Ambassador Cruise Line Reviews 

I loved 🥰 every minute on board the ship 🚢 was superb and my cabin was first class. The Buckingham restaurant was top notch and my favourite place was the purple turtle 🐢. I hope to travel again but being a solo traveller it is hard to book with you. Anyway first class I would recommend you to all my friends and family bravo 🙌

Helpful and friendly crew, great entertainment staff and we learnt how to play the ukulele with Rolling' C's

Last night I booked a cruise for this year (2026) But it turned out that I had booked for 2028.
So, this morning I phoned Ambassador customer service, and a very helpful person spoke to me. As there were no cruise I could book for this year, I have been given a full refund.
I am sure we would have had a great time.
PS. I usually only use trust pilot to complain. But have excellent help from Ambassador Staff.

Boarded a cruise to the Artic region. Storm warnings had been in force for 3 days but we were told it would be bumpy but we could still go. In the middle of the North Sea they changed their mind and took us on a cruise I most certainly did not want to go on to the western cities of the Baltic. A much cheaper cruise had I booked it. No recompense

The overall package of entertainment, food, staff, general srvice, the ship itself (comfort & presentation) and value for money

What has happened here .
This was always a good middle of the rd cruise with excellent service !
We are on a 16 day trip to Norway artic northern
lights!
Firstly boarded ship ! Room was not satisfactory very tatty not had a deep clean then found out has done a quick turnaround
after a 40. Day trip
Why why why do they not have a day to fumigate the ship and do a proper clean !
Service is not the same fewer staff !!!
Most look fed up apart from selected few !
We took the drinks package !
And apart from our evening waiter no one took drink order at lunch !!! I waiter for whole restaurant!
We were literally served one course after another so quickly then our waiter was clearing table before we’d finished!
It’s turned into a Butlins holiday camp!!!!
That’s probably a better stay than this .

Shows are still good I will say that .

The other thing I wanted to say was as cabin with balcony was so awful I asked if I could upgrade if one was free and was happy to pay ? According to reception suite was all sold out !
And I really mean this I said I’ll go the next one up which are the really nice sweets ! I could not believe my ears when the receptionist told me it would be to expensive???? For me
My god I said what do you mean she said I just know it will be too much money????
Actually I have just had a windfall and would have paid the extra !!!!

How dare they judge me like that .
So I’m afraid Ambassador it’s curtains for you as far as I’m concerned I will not be sailing with you again !!!!!
Just to say a few positives.
Most of crew are excellent and the spa area is particularly great. Virginia was so good she gave me a lot of advice and wonderful treatments .

Please whatever you do do not upgrade to extra leg room seats on a fly cruise, it is a massive rip off and I cannot believe Ambassador can get away with miss selling it as this. A couple of weeks before departure you get an email asking if you want to bid on upgrading your seats to extra legroom, flights were to Barbados, so starting bid was £200 to upgrade for 2 people. Decided to try it as I get a bit claustrophobic on flights especially if the person in front reclines their seat so extra legroom would be great. Got an email few days before departure saying “congratulations your bid has been successful”. Arrived on board flight to find just normal seats, albeit a two sat together but definitely no extra legroom. Absolute rip off. Complained twice to Ambassador, takes 28 days to get a reply and then it’s to fob you off. There is no affective customer service at Ambassador, once they have your money they do not care about your experience. I had an issue with a member of staff whilst on board and complained about the way I was spoken to to customer services, twice whilst on board and once again on my return home, nothing was resolved. The cruise line has a lot to learn from other companies like Celebrity and Cunard where nothing is too much trouble and staff cannot do enough for you. That being said this cruise was good value for money and did have a couple of staff members who were exceptional and went above and beyond. There were 10 ports of call on a 14 day Caribbean island cruise, cabin was adequate, food in restaurant very good, not great in the buffet, drinks were cheap so no need to buy the drinks packages and you could easily walk off the ship and get excursions to places of interest without paying the over inflated excursion price that Ambassador will charge you for. Moral is you do indeed get what you pay for however if you want a no frills cruise line with good ports of call then this may be ok for you just don’t fall for the extra legroom con.

Ambassador is good value for money but there are still faults which haven't been ironed out and feel the ship could do with a major overhaul. We had the same cabin last year on Deck 9 to the caribbean and this years sailing on the 30TH JAN 2026. The ship had been in dry dock prior to our cruise and yet the air conditioning still doesn't work. Our cabin was very hot with no control causing my disabled son stress and not sleeping and both my sons were moved to another cabin... going to the other exreme the observatory on Deck 10 was blowing ice cold air - You couldn't even sit there. - Now to the excursions booked from home - Very enjoyable St Kitts sugar train 10/10... but i have to complain about the MONTEGO BAY @ EASE & FALMOUTH excursion. Reading the headline and description i assumed you would have free time in Falmouth. I would not have booked this tour - This was not the case. - 1. We stopped to have coconut milk which was poorly organised as there were 6 coaches converging at the same time therefore queues to get through the shop. 2. We then had 15 minutes at a shopping mall which i asked the guide about Falmouth and she replied " We don't stop there we just drive through " - The next time i do excursions i am going to make sure of the destinations.

Sailed with ambassador last year on the ambition. That was absolutely great. No complaints whatsoever this year sailed on the renaissance what a let down this ship does not have a British feel it's foreign. The food is awful. And the staff are rude with a couldn't care less attitude. We will never sail on this ship again even if they were given it away.

We had a fantastic cruise last year. We usually use another similar cruise line but the price was so much cheaper with Ambassador. Looking forward to our next cruise in a few months.

Whilst Ambassador does have its good points sadly it is let down by its really poor office service. I emailed with an urgent request then after 10 days I received an auto response saying it would take another 28 days to respond as it was a "post cruise enquiry". This tells me they could not care less once you leave the ship. It is also virtually impossible to get through by telephone. Very disappointing indeed. I thought better of Ambassador.

Don't sail with this company, we sailed on the renaissance.
Cabin filthy food was on a good day school dinners. Mostly burnt.
If you like sponge and custard as a desert, then you are in for a treat. That's what we had for two weeks in the carribean, everyday!
Beware when you order soft drinks, we had the soft drinks package at over £500.
When you order a soft drink if lucky you get a fresh can. 250ml given to you. The remaining 80ml they sell to others for mixers.
Most of the time they were giving us the 250ml out of various open cans. Goodness knows how long they had been open.

I can't or don't know how to reply to ambassador reply,
To this post.
I have had ANOTHER REPLY from AMBASSADOR. Asking me to send details of my disappointment.
My original post did state I have complained to AMBASSADOR

Again the reply was. Thanks for your concern. We have passed it on to our team for improvement.
Do you mot Care or listen

Sailing with ambassador this April. My companion cant go for medical reasons. Made several calls nothing very clear. Spoke to Jenny today. All sorted fast and transparent. Thank you Jenny you are a star.

Ambassador cruise around Caribbean, 1-15 dec2025.
Disappointing! Whilst the Caribbean was an attractive destination, the experience on the Renaissance was disappointing. The crew were plentiful and friendly but seemed disorganised. Service in the restaurant was slow and the food was often cold. The safety briefing before sailing was a joke. Just scanned our cruise card when we arrived at lifeboat deck.
Evening entertainment was ok but a bit limited.
Itinerary seemed rather haphazard, possibly because the ship picked up English, French and Dutch passengers from different islands.
Embarkation and disembarkation went well but had to start the final disembarkation procedure 8 hours before the plane was due to take off from barbados.

We recently sailed with Ambassador Cruise Line and, while there were some positives, the overall experience was disappointing.

The ports of call were good and the ship itself was clean and well presented. The housekeeping team, along with the dining and bar staff, were exceptional — friendly, hardworking and the highlight of the cruise. They are a real credit to the company.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for reception and the financial team. We were incorrectly charged on our card, and it took 11 days for the pending transaction to return to our account. Passengers should check their onboard bills very carefully.

We received letters instructing us to attend reception regarding the payment issue, yet when we did, the financial controller was nowhere to be found. When we eventually located her, she claimed she had not been informed about the situation. The lack of communication and accountability was unacceptable.

To make matters worse, the ship returned to Port of Tilbury four hours late with no prior communication, despite it being clear there was an issue. No complimentary WiFi was offered to allow passengers to rearrange travel plans. That level of customer care falls short of expectations.

Having previously cruised with P&O Cruises, the difference in professionalism and customer service was noticeable.

The onboard service staff did their jobs exceptionally well, but poor financial handling and weak communication significantly undermined the experience. Based on this cruise, I would not sail with Ambassador again.

I sailed on Renaissance on 29th Dec 25, The ship is very tired and worn it was sold as adults only and yet was full of kids running riot , the outside cabin I had on Deck 4 had loads of rust around the window and the towels in bathroom were very old and worn and looked quite disgusting.People were getting on and off several days with big queues..A bit like a ferry..Buffet was horrendous with seats difficult to find and in the evening rhe main restaurant was a bit hit and miss re food and one night no one asked if I would like a drink. They had lovely French bread but only had awful margarine to serve with it . I would never sail on Renaissance ever again please if you’re thinking of booking DONT…save your money . I have made a complaint to ROL that I booked through but doubt they will do anything ..AVOID, AVOID, AVOID

Booked the Ambassador Renaissance with Iglu.com advert suggested it was typical British cruising Adults only .Flew from Heathrow to Barbados on the 29/12/ 2025. Firstly there were children in board mainly French and Dutch really bad behaved because apart from the swimming pool there was absolutely nothing for them to do not kids clubs etc.No extraction in the bathroom as soon as you opened the bathroom door all the steam went into the cabin everything in the wardrobe felt damp and the bed .In the 2 weeks my sheets were only changed once because I literally ripped them off the bed .I complained about the noise from the air-conditioning and the fact it was freezing maintenance came and turned it off ,so we are sailing around the Caribbean roasting hot with no air-conditioning you couldn't control it yourself .Called them back they put it back on freezing and very noisy. Food absolutely terrible menus in Dutch and French which they favoured before anyone from the UK . Ate 3 times in the dining room and gave up are set dining time was between 5.45 and 6.15 far to early when you went to level 7 or 8 the queue was that big you couldn't get out of the lift .We decided to eat in the buffet the only cereal was coco pops nno fruit no butter only margarine we couldn't eat anything but dry bread or a croissant no jam . After the 5th day we gave up on eating on the ship and went for food when we were off the ship .Day 8 got ill along with several others i stayed in the cabin for 3 days i was afraid to go to the medical centre because it was getting close to flying home and i was terrified i would get an unfit to travel letter ..Didn't find out i actually caught pneumonia until I got home and went straight into hospital been home a month and I am still unwell .Was not informed before travelling that people joined the ship in Quadelope and Curacco and I.mean hundreds there were approximately 550 to 600 that flew from the UK 🇬🇧 .It felt more like booze cruise / Ferry .Over 32 years of cruising this is the worst experience by far . Ambassador are not interested in complaints they would rather ban you from their cruises which is fine by me but totally unprofessional .For anyone thinking of going on this ship do your home work i wish I did 😔 . Just received the typical response from Ambassador cruises contact guest relations and they will be happy to investigate this 😀Do you not think i have already done that ? And I know your next response from guest relations will be my comments have been noted or you will contact the ship re dining and housekeeping ! Well sorry that do not cut it for me because I had to endure all the faults with no offer of recompense . Ambassador are now saying Adult focused! There ships are primarily adults only but they allow children over the age of 3 😁The wording as been chosen very carefully because Adult focused means they do not have to provide kids clubs etc! Hence the fact the children on board were running wild , but that is ok first them they never paid thousands of pounds to be surrounded by children on an adult focused cruise , which was sold to us as adults only .This new wording Adult focused was not available to me at the time of booking .

This was a last minute booking to the Caribbean to take advantage of some winter sun. To be honest, we'd never fancied the Caribbean but are now converted!
But, to Ambassador. We booked through Imagine Cruising, but any dealings we had directly with Ambassador were great; both companies answer their phones, and usually very quickly.
Ambassador managed our flights and transfers and all was absolutely fine.
The ship, Renaissance, is relatively small, only 1200 passengers but that's its beauty. Everyone knows you and passengers quickly form friendships. Previous comments mentioned the French and they were in fact the only awkward guests, very entitled, unfriendly and often rude (until recently, the Renaissance was French), but unless you're very sensitive, they won't spoil your holiday!
Cabins are very comfortable (the beds are awesome) and, yes, there is only one electric socket, but we managed. Extension leads were confiscated but some passengers explained their needs, ie. medical appliances, and were allowed to keep theirs. Air con is variable. Our room was very warm and after two visits from the technical team, it was okay. Some rooms were very cool. But the air con does work, it's just not as controllable as you might like.
Cases ARE scanned, so don't bother trying to sneak on booze! And all bags are scanned after you've been ashore.
The food is lovely, especially at dinner in the formal restaurant. The buffet cooks up very nice dishes but it can be slow because you are served. There is very little that is self-service.
Drinks are British pub prices so no complaints.
The entertainment is really good. Very few acts join the ship, unlike in the Med/Europe where it's easy to fly acts in and out, but hats off to the Team. They are simply marvellous, supremely talented. The effects/technical team perform miracles and make the shows top notch.
During the day there are activities but quite low key, the way of many cruise lines now. The quizzes offer ample opportunities to mix with fellow passengers and are always popular. Across a fortnight there are two karaoke sessions, sign up early to avoid disappointment!.
Now to the staff. They are some of the best ever! Getting off and back on the ship is a very efficient process but the lovely people manning it are always extremely friendly and welcoming into the bargain. We bought duty-free spirits (top tip, St Maarten's is the cheapest place by far) when we went ashore and handed them in to the staff. They thanked us, logged what we'd bought and they were placed in our stateroom 24 hours before we disembarked.
The restaurant staff are super, always chirpy and helpful, often under pressure at busier times. Our steward was excellent, very unobtrusive, just friendly and helpful, we always returned to a spotless cabin.
There are plenty of sunbeds and the pool areas are clean and the bar is well-stocked.
We didn't buy the drinks' package because we got off the ship at every port, often for the day, but others enjoyed having it.
When an extra 200 passengers embarked in Curacao, it was noticeably busier and at times, the buffet restaurant was a tad manic. Although 1200 seems to be the capacity, it's a stretch in terms of space and staff. But in true Ambassador style, the staff smiled through and did all they could to help.
I met one lady that complained and ranted at me for a good few minutes, then asked me what I thought. When I said we loved it, she said, with real disdain, that it must be my first cruise....how rude. I assured her we'd been on quite a few cruises and named the lines.
So, ignore the doom-mongers, this a great cruise line. I'm assured that the other ships are better than Renaissance but we had few complaints about the fleet's latest acquisition. We'd do the same trip again in a heartbeat.
Thanks to all concerned in making this a fab holiday.

A bit peeved that I booked a 70s cruise early only to find a few weeks later perks like free spa, £20 vouchers and free coach links were being offered. I got none of this. maybe the trick is to wait for last minute deals.

The crew are wonderful - friendly, helpful and fun! The entertainment is exceptional, especially the Show Team. I just love the general friendliness of this cruise line. Travelling alone it is by far the best line to travel with. I have cruised with them 6 times and am currently in the process of choosing my 7th! I would recommend them unreservedly.