassador only offered 50% off a couple of future cruises on selected dates. We haven't got the money or holidays left to book another and we wouldn't want to go on another one of there cruises.
Shocking customer service,
would NOT RECOMMEND.

Excellent cruise. Great captain of the cruise with safety first and foremost as the theme. Nice food and excellent staff, nothing was too much for them.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time onboard Ambience. The staff were faultless, so friendly and helpful.

The food was plentiful and such a wide variety in Borough Market, Buckingham Restaurant was very nice, felt very luxurious

Thank you to the Captain for keeping us safe during Storm Dave, and diverting to Oslo for 2 days even though everything was shut for the Easter break, we still had a good time.

We booked through a 3rd party , the Ambassador app was easy to navigate as was the boarding process which was very smooth.

Looking forward to another Ambassador cruise in the not too distant future.

In January we took a 40 day cruise from Tilbury onboard the Ambience to the Caribbean. It was our first time with Ambassador. However, we probably won’t use them again.
First the good things.
Overall, the itinerary was very good, even though two ports were cancelled, but one was added.
The food, both in the main dining room and the buffet, was good, excellent variety and standard.
Staff were very good, helpful and courteous. However, one major drawback was lack of interaction with senior management. On other cruise lines, they have always been far more visible.
Entertainment generally was very good, especially the in-house singers and dancers.
The enrichment lectures were very interesting and popular.
Not so good is that the ship is old and has some major problems, especially the air conditioning. For the first three weeks our inside cabin was uncomfortably hot and despite many complaints, nothing could be done. Eventually we were moved to another cabin which had working A/C. Other parts of the ship were very cold.
Unfortunately we also had a couple of serious incidents, which we reported to management. No action was taken whilst onboard and even though we have contacted customer services since our return, we are still waiting for a response, six weeks later.
If this is the way customers are treated we would not be confident in booking with Ambassador again.

**Very Disappointing and Distressing Experience**

My recent cruise with Ambassador Cruise Line fell far below reasonable expectations and was an extremely distressing experience.

Before booking, I clearly informed the company that I have a mobility disability and that I would be travelling alone. Despite this, I was allocated a cabin that was not suitable for my needs. This placed me at a significant disadvantage throughout the cruise and, in my view, represents a failure to make reasonable adjustments and amounts to disability discrimination.

During the cruise I became ill with food poisoning after being served undercooked chicken that was visibly pink. This was a serious food safety failure and it affected my health for the remainder of the trip. The vegetarian and vegan options were also very limited and of poor quality, particularly at lunchtime.

There were ongoing maintenance problems in my cabin, including a leaking toilet that was repeatedly said to be fixed but continued to cause issues. I also paid for a walking excursion in Bruges that was not delivered as advertised due to a delayed departure which rushed the tour. As someone with a mobility disability, the pace made participation particularly difficult.

In addition, the Wi-Fi package I purchased barely worked for most of the cruise, meaning I did not receive the service I paid for. I was also charged twice for onboard services and had to involve my credit card provider to resolve the duplicate charge.

My health has suffered significantly since the trip, and the stress of trying to obtain a refund or fair resolution has only made the situation worse.

Despite raising these issues through the complaints process, Ambassador Cruise Line denied that their service fell below acceptable standards. I also have serious concerns about discriminatory treatment during this experience. In addition to disability discrimination, aspects of the way I was treated raise concerns about racial discrimination.

Overall, this experience was deeply upsetting and I would strongly advise others—particularly travellers with accessibility needs—to think very carefully before booking with this company.

The service in the bars was exemplary. The waiters in the restaurant were efficient and friendly. The overall ambiance of the ship was very pleasant and welcoming. Our room was comfortable and beautifully kept, very clean and spacious. We would travel with Ambassador again.