New UK based cruise line to launch
The first new British cruise line for more than a decade has been unveiled and will commence operations in spring 2022.
Ambassador Cruise Line will offer a premium-value cruise experience, sailing for the British market out of London Tilbury.
It will focus primarily on the over 50’s market with an inaugural short break cruise on 6 April 2022 aboard 1,400-guest Ambience to Hamburg, before sailing a mixed itinerary programme to the Norwegian Fjords and the British Isles throughout spring.
Sales will open in June.
During the first full year through May 2023, Ambience will embark on 33 sailings visiting a total of 88 different ports, in the Baltics St Petersburg, Greenland, the Arctic, and Iceland.
In the winter months a range of expedition style voyages will feature the Canaries, Cuba, the Caribbean, Cape Verde and Scandinavia.
Ambassador Cruise Line’s Chair is Gordon Wilson, formerly President and CEO of Travelport, and the company is supported by a management team with several members previously at Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV).
It is led by CEO, Christian Verhounig and supported by CCO, Christopher Coates, CIO, Gary Hides and CFO, Simon Weeks.
"We are hugely excited to launch the first British cruise line in over a decade. It is just what the industry needs right now to reboot the British cruise market and inject confidence into the sector," Wilson said.
"We’re a new company offering a distinctive product but maintaining traditional cruising values which we know are important to our guests."
The new cruise startup has ambitious plans and ‘the travel industry is a crucial partner in this,’ Wilson says.
The company’s trade sales team will be reaching out to agents and encouraging trade partners to sign up to the registration website for more news and information.
It plans to employ about 100 staff in the UK.
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