Ambassador Cruise Line has appointed former Thomas Cook executive Phil Gardner as chief commercial officer.
Gardner, who has more than 20 years’ travel industry experience, worked for Thomas Cook until its failure in 2019, before joining the relaunched OTA ThomasCook.com, which he left last month.
He has previously run the commercial arm of Tui UK Cruises for nearly five years.
In his new role, which he started on Tuesday, Gardner is responsible for sales, marketing and commercial planning, including digital and reservations centre interaction with guests and agents.
Gardner (pictured) said: “Opportunities like this don’t come round often. To be joining Britain’s newest cruise line, with the prospect of building on the amazing start Ambassador has made and be part of growing the business, was a compelling proposition.”
The line has also recruited a chief financial officer and a chief operating officer.
New chief financial officer Matthias Seeger, who also started yesterday, has more than 25 years’ experience as a finance and business executive, working at consumer goods and retail companies.
His most recent role was chief financial officer and board member for the Costcutter Supermarket Group, where he worked from 2015 to 2021.
Chartered marine engineer Nick Hughes will take up the chief operating officer at Ambassador next month.
Previously, he spent seven years as head of technical operations with Marella Cruises where he was responsible for fleet management, budget control and compliance.
The new appointments mean chief commercial officer Chris Coates, who delayed his retirement plans to join Ambassador Cruise Line, will switch to a part-time consultancy role from June onwards.
And Simon Weeks, who has been operating as an interim chief financial officer, will become chief administrative officer, focusing on building “robust business processes, performance and inter-departmental collaborations”, the line said.
Coates will advise on market and ship deployment as well as programming, route planning management and cruise industry relations.
Chief executive Christian Verhounig said: “I am very excited to formally welcome Matthias, Phil and Nick to the Ambassador family.
“Their expertise from both within and outside the cruise industry will bring extremely valuable and diverse knowledge to the business, further accelerating Ambassador’s growth plans to be the leading premium-value, authentic cruise line.”
On Coates and Weeks, Verhounig hailed their contribution in setting up the new cruise line, which is due to operate its maiden voyage out of Tilbury in April.
“It is a real asset to the business and the new team we have hired to have both continue their involvement in the business in their new roles outlined, leveraging their considerable experience,” he added.
“We are about nine weeks away from our inaugural cruise. Our first ship, Ambience, is completing its refit in dry dock in Croatia, our crew are assembling for training and the excitement about what we are going to deliver to our guests is palpable.”
Ambassador acquired a second ship from Carnival Corporation last week and plans to refurbish it before it enters service in 2023.
The ship will be renamed Ambition and will undergo upgrades in line with those of sister ship Ambience.