A Review of Ambience

[tring]

 

I have just received a link from CC for my newly published review, which I have placed below:-

 

Ambience Review by tring

 

I am told there will be a delay before it will appear on the CC search system.  Previous reviews of mine have usually taken a few days. 

 

I have also noticed that clicking on "Member Reviews" written on the blue bar (on the home page) does not allow access to Ambassador reviews as the cruise line is not in the list of cruise lines to choose from, however, if you click on the word review, written in black on the white part at the top of the home page, you can search for reviews of the ship, and there are quite a number of reviews there.

 

Barbara

 

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[MX-Drew]

Thank you for the review.

Can I ask, when you say about the temperature of the cabins, I assume there is no air conditioning / heater control in the cabin or was it broken (in both cabins)?

[tring]

1 hour ago, MX-Drew said:

Thank you for the review.

Can I ask, when you say about the temperature of the cabins, I assume there is no air conditioning / heater control in the cabin or was it broken (in both cabins)?

 

The cabin controls do not work.  Company apparently have parts on order, but were stuck in China, due to their lockdown a few weeks back.  Loads of people having problems with temperatures, also lots of balcony cabins with big gaps under the outside doors, so get cold wind in there if windy weather.  There were reports of lots of those cabins being flooded in a storm at the end of the cruise before ours, some people moving at 2am!  We were offered one of those at a cost (not much) but were warned about drafts and the patio door seal was clearly non existent in places, so we declined.  Not sure if some balcony door seals been replaced, but others certainly had not.  Structurally the ship is in a bad state, but superficially looks good,

 

We have visitors later, but will check this site tomorrow.

 

Barbara

 

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by tring

[MX-Drew]

1 minute ago, tring said:

 

The cabin controls do not work.  Company apparently have parts on order, but we're stuck in China, due to their lockdown a few weeks back.  Loads of people having problems with temperatures, also lots of balcony cabins with big gaps under the outside doors, so get cold wind in there if windy weather.  There were reports of lots of cabins being flooded in a storm at the end of the cruise before ours.  We were offered one of those at a cost (not much) but were warned about drafts and the patio door seal was clearly non existent in places, so we declined.  Not sure if some balcony door seals been replaced, but others certainly had not.  Structurally the ship is in a bad state, but superficially looks good.

 

We have visitors later, but will check this site tomorrow.

 

Barbara

 

 

Thank you, that is very useful information.

As you will see from another thread I have started, we are booked for one of their festive events so this will give us an opportunity to take a good look around. 

Unfortunately it is sounding like CMV all over again, to me at least. 

[tring]

3 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

Thank you, that is very useful information.

As you will see from another thread I have started, we are booked for one of their festive events so this will give us an opportunity to take a good look around. 

Unfortunately it is sounding like CMV all over again, to me at least. 

 

IMO you get what you pay for, it was very cheap for us as we booked late, but will not be doing it again.  Customer choice.

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by tring

[Britboys]

Thanks for the review Barbara. Unfortunately, Ambassador haven't had a very good start but hopefully are beginning to make headway. It seems fewer pax are reporting aircon problems now. The parking situation has also improved as most of the proper car park is now available again after removal of empty shipping containers that were put there during lockdown. That means it is only a short walk from the car park to terminal.

I'm not trying to make excuses for them but I guess things have been exacerbated due to the ship being older and in lay-up for a couple of years.

I'm on her for one of the Christmas Markets cruises and will report back.

[MX-Drew]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Thanks for the review Barbara. Unfortunately, Ambassador haven't had a very good start but hopefully are beginning to make headway. It seems fewer pax are reporting aircon problems now. The parking situation has also improved as most of the proper car park is now available again after removal of empty shipping containers that were put there during lockdown. That means it is only a short walk from the car park to terminal.

I'm not trying to make excuses for them but I guess things have been exacerbated due to the ship being older and in lay-up for a couple of years.

I'm on her for one of the Christmas Markets cruises and will report back.

From experience of car parking with CMV the parking is out of control of Ambassador. The car park area can almost be anywhere in Tilbury docks and varies each week from what I have seen.

Fingers crossed they now have this sorted though.

[tring]

21 hours ago, Britboys said:

Thanks for the review Barbara. Unfortunately, Ambassador haven't had a very good start but hopefully are beginning to make headway. It seems fewer pax are reporting aircon problems now. The parking situation has also improved as most of the proper car park is now available again after removal of empty shipping containers that were put there during lockdown. That means it is only a short walk from the car park to terminal.

I'm not trying to make excuses for them but I guess things have been exacerbated due to the ship being older and in lay-up for a couple of years.

I'm on her for one of the Christmas Markets cruises and will report back.

 

The original car park was not walkable from the terminal, CMV always used shuttle buses, but the original one was a bit nearer and there are instructions how to get to the car park on the Ambassador website, so would be no need to go to the terminal, then follow instructions back to the car park, which was totally silly.  Still depends on how the shuttle buses are running and disembarkation is under control of the ship, so times could be in group sizes that did not result in utter chaos with crowds surging forward.  Once we got to the car park on disembarkation, people near us were saying they would never use the official car park again.  Control of numbers leaving the ship would have almost certainly meant quicker disembarkation for everyone.  Shuttle buses could have been filled one by one on disembarkation, rather than having a couple being filled at once and then us being left ages without the A/C in very hot conditions before the drivers left for the car park.  It was also difficult to get anywhere near the vans which were taking the cases to the car park.

 

Will be interesting to see how reviews look going forward, though personally, I am very suspicious about much that is said on another, unmentionable site as some seem to have an agenda, possibly with links to the company.  It is for everyone to make their own decision on what is right (or not) for them.

 

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by tring

[Lonvon]

On 8/4/2022 at 11:13 AM, tring said:

 

The original car park was not walkable from the terminal, CMV always used shuttle buses, but the original one was a bit nearer and there are instructions how to get to the car park on the Ambassador website, so would be no need to go to the terminal, then follow instructions back to the car park, which was totally silly.  Still depends on how the shuttle buses are running and disembarkation is under control of the ship, so times could be in group sizes that did not result in utter chaos with crowds surging forward.  Once we got to the car park on disembarkation, people near us were saying they would never use the official car park again.  Control of numbers leaving the ship would have almost certainly meant quicker disembarkation for everyone.  Shuttle buses could have been filled one by one on disembarkation, rather than having a couple being filled at once and then us being left ages without the A/C in very hot conditions before the drivers left for the car park.  It was also difficult to get anywhere near the vans which were taking the cases to the car park.

 

Will be interesting to see how reviews look going forward, though personally, I am very suspicious about much that is said on another, unmentionable site as some seem to have an agenda, possibly with links to the company.  It is for everyone to make their own decision on what is right (or not) for them.

 

 

Thanks for your review we embark on Saturday. A little apprehensive after reading the reviews but like you last minute booking so expecting we will get for we paid for.

have been issued 3.15pm as boarding time everyone needs  to be boarded by 4pm latest. Have been told not to go early as we won’t be allowed in but based on your experience with the car park shall we  allow at least 30 minutes to get from the car park to the terminal or won’t they let us in car park until boarding time.

Thanks 
 

[tring]

15 minutes ago, Lonvon said:

Thanks for your review we embark on Saturday. A little apprehensive after reading the reviews but like you last minute booking so expecting we will get for we paid for.

have been issued 3.15pm as boarding time everyone needs  to be boarded by 4pm latest. Have been told not to go early as we won’t be allowed in but based on your experience with the car park shall we  allow at least 30 minutes to get from the car park to the terminal or won’t they let us in car park until boarding time.

Thanks 
 

 

No one asked for embarkation time when we arrived and DH went to the car park.  We eventually entered the Terminal building an hour or more later than our embarkation time and were only then asked what our embarkation time was.  We were directed straight to the check in queue, but there were people sitting in the entrance area, so I assume they had arrived early and been asked to wait for their time.  Toilets were available outside the building, but not sure there was any availability of drinks, snacks etc.

 

Hope that helps.

[Lonvon]

Thanks that helps. We’ll aim to get to the car park  30 minutes earlier. 

[London-Calling]

There is another review here, of Ambience's maiden cruise.

 

It's NOT all good! 

 

Ambience Ship Review – Maiden Cruise (Ambassador Cruise Line) | Malcolm Oliver's WaterWorld (wordpress.com)

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by London-Calling

[dsrdsrdsr]

I got back last week, from the Norway cruise with families on board.

 

The air conditioning seems to have been sorted out.  Ours was, anyway, and I didn't hear anyone else complain.  It needed tweaking slightly between day and night, between about 18 and 19 degrees - 20 was too hot, 17 too cold.  Fine adjustments weren't difficult.

 

Car parking (for us at least, and presumably for everyone else) was fine.  The car park now is literally across the road from the terminal, and it wasn't full.

 

The children were well behaved.  Perhaps because of the total absence of children's facilities, it meant that only those children whose parents could bear to put up with them 24/7 were on board! With the pool being unheated, it was mostly children who wanted to be in it anyway.

 

Buffet was very busy, I recommend restaurant dining for breakfast and dinner at least.

 

Service was good.  Possibly not as good as if we had paid an extra £1,000 per head, but definitely good.  

 

Embarkation was efficient, our time was 2.30 according to our schedule and we were on board just after 3.

 

Our cabin was plenty big enough for 3, larger than most.  On P&O's Arcadia they used to have inside cabins at 150 square foot, or large inside at 200 square foot; these cabins, deck 6 outside view, were 190 square foot.  Loads of storage space.

 

Whether it's typical or whether we just got a fortunate mix of passengers I don't know. but it was a happy ship.

Edited August 18, 2022 by dsrdsrdsr

[tim_london0]

That's strange

 

I found the lunch session to be busiest in the buffet.

 

 

[Gwendy]

This ship was Pacific Dawn based in Australia with P&O.  I remember it had the best wardrobe/storage space of any other ship.  Far better than Dawn Princess or Sea Princess.  
Good to see it in service again.

I found CMV good value for money, sailed from Singapore to London in 2018.  Price exceptional.  You can overlook minor issues with a price that good.