Ambassador Cruise Line to promote Caribbean itineraries after ‘very soft launch’ to trade

Ambassador Cruise Line is set to promote its 2026-27 Caribbean itineraries following a “very soft launch” to the trade in the wake of Hurricane Melissa.

The cruise line will bring back fly-cruise itineraries on Renaissance between October 29, 2026 and April 1, 2027, having registered “strong guest demand” for its inaugural season.

Deputy head of trade Karen Cameron told Travel Weekly: “We were potentially going to delay the launch [of this second season] until November 6 for both trade and consumers, but after speaking to our trade partners, we found a lot of them had marketing and activity pre-planned.

“We recognise there is a lot of time and effort involved [for agents in preparing for a launch] and we need to fully support our trade partners when they support us so heavily.

“So we decided on a very soft launch on October 30 and the main launch [for consumers] will happen [from November 6] because we are considerate of everything that is going on in the area and the extra work agents have got repatriating guests.”

She added the line had come to the decision on October 29 when the scale of the impact of the category five hurricane on Jamaica and other Caribbean islands became clear.

Cameron said: “We are very aware we need to be sensitive to the situation and we also need to make sure we are doing the right thing by our trade partners, our guests and people affected in the areas.”

She confirmed Renaissance had embarked on its inaugural cruise from Tilbury to Barbados on October 30.

Cameron said the second season would be “very similar” to the inaugural sailings this year, with a series of 14-night cruises, plus two longer repositioning cruises and Virgin Atlantic flights from Manchester and Heathrow for fly-cruise packages.

The lead-in price for the 18-night repositioning cruise departing on March 14, 2027 is £1,759.