Ambassador Cruise Line will acquire a fourth ship this year, the line has confirmed

Speaking to press at an event in Portsmouth to mark Ambition‘s final sailing from the port this season, chief marketing officer Gordon Nardini said the line is planning to take on a fourth ship “at some point this year”, although he was tight-lipped on when that would be.

“We will announce a fourth ship in 2026,” he confirmed. When pressed on further details, he said Ambassador would be buying the ship from another line instead of building one itself, as it has done with the other three ships in its fleet.

“I can guarantee we will never build a new ship,” he said.

Nick Hughes, the line’s chief operating officer, added: “There is good reason for [not building our own ships], because otherwise ships go to scrap and we don’t want that; we refurbish them, refit them with environmentally sensitive equipment and promote sustainability.”

Ambassador Cruise Line launched in 2021 when Ambience and Ambition joined the fleet in 2023. Last year, the line merged with French cruise line Compagnie Francaise de Croiseres to form the Ambassador Group, adding CFC’s 1,200-passenger Renaissance to its fleet.

Now, it has confirmed a fourth ship will be joining imminently.

Head of distribution Nicola Harper added: “Our CEO Christian [Verhounig] has never been shy of speaking about our growth plans. We are, ultimately, here to grow.”

Harper went on to emphasise how well sold the line is for this year, saying it is 87 per cent sold for 2026, highlighting demand for no-fly sailings.

She also confirmed the line’s 2026 and 2027 sailings are fully hedged from a fuel perspective, meaning they have no plans to introduce any fuel surcharges – a statement first iterated by Verhounig in an open letter earlier this month where he warned the latest market is “dying”.

Nardini added: “We are currently able to guarantee we won’t be making price changes because of rising fuel costs with arrangements in place until the end of 2027.”