Ambassador Cruise Line, a new UK company that has been founded by senior management of Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) that collapsed last yean, plans to start operations in April 2022 with a ship that had been intended to sail for CMV.

The company, which will be headquartered in Purfleet, east of London, where CMV also has its head office, has acquired the former Pacific Dawn of P&O Cruises Australia that will be introduced as Ambiance, CEO Chrisian Verhounig said in a video interview on Travel Weekly. Several other people that helped senior positions at CMV will be in the top team at Ambassador cruise Line.

The 70,285 gross ton ship was built in 1991 as Regal Princess for Princess Cruises. It then sailed as Pacific Dawn for 13 years up to 2020, when it was due to enter service with CMV as Amy Johnson.

Following the collapse of CMV, the ship was sold to become a floating community outside the coast of Panama, but this scheme also collapsed. The ship was then reported as sold for scrap before news emerged that it had been acquired by at the time undisclosed European operator.

Verhounig said in the interview that the ship would be renamed Ambiance and it would undergo an extensive refit so that it would meet e.g. air pollution and ballast water treatment rules that are to enter force in the next few years.

Capacity would be limited to 1,400 passengers, which would mean that the ship’s space ratio of 50 would be comparable to ships that operate in the luxury market segment.

Ambiance would cater for the 50 plus market in the UK and the ship would be based at Tilbury, near London. All cruises of the line would operate from that port and no fly cruises would be offered.

Ambiance is scheduled to sail to destinations in Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, Canaries, Cape Verde, and the Caribbean. The first cruise of the line would be a four night cruise to Hamburg, which is due to commence on 6 April 2022.