Speaking at the renaming ceremony of the UK-based Ambassador Cruise Line’s first ship Ambience by godmother/Olympic gold medallist Sally Gunnell, the chief executive Christian Verhounig said that "launching the first British cruise line in over a decade in the middle of a pandemic" showed how strongly they believed in the future of ship cruising.
Apologizing for the 14-day delay in delivery of the cruise ship, resulting in the cancellation of 2 voyages, Verhounig added it had not been an easy decision to make.
Verhounig said Ambassador was a “properly capitalized company from the outset to give peace of mind to customers and agents” and “positive support” from consumers and the trade had given the company confidence to commit to a second ship, Ambition.
He added all money was held in a trust account and they were not using any of their money to fund operations.
The 1991-built cruise ship MV Ambience was previously known as "Pacific Dawn" (P&O Australia), "Amy Johnson" (CMV), and "Satoshi" (Ocean Builders' "Crypto Cruise Ship" 2020-2021). The boat was launched as Regal Princess (link to the 2014-built liner). As "Pacific Dawn", the vessel was operated by P&O Australia (Carnival Corporation-owned company) in the period 2007-2020.
The Maiden Voyage was initially planned for April 6 (4-night short break roundtrip from homeport Tilbury-London to Hamburg). However, due to "supply chain disruptions" caused by the Ukrainian crisis, the brand's launch/Ambience ship's inauguration was eventually rescheduled for April 20 (4-night roundtrip from Tilbury to Hamburg) and two Norwegian Fjords voyages were canceled (Apr 10 and 16).