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| Ambassador Cruise Line's Ambition, docked in Falmouth UK |
This post is in collaboration with Ambassador Cruise Line, but they haven't had any say in what I've written - it's my usual brutally honest opinions!
Hi Friends,
It’s been a while since I’ve done a proper old-school-blogging travel diary, and with everyone watching vlogs again it feels like the perfect time to bring this series back - particularly when I want to share a particularly incredible trip with you!
Earlier this year I embarked on a 10 night cruise around the fjords for my birthday (and wow, what a memorable birthday it was!) on board Ambassador Cruise Line’s Ambition. I’ve sailed with Ambassador a few times now and each time is as special as the last. It helps that Ambassador was born out of the ashes of CMV going bankrupt; the “friendly little ship” ethos transferred over to the new company, along with many of the friends we’d made over the years. Stepping on one of Ambassador’s ships feels remarkably like a welcome home, even though it was my first time seeing Ambition.
With that out of the way, let me show you what taking a Norwegian Fjord cruise looks like, day by day.
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| A very warm welcome on board Ambition for my birthday! |
Day 1 - Embarkation at Bristol
One of the best things about sailing on a smaller ship is that it can access ports that most other cruise lines can’t. That also means they can start the cruise in smaller ports, including 10 minutes from my home in Bristol! Portbury isn’t exactly the most picturesque embarkation port - it’s a cargo port that occasionally has cruise ships visit, and the terminal is a warehouse, but not needing to drive several hours before you start your holiday is such a luxury, and every time I’ve boarded a ship in Bristol I’ve gone from car to cocktail in around 30 mins.
Having boarded the ship within 20 mins of being dropped off, we grabbed a drink, said hi to some of our crew friends then went to our cabin, had lunch, did muster, then got on with exploring the ship before outing ourselves as the weird people when we were the only ones stubborn enough to watch sail away on the top deck in the rain. Not something I’d usually do in the bad weather, but when you’re sailing past your home town it’s too interesting to miss!
The rest of embarkation day was spent chatting with friends, having the most incredible dinner and watching the entertainment.
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| The colourful quay in Falmouth, UK, where you can book boat trips |
Day 2 - Embarkation at Falmouth
The weird thing with sailing from a local port is that Ambassador like to try and double up as much as possible. I’m not sure if they can’t fill the ship with Bristolians alone or they want to offer more regional sailings, but either way we ended up with a day in Falmouth while the rest of the guests boarded!
When you travel a lot (particularly cruises), you tend to end up with friends from across the country/the world. Six years after meeting on board Independence of the Seas I was finally able to catch up with a cruise friend as we’d docked in her home town. After a coffee and catch up we said goodbye and I went to explore the local area. There isn’t loads to do in Falmouth but it’s a beautiful town for a walk in the sunshine. There’s a stunning beach and some great local shops and restaurants along the high street (there’s also a bakery that sells gluten free Cornish pasties!!). Thankfully we’d left the storm behind in Bristol so we were able to enjoy a day soaking up the glorious sunshine on our walk.
After a relaxing day we headed back on board and found a letter on our bed, inviting us to dine with the captain on formal night. I’ve been cruising since 2017 and this has never happened to me - I didn’t even know this was a ship tradition! I quickly RSVPd, got changed, went to dinner and asked a crew friend all of the questions about what to expect. After dinner there was live entertainment in the Pendennis Bar, which quickly became our favourite place to spend an evening.
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| Wake views from the buffet restaurant on board Ambition |
Day 3 - A Day at Sea
I’ve spoken about what to do on a sea day many many times, both here, on Youtube, and on Instagram and TikTok. I often find that sea days are the thing new cruisers worry about the most; I always hear some variation of being worried about being bored or feeling trapped, but to be honest I love a sea day! When you’ve got a jam-packed itinerary every other day, the quieter days in between give you chance to rest and relax so you don’t come home feeling like you need another holiday (I speak from experience!).
After a long lie-in we skipped breakfast and headed straight to the morning trivia (thankfully it’s always held in a bar that serves coffee!). We have never been pub quiz people, but put that same quiz on a cruise ship and I’ll be there!
After the quiz we went for brunch (well, lunch, but we slept through breakfast) then spent the afternoon by the pool. My one gripe with Ambassador is that the pools aren’t heated. I love swimming, but when you’re sailing out of British ports the pools are always way too cold. Instead, we spent an afternoon in the jacuzzi before getting ready for formal night and dinner with the captain. I can’t even put into words how excited (and nervous) I was for this, especially after we bumped into a few friends who spent 10 minutes hyping us up!
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| Being invited to Captain's Table is a huge honour- I can't believe it happened to us! |
After dinner we joined in the silent disco, then headed down to the Pendennis for a debrief chat with some friends. When we got back to the cabin we found a letter on our door which thanked us for attending and included a photo of everyone with the captain. It was already a very special evening, so giving us a little gift as well was so kind.
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| The harbour in the picturesque port town of Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides |
Day 4 - Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland
Day 4 was a magical morning. We weren’t due to dock in Stornoway until late morning. We went up to the secret deck right on the bow to watch sail in, but we got so much more than we bargained for. As we were taking in the scenery we heard someone shout “whale!” - in fact we saw around 10 in the short time that we were outside. A few photographers had been waiting for hours to try and catch a glimpse so I can’t help feeling like we won the lottery.
Stornoway is one of those “marmite” ports. We’re usually one of the last people to get off of the ship of a morning, and whenever a ship docks in a quiet town you can guarantee there’ll be a steady stream of people heading back to the ship while loudly complaining about the port and asking why the cruise line decided to stop there.
Personally, I try to make the most of every single port. I feel incredibly lucky to be exploring somewhere new so wherever we are I’ll go out of my way to find what makes this place special. We had a walk around the town, found a beach full of sea glass and explored lots of small businesses and shops with makers selling their crafts. Other than that there wasn’t much to see, so we decided to follow the harbour and walk up to the castle. Lews Castle is now a hotel and events space with a museum and cafe inside. You have to walk through the woods to get to it, and when you emerge you’re greeted with incredible views across the bay. The museum itself focuses on life in the Outer Hebrides, including traditional jobs and past times and how things have evolved towards modern day. It was a topic that we knew nothing about and we actually really enjoyed it!
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| Believe it or not, this was sunset at 2am! It never got darker than this |
Day 5 - Another Sea Day
While a sea day between Scotland and Norway isn’t necessary, it was nice to have another day to relax and make the most of the ship before several days of back to back ports. A lot of new cruisers find it weird getting involved in a lot of the (honestly sometimes a bit cheesy) activities, but if you’re a person who likes to be active then forget about how you look and get on with having a laugh! You’re either a sit down with a good book person, or a “busy all the time” person and I’m definitely the latter.
After another slow morning (we missed breakfast again - so many times in fact that our waiter asked what we were doing there on the one morning we made it!), we had a day of doing everything. We toured the ship and while playing table tennis the entertainment team started setting up for a darts tournament. With the board somewhat inconveniently placed directly above the ping pong we got roped into the tournament. Having never thrown a dart before I came second! I’ll leave it up to you to decide if I was a natural or everyone was equally new to this.
Trying out a Super Craft workshop - it was so good I did it again later in the cruise!
The afternoon was something a bit special. Ambassador often partner with a company called Supercraft who host craft workshops on board. After booking our cruise, Supercraft announced tha they’d be cruising on Ambition with us so I decided to give making sea glass jewellery a go. I’ll be honest - it was very fiddly and it took a while to get the hang of things, but I loved it! So much so that I ended up doing the same class again on the last sea day, and I still wear the jewellery I made now!
This sea day happened to be the day before my birthday, and after another lovely dinner we headed to Pendennis as usual to watch the entertainment. Much to my surprise, as midnight struck everything descended into chaos. One of the entertainment team sang me happy birthday dead on midnight, and the bartenders that we always chat to brought over my favourite drink without me even ordering. After an incredible start to my birthday, we looked out of the window to see that we were far enough north for midnight sun. I’d always wanted to see it properly since catching a glimpse in Finland, so I was over the moon.
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| Stepping INSIDE a rainbow in a waterfall - absolutely magical! |
Day 6 - Celebrating my Birthday in Eidfjord
Wow, what a day!
After a late night we were up early - Eidfjord is a very sleepy village, so if you want to explore you needed to book a tour. We chose a trip to the Voss cable car and Tvindefossen waterfall, but as we were on our way the coach driver saw a waterfall on the side of the road with a rainbow all the way across, so he pulled over for us to get out and take photos. I know this wasn’t part of the tour, but it was one of my best memories from it! The views from the cable car and the top of the mountain were stunning - in winter it’s a well known ski resort, while the rest of the year it caters to tourists looking for the perfect view across the fjord. After our trip back down the mountain we headed to Tvindefossen, which was equally beautiful but couldn’t beat the surreal view of the rainbow on the side of the road (Sorry Norway….). After our trip we had some time to explore Eidfjord. We walked to the end of the pier for an incredible view of the ship. It was so stunning that we were one of the last back on the ship!
Having finally boarded the ship again, the day became even more surreal. It’s the crew who make Ambassador so welcoming and friendly, and knowing a lot of crew from previous cruises made it extra special. We returned to our cabin to find a birthday banner on the door (my family organised that bit). Inside, our cabin steward had made me a birthday cake out of towels and printed a birthday card. I opened my birthday cards and presents on the top deck, before enjoying breathtaking views as we sailed through the fjords from the comfort of a Jacuzzi.
After a while I went to get ready for dinner, watched the show in the theatre, enjoyed an incredible dinner (where the restaurant team sang happy birthday to me!) and spent the rest of the evening enjoying the live music and celebrating with the friends we’d made on board. I finished the incredible day by taking in the views during the 2am sunset.
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| Incredible views from the Flam Railway |
Day 7 - Flam
I first visited Flam two years ago and fell in love with a sleepy little Norwegian town with incredible views….fast forward to 2024 and it’s turned into some kind of weird Norwegian Disneyland fever dream! While not insignificant part of me misses the sleepy little Fjord town it was amazing to see the transformation that tourism has spurred on, and struggling to decide what to do instead of wondering what there is to do was a very odd feeling!
Flam is one of the closest Fjord towns to Bergen, and having been a peaceful holiday spot for cruisers or adventurous road-trippers for many years, the historic Flamsbana being reconnected to the mainline and subsequent marketing push over the past few years has driven tourists in their thousands.
We woke up to a beautiful sunny day as we were docking in a town that looked like our favourite port, but something was a little different. We stepped off the ship and headed straight for our booking on Flam’s historic railway. The journey up was beautiful and peaceful, only interrupted by the occasional squeak of the train on the railway line. On the way up we noticed several more stops than in 2022, with more to do at each stop (think photo points and zip lines). When we arrived at the top, it suddenly became impossible to move on the train as hundreds of tourists got on, all carting large suitcases and piling into every available carriage. The once quiet station boasts new signage and talks about connections to the rest of Norway. It was weird, but not necessarily in a bad way.
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| Ambassador Cruise Line's Ambition in Flam, Norway |
Heading back down the mountain, we popped into the Mall of Norway (you can’t go anywhere in Norway without seeing AT LEAST 10 coat shops!). The mall used to house a few coat shops, a souvenir shop and a ticket office for the Flamsbana. In 2024 it had exploded - the ticketing office now sold a range of tours by boat, coach and train, there was an extension with new coat shops added and a whole street food market. We stopped at the latter for a snack and a drink. By this point dad was getting low on energy, so he headed back to the ship and we continued to explore. We did the same walk as two years previous, following the bay all the way around to the fjord to get a view of the ship in the distance. Having got our photos, we started the long walk home. I hate to admit, but we did buy a coat in the sale! I have no regrets - it was a bargain and the fluffiest thing I own. We also stopped in Flamsbana Museum which is free to enter; I didn’t get chance to visit during our last visit and I can’t believe this isn’t talked about more. On first glance the museum is one small room but keep following and you’ll find a number of large rooms, including a giant glass hall at the end which is home to the original Flamsbana train. I still can’t believe that it was free to visit, I highly recommend you take a look!
We boarded the ship for the evening, feeling somewhat bewildered at Flam’s surprisingly rapid transformation. Although the idea that we could fly to Bergen and spend a night in Flam is seriously tempting. Back on board we enjoyed yet another wonderful evening of great food and brilliant entertainment, and our usual nightcap in Pendennis! We ended up staying up late yet again to enjoy the 2am sunset - I never got over how weird it was to not experience full darkness for two weeks.
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| Mindblowing views from the Bergen Funicular Railway |
Day 8 - Bergen, Our Final Port (and a new favourite!)
The next morning we docked in our final port of Bergen. We’d already done some planning before leaving the UK as there’s so much to see and we had an annoyingly short port day.
We started our day with an open top bus tour of the city. I realise these tours can be quite controversial, but when you only have one day in a city it’s a great way to get your bearings and have an overview of the city before you get off the bus and explore on your own. Having done a lap of the city by tourist bus we headed for the Funicular Railway.
I try so hard to not take travel advice from Instagram, because as soon as somewhere goes viral there are usually too many people there to appreciate the original recommendation, but when I saw the pictures from the viewing platform at the top I needed to see it for myself. One quick (but very important) note: If you have limited mobility and want to ride the Funicular Railway, you need to make sure that you go in the lift with the accessibility sign on it at the lower station. If you don’t do this you’ll find yourself stuck at the bottom of a flight of stairs at the top station. I speak from experience as Dad had no choice but to walk up a flight of stairs with his walking stick - don’t be us! On a brighter note, the accessible part of the train is right at the top and has some of the best views as you travel up the hill. On the way back down the bottom of the train has the best views, so if you’re able bodied it’s worth walking down the stairs.
Bryggen is a must see when you're in Bergen!
After a few minutes train ride you’ll exit through a glass terminal building to some of the best of Bergen you could possibly find (it helped that we had beautiful sunshine that day!). There are a number of platforms that are all accessible and offer views across the city and out to the fjords, and if you want to make a day of it there’s a restaurant and a walking trail that leads you through a forest. Months later Bergen’s Funicular Railway stands out as one of my favourite travel memories.
Just a five minute walk from the lower station is Bryggen, so this was our second stop of the day. Bryggen is a small village within the city that’s entirely made of wood. You’ll find small shops with makers selling handicrafts, cute little cafes and a few souvenir shops. It’s a gorgeous place to explore. We stopped for a drink in the sunshine outside one of the cafes before exploring a few of the shops. Sadly it’s at this point that we had to get the bus back to the port in time for an early departure. Bergen is one of those places that I would definitely fly back to and spend a weekend, but that’s why I love cruising. It gives you an overview of the world so you can decide where you want to explore more.
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| I will never get bored of sunsets at sea - they're always magical |
Day 9 - The Final Sea Day
Our cruise was magical but went by way too quickly and all of a sudden it was time to take down the birthday banners and attempt to zip up my over-packed suitcase (the lack of luggage allowance on a cruise from the UK makes it way too easy to bring your whole wardrobe, which I do every single time).
We started our final sea day somewhat early - in fact, the restaurant manager gave us a round of applause as we walked into breakfast and asked if I realised it wasn’t lunch time yet! The truth is that having had such a great experience at the sea glass jewellery class on the first sea day, I decided to take the same class again which meant an early start to squeeze in all of the plans.
Having spent a few hours wrestling with infuriatingly small pieces of metal, I walked away with two pieces that I still wear several months later and a huge grin on my face. I headed back to the cabin to pack, then got ready for an absolutely incredible treat.
It’s well known that every ship has a spa - usually I do my best to avoid them as they’re incredibly pricy and the crew are encouraged to employ hard-sell tactics. Having said that, Ambassador’s PR team had kindly gifted me a treatment for my birthday so I decided to have my first ever facial as my skin had been giving me grief for months. I’m a really awkward person and wasn’t sure about someone being in my personal space (which explains why I waited until the last day to go for it), but I have to say that I’d consider booking another treatment for my next cruise. The spa staff were incredibly friendly and accommodating - I mentioned I had lung damage so they actually adjusted the angle of the table so I didn’t feel short of breath.
Ambition boasts one of the only free spas at sea!
After a solid few hours of R&R I headed back to the cabin to get ready for our final dinner, and heartbroken doesn’t cover it. We said goodbye to our favourite crew members, watched our final sunset (which sadly did fade to pitch black, considering we were now off the coast of Ireland), watched the farewell parade and had one final round of drinks in our beloved Pendennis.
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| The most thoughtful gift delivered to our cabin on the final day |
Final Thoughts
On day 10 I awoke to find us sailing up the Bristol Channel and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. The combination of Ambassador’s welcoming atmosphere, old crew friends welcoming us back and the fact that we’d left a lot of stress back on land made leaving Ambition particularly difficult. Our floating home felt like it could’ve been home forever.
Ambassador Cruise Line don’t have the newest or biggest ships and they’re not jam-packed full of facilities. There are no broadway shows or Michelin level dining and not everything goes right all of the time, but what Ambassador does offer is a welcome like no other and when things do go wrong you know that the crew will do their best to fix it and make it a great experience. When I boarded on day 1, I met several people for the first time who I called friends by day 10. You get to know the crew and guests, the dining team remember your likes and dislikes (and your allergies, if you’re anything like me) and they will bend over backwards to make you feel special. You might find your favourite coffee being delivered without you needing to order on other cruise lines, but it’s only on Ambassador that it feels like it’s because that crew member is thoughtful and wants to see you smile and not because they feel like they should. Small ship cruising in general is by far my favourite way to holiday, but it’s Ambassador’s crew and the atmosphere that they create that keep me coming back every year. Ambassador Cruise Line’s slogan is “the friendliest welcome at sea”, but personally it feels more like “the friendliest welcome home”. If you’ve ever considered giving Ambassador a try, I honestly can’t recommend it highly enough.
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