PrincessPete

Thank you both for the very helpful replies. Indeed I will be drinking, but as I am going with a friend who, like me, is partial to a pint we will be getting a drinks package.

We will certainly have a look at buying in advance with the discount "Gettingwarmer" kindly referred to as I'm sure I will be able to spend the OBC on pressies for my daughters/granddaughters.

Many thanks again for the replies.

Best regards. Peter

Hi all, sorry to ask a question that has doubtless been asked before but I can't find the answer!

Just booking an Arvia cruise for later this year and have £150 onboard credit.

Can I use that in advance to book wifi? I think the answer may be "no".

If that is the case and I wait to book the wifi until I am onboard (which I know will be a bit more expensive) can I then use the OBC.

Many thanks for any responses.

Kind regards.

Peter

Hi all, does anyone have any advice about what to do on a Sunday in Hamburg. We are on an MSC cruise shortly and understand all the shops are closed on Sunday.

None of the ship tours outside of Hamburg particularly appeal and we did want to see the city center.

Can anyone help with advice if museums or anything similar is open on a Sunday please.

Any help greatly appreciated while I’ll also try online.

Thank you very much.

Kind regards Peter. 

Thank you so much, "showingdiva" for your most helpful reply which is greatly appreciated.

Kind regards. Peter

With several family members, I am on the Euribia Northern Europe cruise on 15 March. We are experienced cruisers but not on MSC large ships and are finding their website difficult! I would be most grateful for help from those who know.

EMBARKATION: It says when we check in shoreside we get a cruise card which gives access to the cabin but elsewhere says you get the card in the cabin (how do we get in the cabin 😀.) Can you please clarify where we get the card?

It then says we activate it (to make onboard purchases) with a c/c number at an onboard machine.

So can someone please confirm whether we get the card shoreside or in the cabin and that we do have to activate it at a machine onboard as suggested? (I have always registered a c/c shoreside previously but realise things change).

SHOWS: Can you only book shows etc onboard?

MSC APP: I have downloaded the app but it does not recognise my booking ref which I will deal with, of course, but what is the app used for onboard, please? Does it work well?

Hope my queries all make sense and I will be most grateful for any help. Thank you.

I ought to start this post with full disclosure that I have had an issue with Ambassador since the company was formed – the same people who were in charge when CMV collapsed started a company in the same premises as CMV were based, using their databases, while at the same time owing millions.
I'm sure they acted within the law and many other companies have gone bust and restarted with exactly the same kind of operation in the same way as Mr Verhouning has in the case .
After that full disclosure, I have to say that I would not book a cruise on Ambience under any circumstances.
The Christmas 2022 cruises were cancelled due to technical issues. There was another issue during the summer this year I believe with its moorings and now the ship is in for yet another extended dry dock with major repairs to propeller shafts. While it might make business sense for Ambition to take over the Ambience cruises, ask yourself how you would feel if you were one of those affected – as per the postings here.
Ambassador have developed a good reputation for very friendly staff and I understand, fairly reasonable food, but the issue is that Ambience is such an old ship.
32 years into its life it is likely to have many more mechanical issues and doubtless more cruises will be cancelled in the future.
The ship was on its way to the scrapyard, metaphorically, if not literally, when Ambassador bought it, and whilst they have praised themselves for the new fuel and environmentally friendly system they have installed the ship is still on its last legs.
With further disclosure, I would say that I had a very enjoyable cruise with CMV on Astoria, but I will be giving a very wide berth to anything Ambassador do in the future.
Yes, even new ships can break down, but let's be honest there's far more chance of it happening again to Ambience than some of the brand spanking new ships and the price difference between Ambassador and other lines does not justify the risk.
Others may/will disagree which is fine!

I meant to add that I have tried to submit a contact form to MSC asking the same questions as above - it always says "an error occurred, please resubmit"

Getting through to someone on the phone has proved impossible hence asking on this site.

Thanks again!

Good afternoon, I am reasonably computer literate but have struggled all day with the MSC website. I have a booking for one of the Euribia Northern Europe cruises embarking at Southampton and am trying to establish full details of the shore excursions and to book some. The same applies to the theatre shows in the evening which I believe you can book.

I have searched the website extensively (using the booking reference and the Voyager Club number) but although I can find minimal details there is nothing that actually allows me to book anything. Then the screen page keeps "greying" out.

As an aside, I am particularly keen to establish if there is an "Amsterdam on your own" tour (effectively just a shuttle transfer) when we are in Rotterdam.

Any advice on how to proceed would be much appreciated and thank you in advance.

Kind regards.

Is the immortal Hughie Taylor still around? He was as “recently” as 2018 on our last Oriana cruise. I know he was a bit of a “Marmite” Cruise Director (as they were called back then), but in our many meetings going back to the mid/late 1980’s we always found him very pleasant.

Also, does anyone remember Bill Allison. He really was superb and took part in big productions such as “Me and My Girl”(Sea Princess 1986).

I guess it depends on what way round the British Isles the ship goes. If it is Southampton, Dublin, Scotland, Le Havre, Southampton for example, i.e. clockwise then clearly a starboard cabin would be best as land will always be that side.

Anticlockwise then the port side would be best.

I’m hoping this is not too simplistic an answer, and I’m not trying to be clever, but I can only assume that is the information you are looking for.

Having said that, for a lot of the cruise you will be out of sight of land anyway I guess?

Hope this helps.

Kind regards. Peter
PS:  for what it’s worth my daughter and and son-in-law are just returning tomorrow from an Emerald Princess Round Britain cruise  which has been a fantastic success in all respects. (They are in an inside cabin though so that does not help in answering your question 😄😄)

PPS: I think I’m right in saying that most Round Britain cruises go anticlockwise heading to Dublin, Belfast and then on to Scotland etc. Perhaps someone can correct me if I’m wrong.

We were looking at an advert today for the cruise in September advertised as “Canada, Greenland and Iceland.”

That is indeed factually correct, but the one visit to Iceland is an “early PM” arrival to Reykjavik. There is no reference to a late departure (which does feature on another itinerary in the same advert) so I can only assume that it’s a late PM departure, meaning just a very few hours there.

The previous 7 days have been at sea (albeit the first two are spent cruising the St Lawrence River).

My point is that surely in the 5 of those 7 days which are spent heading east, they could sail a fraction of a knot quicker to arrive in Iceland for a whole day?

I can also only agree with the posting (on a different question) about the lack of “experiences” available on Ambassador, and this very short time in Iceland, which could clearly have been increased, is another example, in my view, of poor planning.

I know a poster said you could book independent tours but there should be at least the option to do “experiences” from the ship, with the added comforts that brings re not potentially missing the ship. 
Despite one good cruise on CMV I still have my reservations about Ambassador, particularly with the numerous reports of air-conditioning problems. I know it is an old ship but surely they had enough time in the many months of refurbishment to sort out their problems.

My final observation (sorry I seem to have veered off my original topic!) is that until they introduce freedom dining, as opposed to fixed times only, then it’s not for us anyway.

Indeed Presto2, Ocean Village 2, under an earlier name, was Crown Princess (which, as an aside, we had a great cruise on when she was part of  Princess Cruises in 2000) and she was indeed a sister ship to Regal Princess, now Ambience.

In fact not so much sisters as TWIN sisters as Crown Princess and Regal Princess were identical, certainly in respect of the structure, just with slight differences in decor.

So you are absolutely right!

Sadly Ocean Village 2 (which had later names and finally became Karnika) was scrapped while Regal Princess lives on as Ambience.

Being a previous CMV passenger (on one very pleasant “Astoria“ cruise) we are inundated with brochures and flyers from Ambassador cruise line. (I am sure you will know that, despite leaving numerous companies with £millions of unpaid debts, the previous CMV owners, who now run Ambassador, managed to afford to buy the mailing list from the liquidators – and indeed now rent the same old CMV premises in Essex).

One of the brochures is for the 120 night Grand World Voyage in January 2024.

When studying the itinerary I see there is just a single overnight stay - in Mombasa.

From my knowledge of world cruises (which is restricted to brochures, never having been on one) I have never seen one that does not include overnights in such iconic ports as Sydney, Cape Town and Singapore.

I would think that most world cruise passengers would welcome an overnight stay, at even just a few of those special ports they visit.

I also see there are six ports with either very late arrivals or early afternoon departures, again cutting down on the available port time.

Just seems a bit strange to me and would be interested in any other opinions.

Kind regards

Peter

Thank you both and apologies again as I should have been able to find that myself!!

Kind regards. Peter

Hi, apologies as I am sure the answer to my question is somewhere on this highly informative forum but I can not find it.

The query is this - we are currently booked on a 28 night Caribbean cruise in November but due to a possible medical procedure in a few months do not feel that a round trip across the Atlantic is a good idea.

Can we transfer to a different (later) cruise just by choice - in the absence of any confirmed medical issues at this stage? 

If so would the cruise have to be of a similar value or can we go "cheaper" and for a shorter duration.

Obviously at this stage we have just paid the deposit.

We did book through a TA so will be checking with them but wondered if someone on here knew the answer.

Many thanks for any help.

Kind regards. Peter

Great news! There were one or two people on the cruise who posted on an earlier thread about the itinerary change, so it’ll be great if we hear from them in the next four weeks or so. Thanks for the update in the meantime 

Sorry if I have missed this anywhere but is it this evening that Aurora returns to service and sets off on a slightly shortened trip to the Caribbean?

It would be great to hear from anyone on that cruise particularly as we are doing a similar itinerary later in the year.

Good luck to everyone if she is on her way this evening.

Kind regards. Peter

Hi Britboys and Skipper Tim

An interesting picture of “Satoshi” as she is now. My thoughts on the CMV reincarnation are well documented on the CMV site so to avoid boring you further I will not mention them here!

As far as "Ambience" is concerned, I do wonder what refurbishment she will undergo prior to next April. Obviously the outside will be painted, and presumably new carpets etc, but the issue that bothers me is the state of the plumbing and air conditioning. They both received consistently terrible comments over many years on the Cruise Critic cabin reviews forum for the ship as “Pacific Dawn”, and on other review sites.

She will be a relatively old lady of the seas at 32 when she commences service as "Ambience" and a few idiosyncrasies can be expected – but they may not sit comfortably with the lavish descriptions in the Ambassador brochure. I note from a picture that the horrible bench seating in the show lounge remains unchanged, and that really does show the age and style of the ship.

I was surprised at the sample menu in the brochure which showed just two main courses including one vegetarian – and only two desserts. Just two choices, surely not?

Also, the lack of alternative restaurants of a suitable size precludes any “Anytime Dining” which is the norm these days (although I accept it is also not available on Cunard other than in the Grills or Club Balcony grades).

Tim, you referred to “two sister ships” of "Satoshi"/"Ambience". I am sure there were just the two identical ships, not three – "Crown Princess", now scrapped, and "Regal Princess" that will become "Ambience". Happy to be proved wrong but can you assist?

As an aside, we had a reasonably pleasant cruise on the "Crown Princess" in 2001 although we were not particularly keen on the ship lacking a full promenade deck (since then most new ships don’t have them either, of course).

We found one particular design “flaw” which was rather annoying. As you know, the main restaurant is at the stern of the ship and our table was located at the extreme far end, away from the entrance. The nearest toilets on that deck are halfway along the ship so were a very long trek during dinner if a visit was needed. (there were nearer ones if you went up a deck). A small point, perhaps, but most odd that the facilities are not immediately outside the restaurant on the same deck, as is the case on pretty much every ship we have cruised on.

(I was going to post this as well on the CMV forum but the last two postings there were from Britboys and skipper Tim so in view of your postings on here I guess you will see this.)

Tim, you mentioned a few days ago on the CMV site that the Early Bird savings were to finish the following day and wondered what would replace them. In true CMV fashion you will see they were immediately replaced with…………….Early Saver Offers!

I suppose in the interest of fairness I should add that they are not alone as many cruise lines replace an expired offer with a new one when the original ends.

Fortunately, to date, we have been spared Ambassador using the pathetic BOGOF offer that CMV persisted with forever – where the first person paid twice as much as one would expect to pay, and the second person paid nothing. Did they really think passengers thought one person was getting a free cruise?!

Kind regards to Britboys, Skipper Tim and all. Peter

I fully respect your opinion ovccruiser and, indeed, cannot claim to know the ins and outs of CMV's liquidation.
I also accept your comment that people running businesses do not deliberately go into liquidation to fleece their customers (doubtless some have used that tactic before but I'm absolutely not suggesting that was the case here).
I think the issue was they were unable to get funding, having already taken several massive multi-million pound loans in the preceding few months.
As I said, the point that really does go against the grain is the CEO of a company that had just gone into liquidation being able to buy the database and office equipment of that company, clearly with the intention of restarting in the future.

Knowing people who have lost jobs and money due to CMV folding, it is somewhat upsetting to see those in the top echelons of the old company now with their new jobs and with financing for a "new" cruise line, albeit obviously it being the old one reincarnated.
We therefore may not agree on this matter but I hope you will accept this as a reasoned argument against your posting and we will agree to differ.
With best wishes. Peter

Hi teabear and all, I did email Cruise Critic a couple of weeks ago and ask if they were going to start a new forum for the Ambassador cruise line, but heard nothing. I’ve sent a further email today.

Hoping the sarcasm (as in previous posts on my part on this subject) will be excused, but there is an argument for keeping it under this forum heading anyway:

• Ambassador is CMV in all but name, run by the same people who ran CMV and left ££millions of debt and have now set up quite legally (but morally?) a near identical company. CMV’s boss even bought their databases from the Liquidators when they went bust. I am sure you already know he is now Ambasssdor’s boss!

The accompanying blurb from the two TA’s who sent me the brochure comment on the new company being debt free – indeed, but CMV and their suppliers, Banks etc?

• working in the same offices.

• not that any confirmation is needed that it is essentially a reincarnated CMV, but the two TA’s both offered 5% off to previous CMV loyal customers!

It leaves a very bad taste in my mouth (We did not lose any money ourselves through CMV’s demise but know of people who did).

I did receive a copy of the brochure yesterday and agree the prices seem quite reasonable (could they charge any more for a 31 year old ship?). 

I also note that there is no freedom dining option which was not unexpected as the ship only has one large restaurant, so I guess it would not be practical - as was the case on CMV.

I am sure many people will book with the “new” company. We will not be amongst them.

Kind regards Peter

Hi, looking at the latest (Oct 21- Mar 23) hard copy brochure there aren’t any cabins on Iona that start with an H.

As a separate matter, I was in Southampton on Saturday and saw the Iona at the Ocean Cruise Terminal. I pulled into the nearby Marina and had a fantastic view of the ship.

Just thought I would mention it in case anybody was passing and wished to go and have a look (I am assuming she is still there, of course!)

We have booked numerous cruises through TA’s, often with additional stays etc which are unique to them (as opposed to booking direct where they may not be offered).

My opening gambit is always this: “I am interested in booking the holiday advertised in etc etc. I will only do this if you agree to accept final payment 10 days before the cruise line’s last date for payment. Is this acceptable?”

On every occasion the TA has agreed.

It is interesting reading the blurb on the reincarnated CMV cruise line (now called Ambassador) website where there is no reference to being ABTA members (or with an application pending).

I presume anyone who books through a Travel Agent would be protected by the TA’s own ABTA membership.

Ambassador apparently have their own insurance which presumably (if they remain solvent) protects direct bookings. Were they to fold, however, where does that leave those booking direct?

Based in Purfleet I guess they are even using CMV’s old premises.

Doubtless many people who are oblivious to the background will book the attractive looking itineraries.

Along with many friends we will not be amongst them.

I wonder if the former CMV Directors have arranged to pay the debts of their old company yet before forming the new cruise line?

No, I thought not.

Please excuse the sarcasm but if you knew people who had suffered badly following CMV’s demise, you would understand.

Hi all, when we booked for our 28 nighter in November 2022 we opted for the included car parking.

Just as a matter of interest at this early stage can anyone advise where the car park will be - is it likely to be close by whatever Terminal we sail from?

Or do we leave the car and keys with someone who then parks away from the Terminal and returns the car when we disembark?

Thanks for any help.

Kind regards. Peter