Ambience Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose this cruise because of the unusual places on the itinerary. Unfortunately we were disappointed the moment we got on board as the ship was very hot. Reception just kept saying to passengers that as soon as the ship sails it would get cool! This is nonsense because we've been on board other ships for hours before sailing off and it's been lovely and cool as the air-conditioning was efficient. On the following morning there were more passengers complaining of rooms being uncomfortably hot or freezing cold, no hot water etc. It was a real pity about the lack of air-conditioning as otherwise this was a lovely ship in the public areas. Food was very good in the main dining room. The Buffet was ok too. Most of the show's were by far the best we've seen on any cruise. There were excellent violinists , pianists, singers and dancers. Staff were good and tried to be helpful to the best of their ability. We had to cancel our 32 night cruise for 24 October ( Mediterranean across the Black Sea) as we found out from the company that the air-conditioning is still not in complete working order as they're awaiting spare parts. Our deposit has been fully refunded. We are sad to miss this cruise as we were looking forward to visiting Jerusalem and the other interesting places on the itinerary. All we can do now is check the reviews from March for 'AMBITION' and if it's all in good order we'll book for Oct 2023 on the same itinerary as this Oct. For now we've put Ambassador cruises on hold.
Cabin Review
Spacious room and good bathroom. Lots of storage. Furniture needs painting to a light cream to brighten up the room. Carpet was also dark brown stripes making the room feel rather dreary! It could do with plain new carpets.
No plugpoints by ends of headboard close to bedside cabinets. Nearest plug was at least 1.5 m from foot of bed. An extension was organised which was not very safe...the wall plug socket was Australian, which then needed a British adaptor to attach the extension cable. To this we then had to attach our extension cable and then a CPAP machine. The worst was not having any working air-conditioning. And as an individual who has breathing problems (various respiratory conditions) it was not easy. Engineers then kept coming in, looking at the electronic unit and attempted to make adjustments and left telling us it will be working in 2 hours. Over the next few hours we had the engineers in and out a few times. Eventually at about 9/10 pm we were moved to another room which was also very hot. Following this were then shown another room which was only minimally cooler and was still undergoing refurbishment. There was a wooden board behind a set of curtains. We were told it was only for the night and in the morning we will be allocated another room. So since embarkation that afternoon we had now been in three different cabins. Unfortunately in the morning the staff were unable to find a suitable room and told us that we could pay to be upgraded to a balcony room so we could have the door open for a cooler room. We of course refused as the problem with the room was their air-conditioning and beyond our budget! And the only other room they offered us was a much smaller outside cabin which had a partially obstructed and extremely dirty window. Eventually we had to return to our original room as they wouldn't move us to anything but the same grade which they didn't have. On the first night we asked for a fan and was told they don't have any. We continued to complain about the non functioning air conditioner and finally on the third night two managers turned up, being very apologetic and said they would bring a portable cooler which used ice to cool the room. We heard from senior staff that the ship was not fully ready and they were waiting for spare parts from China for the air-conditioning. It was also mentioned that 'AMBIENCE' should never have been put out to sail. And that 'AMBITION' was in better shape and more ready to sail.