​Ambassador Cruise Line Cancels Cruises Over Safety Concerns

Britain’s newest cruise line, Ambassador Cruise Line, has cancelled some of its festive and new year cruises following safety concern which were found, whilst the ship was docked at London International Cruise Terminal, in Tilbury, Essex.

The faults were found on 18 December 2022, whilst docked in Tilbury. Over 1000-passengers who had embarked that afternoon for a 3-night Festive Market Getaway cruise, were informed that the cruise was cancelled whilst having dinner on board. They were unable to set sail or stay on board the ship, having to disembark by 09:30 the following morning.

Image: Jordan Bailey

The company’s flagship, Ambience, had been berthed in Tilbury for 3-days hosting festive events on board. During annual maintenance a fault was found with the ship’s ‘lifeboat station’.

Ambience, built in 1991, left Tilbury to head into dry dock in Bremerhaven, Germany. As a result the cruise line has also cancelled a fortnight Christmas and New Year cruise to the Canary Islands.

In a statement, Ambassador Cruise Line said: “We do not compromise on the safety of our guests, staff, or crew. Therefore, while we have already started work, unfortunately, we are unable to complete it at the Port of Tilbury and therefore Ambience will need to go into a ship repair yard. She has left London Tilbury this afternoon to go to Bremerhaven where the work and tests will be completed. Regrettably, this will not be concluded in time to operate our Christmas & New Year Canary Islands Cruise, which was due to sail on Wednesday 21st December 2022. We will email all guests this afternoon to further explain and communicate this. We would advise all guests on this sailing to please wait to receive this communication before contacting either us directly or your travel agent.  We can only apologise for any upset and inconvenience this announcement will cause our valued guests.”