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Milaandra

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    Paisley, Scotland

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  1. Just got off the Ambition 2 week Iceland cruise. There were two formal nights, and all others were casual. On the formal nights, I would say long dresses and tuxes were represented but not standard. Disappointingly, there weren't any of those formal portrait stations you get on other cruise ships. I did hear that photographers at the captain's welcome party took full length photos, but I missed that.
  2. I'm back from two weeks on the Ambition, and I'll be doing a review in a few days In the meantime, I'd be happy to give you my impressions of the ship itself if that would be useful. I was in an inside cabin. Overall, I liked the ship. Small enough to get where you need to go quickly, but it felt roomy. Some areas were creatively designed and felt really comfortable. It does need some tweaks...the beverage areas of the buffet desperately need to be moved to facilitate easy traffic flow, carpeting in the cabin deck hallways needs replacing, the cabin storage needs adjusting to be truly useful and the Buckingham needs a reboot (bad chairs, traffic flow issues and it was oddly noisy which we speculated was due to the ceiling material) The inside cabin had a small bathroom...frankly, heavier people might find the toilet unusable as the space was very narrow even by cruise ship standards. And why, oh why, don't cruise ships provide a swing out magnifying mirror? You can get them in the pound shops, for goodness sake! (sorry...pet peeve of mine as I'm nearsighted as hell)
  3. I just got off a 2 week Iceland cruise, and there were free shuttle buses in every port that required one. I don't know if they were from Ambassador or the port cities.
  4. I just got off Ambition after the Fire & Ice cruise, and I agree with most of what you have said with a few exceptions. -Our cabin was too warm and we complained four times to no avail. Finally when the outdoor temperature hit 20 three days before disembarkation, miraculously our cabin was cool and we could hear the fan operating. This leads me to believe that it makes no difference what the passengers want...the HVAC gets turned on based on outdoor temps. The coolest area of the ship is the games room (Aces & Eights) -I loved Deck 11 (the pool deck)...I thought it was pretty and homey and had lots of little areas that let you enjoy the outdoors. Most of the cruise there was no music on Deck 11 so you could talk or read easily. The pool was rarely filled and running, but when it was, it was more like a fountain...very pretty. -After a couple of days I started skipping breakfast because I hate starting my day at a buffet...and the breakfast choices were boring. -They have a very good baker on board. -The dining room meals were nicely presented and served with nice sauces and good sides, but a few times the meat wasn't good at all. -The dining room (Buckingham) was particularly warm, even when the AC got turned on. I could practically feel my ankles swelling while I sat there -Apart from one formal night per week, the rest of the dinners were casual. Boy, did I pack wrong! -Apart from the captain's welcome party, there was no formal portrait photography, just some dinner table shots. -there are only three small drawers in the cabin. (inside) Everything else is shelving behind cabinet doors, so I recommend bringing some little plastic trays or ikea folding baskets to hold small items like medicines and makeup, etc. -in an inside, there are two UK outlets, one euro outlet, one USB and one USB-C outlets, plus one shaver outlet in the ceiling of the bathroom.The outlets take the place of what should have been a shallow desk drawer, again, leaving no where to store small items -I found that most people at first sitting used the hand sanitizer...I didn't because I had just come from my cabin where I had washed my hands. I found the wash stations useful for lunch at the buffet
  5. I was able to reschedule our transport, and since it was cheap to begin with, the extra it cost is still pretty low. We're just the type of people who like a large window and having a booked time just one hour before embarkation closes just keeps me worrying that something will screw up. (Yes, we also come back on board early on shore days, too!) We like to get on the ship, have lunch, settle in, explore the ship, unpack...and then we can truly relax. I'm mostly unhappy that it didn't matter what I wanted.
  6. No, we're on, I think, the third voyage. Passengers on the maiden voyage should be disembarking Friday, I believe, so hopefully more information will come in soon.
  7. I noticed the big dent, but I didn't see the cupboard door...I'll go watch again. I was disappointed there weren't videos of other cabin classes. There are a couple of other cabin tours on youtube, but again, they are from comped reviewers, so they are also junior suites. One showed a quick glance at an inside, but just of the beds, which didn't help. I'm not used to cruising without knowing exactly what the storage situation is, the layout and where the power points are.
  8. Cruise Buoys have a couple of youtube videos about the launch event, if you want to see a review of the ship and what it has to offer.
  9. Ambition wasn't. It was actually completely refurbed by Aida at the end of 2019, and only sailed for a short time because of covid. I haven't been on her yet, but I'll let you know in a few weeks.
  10. It's likely too late to help you, but... JJ's House. Beautifully constructed gowns of every style and colour. You can even search by particular features, like length, silhouette, sleeve length, etc. Follow the size chart on each gown...it's pretty accurate I ended up buying a bunch, and only one of the bunch had a fitting problem (needed the shoulders taken up and the cuffs tightened) You can pay for regular sizes, a bit extra for custom measurements or the best deals of the century, samples!!! (which is what I end up getting, cause I love a bargain) The selection of samples may be limited in the sizes and colours available but man! they are so inexpensive and because they are ready to go, they ship really quickly. (in just days to the UK...not sure about the US) People submit reviews, sometimes with photos, so you can see what they look like on real people. I sound like a commercial, but this place has been such a great shopping experience for me! (which is a rare, rare thing)
  11. Just so everyone is aware, Ambassador allocates rigid embarkation times 21 days out from the cruise, and those times are based on cabin category and deck, according to their customer service. You can't get that time changed even if the ship isn't full. (I've tried twice) Just know that if you stay at a hotel you may have to arrange late check-out, and if taking flights/public transportation you may have to either rearrange your tickets or wait to book after you know your allocated embarkation time. I know this won't bother many or most people, but I hate it! 😒 (grumble, grumble) Oh, well. Off to try and rearrange our transport...
  12. My husband is travelling on his Canadian passport. They never asked for his UK residency status. I would just confirm whether the travel insurance requirement pertains to citizens of other countries and if so, ensure they accept your insurance.
  13. Again, I haven't been on the cruise yet, and I'm hoping it will be great, but thus far I'm really unimpressed with their customer service policies. They are friendly and polite, but in my experience, completely inflexible. Every cruise line has strengths and weaknesses, and I'm hoping this weakness will be balanced by other strengths. After getting caught by rail strike issues and/or train delays getting to or from Southampton on our last two cruises, we have been hoping that this cruise line would become our go-to because of the closer embarkation ports.
  14. We are sailing with Ambassador soon for the first time, so I can't comment on how it compares with other cruise lines. If I was brutally honest, though, I'd suggest going with a more established cruise line and doing a week's cruise for your first one. Just in case. 16 days is a long time if you end up hating it. I'm a bit biased toward NCL, as you can see from my signature, but the new cruiser advantages include informal dress and freestyle dining (which they do very efficiently) which will feel more like going to a restaurant where and when you want. The only disadvantage is that sea days can be a bit boring, and the service charges are higher. The drinks package is a great value on NCL, where individual drinks are higher priced than on the UK lines. I'd stick to a mid-ship lower level cabin for your first time and make sure you have cabins above and to each side of you, well away from nightclubs and the theatre...a few cabins away from the lifts, too. I would stick with a smaller ship, but NCL has several of those, like the Jade, Dawn & Star. (We didn't like the Spirit as much) NCL also has a very lively and helpful board here and have ships that sail from Southampton. Most people love cruising the minute they step on board, but not everyone, so I'd stack the deck. (no pun intended!) Just my opinion 🙂
  15. Isn't Sailing Canary flying? We don't restrict our clothing much if we're cruising no-fly. 😀
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