Ambassador Cruise Line claims majority of 2026-27 season already sold

Ambassador Cruise Line has reported it is already 82% sold for the 2026-27 season after it opened bookings for its no-fly 2028-29 itineraries.

Ahead of the new season launch, which is three months earlier than the prior programme, the three-ship line claimed it was 37% ahead year on year from a future order book point of view across all seasons and had garnered 92% occupancy for its inaugural Caribbean season.

This comes as its UK trade sales team expanded to 16 with a dedicated appointment for homeworking agents.

Head of distribution Nicola Harper said: “We are looking at a really full year already [for the 2026-27 season] and we don’t want a website or trade portal where everything says sold out.

“We have got to have other cruises for people to book.”

She emphasised the “strong demand” lead the operator to bring its launches forward, with its first sailings from Portsmouth along with themed or special interest cruises such as the Greatest Hits Radio Escape and solar eclipse sailing proving popular.

“With offering regional departures, usually the concentration of guests and agents around the local port is really high,” she said. “You would expect to see anything from 80% upwards to be sailing from the local area, but our solar eclipse sailing from Dundee, over 50% of guests are booked from the south of England, which is a bit of a first for us.”

Harper added special interest cruises also enabled agents to “engage a different type of customer in their database”.

On the success of the line’s first Caribbean season, Harper said: “A cruise line that’s been on sale for probably three years in advance would be proud to say that they’ve sailed at 92% occupancy.

“To have launched 10 months before sailing, I think it’s a really big achievement.”

She emphasised the line had put out “a strong campaign” to help agents secure bookings “as early as possible” and its target audience of the 50-plus market “like to plan and book in advance”, particularly for “celebration voyages”, with mid-duration eight to 14-night cruises “the most popular” in the sales mix.

Harper said the 2028-29 launch had been six to nine months in the making, with preparations with agent partners starting at the end of January.

“The trade are the backbone of our success,” she said. “We wouldn’t be where we are without our trade partners and we’ve always said our growth journey should be together.”

Harper praised the “resilience” and “determination” of agents in the face of uncertainty around the Middle East conflict, adding: “As an industry, there always is some level of volatility in travel.

“Ultimately, I think consumer confidence does take a knock at the points where things happen globally, but I think our industry goes back to our agent partners and their resilience on the front line.

“When you talk about economic crisis, people will not stop going on holiday, they will always bounce back.

“I think it’s the encouragement of our agent partners that makes them do that.”