Although Ambassador Cruise Line do not like to consider themselves a reincarnation of CMV,  despite some similarities, starting with the same home port of Tilbury, their second ship ‘SS Ambition’ has definitely risen from the ashes. It was launched in France in 1999 as ‘Mistral’ for Festival Cruises, sailed under the Costa and Aida brands and was eventually sold by Aida to Ambassador Cruise Line in 2022. After a refurbishment she was renamed in May 2023 in Newcastle by Shirley Robertson OBE, who won Olympic Gold medals for GB in sailing. ‘SS Ambition’ is the second ship in the fleet, along with ‘SS Ambience’ (built in 1991) although there are plans to increase numbers by one ship each year for the next few years.

‘Ambition’ can carry 1200 passengers in 697 cabins. There is a range of 21 cabin types across 6 accommodation decks: inside (237 cabins), outside (444 cabins), balconies and suites with twin and single accommodation categories. Cabins average 165 – 176 sq ft in size (towards the upper end of the industry average) with 19 single bed cabins (77 sq ft). Most of the others offer twin or double bed configurations, but there are some cabins with fixed double beds and others with pullman beds +/- single sofas for 3 or 4 berth occupancy. There are only 12 balcony cabins per se, but suites (113) which all have balconies (ranging in size from 230 – 460 sq ft), are not too much more price wise. There are also two adapted cabins on board. All cabins have tea making facilities, UK three pin plug sockets and USB ports. Suites have a separate bath and shower arrangement, in many cases.

‘Ambition’ is quintessentially a ship for the traditional UK and Ireland cruising market – even down to the naming of bars and other public areas after its home ports: The Cavern cabaret club (Liverpool), the Angel Bar (after Angel of the North near Newcastle), the Clifton Cocktail Lounge (Bristol) and the Grafton Street (Dublin) arts and crafts area. On cruises of 6 nights or more, there is often the opportunity to learn a new craft here for example, bead jewellery, painting, mosaic decoration, calligraphy or decorative card art. Alternatively slip over to the library for an at sea Book Club to discuss a book, advertised before you get on board.

Other names around the ship, reflect different aspects of British life – The Palladium (Theatre), No 10 (conference and meeting room), Bronte library (complete with a period chaise longue), Buckingham and Holyrood (main) restaurants and Borough Market (buffet restaurant). Public areas are bright and airy, with a good flow and sense of space, especially on the Promenade deck (deck 6).

As with most cruise ship restaurants the Buckingham Restaurant (deck 5) serves semi buffet style breakfast and lunch and a waiter served five-course evening meal, with a choice of two sittings. The Holyrood Restaurant is only open for dinner. It is a more intimate venue, aft on deck 6 and is mainly reserved for suite guests. Alternative dining venues are Borough Market – the buffet restaurant on board, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and the Al Fresco Grill for items like burgers, hot dogs and pizza. It is open for lunch and then from 3 – 6pm, thereby covering guests returning from shore excursions who have not had lunch. Borough Market extends over quite a large area, for the size of ship, mainly due to the fact that German cruisers prefer buffet style eating to set dining and the ship formally sailed under the Aida brand. It is also the venue for afternoon tea and has a small al fresco dining area. When the weather is good there is a paid for ice cream kiosk on the pool deck.

There are three specialty restaurants on board, open just for dinner: Lupino’s named after a departed colleague Michelle Lupino. It is a Mediterranean style restaurant, offering a selection of six meze style starters, four main dishes and a trilogy of desserts. It is bookable on board with a £14.95pp cover charge. Saffron, an Asian specialty restaurant highlighting Indian and Goan food and on longer cruises, extending to Thai and other Far Eastern dishes. It has a set menu with a choice of main course. Again, there is a cover charge to dine here - £16.95 pp. Finally, there is The Chef’s Table (in a curtained off area of the Buckingham Restaurant):  a nine-course curated menu with five paired wines, costing £89 pp.

There are seven bars on ‘Ambition’, set mainly on decks 5 and 6 with the restaurants at the back and Palladium theatre forward, allowing for an effective flow from one to the other. The Pendennis Bar (Deck 5) has live music in the shape of a pianist or other musicians every night, whilst the Clifton Lounge (Deck 6) offers live classical music. The Angel Bar (Deck 6) and Purple Turtle Wine bar (Deck 5) sit almost sentry like at the entrances to the two-deck high theatre. The Cavern is on Deck 7, directly above the theatre and has a stage and dance floor, so a venue for quizzes, talks, game shows and live music. The Palladium Theatre itself (with seating for 507 guests), offers traditional cruise line entertainment with an excellent and hardworking theatre company performing shows on 10 nights out of 14 (on a 14-night cruise). This is currently much more extensive than is offered on other mainstream cruise lines. It could be a West End style show, a specially written play (perhaps even a Murder Mystery) performed by Theatre@Sea, song and dance revues or a comedy style lounge show. If enrichment is more your style of onboard entertainment there are guest speakers on board, including ‘In Conversation’ Q&A type sessions and even photographic workshops (for camera, smartphone, ipad or tablet).

On Deck 11, the Lido deck, there is the Active Studio & Gym (at the front of the ship), as well as two bars (Pool Bar & Consulate Bar), a  swimming pool and active pool and two hot tubs. Also on this deck is the ’Green Sea Spa’ offering a sauna, steam room, relaxation areas with magnificent views of the sea, a hair salon and a range of restoring spa treatments   Access to spa areas is included in the cruise price with treatments costed separately.

There is a third pool (a splash pool) and a Joggers & Walkers track on the Sun Deck (Deck 12, where 10 laps = 1 mile). Other public areas include ‘Aces & Eights’ (card room, Deck 8) and a shopping area (Deck 5).

There is a range of packages you can buy to enhance your cruise experience on ‘Ambition’: The Experience package (£20.95 pp/night) includes gratuities and soft drinks, the Explorer package (£38.95 pp/night) also includes house wines, beer and spirits, whereas the Expedition package (£44.95 pp/night) includes premium drinks and specialty coffees, as well as the contents of the other two packages. Prices quoted are for current purchases pre-cruise. It is more expensive to buy any package when on board. However, drinks pricing is reasonable should you prefer to pay as you go (apart from having to pay for bottled water). Gratuities are charged at £6 pp/night (or £5 pp/night for longer cruises) and Wi-Fi is expensive at £15/day.

Ambassador Cruise Lines have made the call to modernise a 25 year old ship, rather than building or buying a newer one. As a result, ‘Ambition’ largely retains that traditional cruise ship feel, with plenty of indoor seating space and quiet areas. This is diametrically opposite to current trends in cruising whereby cruise lines are looking to alter their ships to appear more like floating hotels. The décor is restful and welcoming, understated elegance even, with interesting artwork and nautical effects. There are no gimmicks, just a good old fashioned approach to offering a comfortable cruise with attentive staff, interesting itineraries sailing from different UK ports (itineraries include themed cruises: Christmas Markets, Guest Speakers, crafting and a tie up with Sealife Charity ORCA), good food and a wide variety of entertainment (be it a cabaret show or musical, a comedian or an enrichment lecture, not forgetting the live music) in a pleasant and homely environment. There are a few multi-generational sailings but generally speaking, for ‘adults only’ looking for no fly cruise options at reasonable prices, Ambassador Cruise Line probably comes pretty close to providing the “Best value at sea” for which they strive and are certainly a notch or two up from CMV.