SCH announced an extension to its contract with Liverpool City Council to support all cruise ships calling at Liverpool Cruise Terminal (LCT), according to a press release.
The cruise ship services provider has supported LCT for almost ten years. The company provides personnel for all stevedoring, including baggage handling, store loading and rope handling services. Meanwhile, the sister company Cruise and Passenger Services (CPS) provides parking services for travellers.
SCH Liverpool General Manager Karen Grogan said: “We have partnered with LCT for nearly ten years and have helped the city to become a leading destination for cruise ships calling in the UK. We are delighted that Liverpool City Council has chosen to extend this relationship and look forward to continuing to deliver a first-class service.”
LCT expects a total of 115 cruise calls this year with nearly 40 turnarounds, including Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, Ambassador Line and Noble Caledonia. Additionally, LCT supports regular operational calls from working ships, Royal and Foreign Navy visits and supporting maritime aspects of city events.
Head of Cruise Liverpool John Mawer said: “We welcome this continued relationship with Southampton Cargo Handling (SCH). Strong partnerships are a crucial element to the success of Cruise Liverpool and we look forward to a busy and successful three years ahead. With support from SCH for our stevedoring and rope handling requirements, I am assured we can continue the positive growth that has been seen in Liverpool over the last decade.”
Ambassador Cruise Line has unveiled a wide range of dining experiences for guests onboard the Ambition, set to depart on its inaugural voyage on May 12, 2023.
Bob McGowan, head of the guest experience at Ambassador Cruise Line, said: “Onboard Ambition, there are dining venues for every mood – from traditional afternoon teas to gala dinners alongside the ship’s Captain – providing ample opportunity for guests to be surprised and delighted throughout their journey.
“Carefully designed by our Executive Chef Team, the dining concepts and menus have been created with guest experience at the heart. Following a strong food and beverage customer satisfaction score of 92 per cent onboard Ambience we have ensured that we’ve taken on valuable guest feedback and learnings when conceptualizing the offerings on Ambition.
“We can’t wait to welcome guests onboard to experience our superb dining offering, and we look forward to hearing their feedback.”
On the Ambition, guests can dine at Buckingham Restaurant & Holyrood Restaurant, offering a la carte dining experiences. Buckingham Restaurant will serve breakfast and lunch buffet style, while Holyrood is open for dinner only. Both restaurants will serve popular dishes of British cuisine including Sunday roast and shepherd’s pie.
Among the new dining venues is Borough Market, a self-serve style eatery, featuring flavours from around the world so guests can choose between Italian pasta, Asian stir-fries and more.
Another new restaurant onboard the Ambition, Lupino’s, will serve Mediterranean specialities. The place pays homage to Ambassador’s colleague Michelle Lupino who passed away in 2022.
Saffron is an Indian dining venue serving dishes such as Thali, curries, specialist bread, and desserts. There is also Chef’s Table, offering an exclusive dinner experience featuring multi-course a la carte dining with nine courses. Here, guests can also look forward to paired wines but reservations are needed.
For guests looking for a casual meal, there is the Alfresco Grill that serves burgers, hot dogs, pizzas and chips.
The boss of Ambassador Cruise Line, Christian Verhounig, has played down “speculation” about the line’s finances after it cancelled two festive cruises onboard Ambiance, stressing the decision was made “for safety reasons only”.
Posting to his public Facebook page, addressing guests, officers, staff and crew directly, Verhounig said the line was left with no option but to cancel its Festive Market Getaway and Christmas and New Year Canary Islands cruises owing to an issue with Ambiance’s lifeboat stations, requiring unscheduled maintenance.
“I am sad we had no option but to withdraw these itineraries, a sentiment shared by my colleagues in the Ambassador management team,” said chief executive Verhounig. “Events like these never happen at a good time, but technical issues and challenges are unfortunately part of a cruise company’s day-to-day life – and we, at Ambassador, will never compromise on the safety of our guests or crew, however, low the risk.”
Verhounig went on to address the line’s financial health. “As a business, we have never been anything less than transparent, and we will continue to be so in the interests of our valued guests and employees. The recent changes to our operation were made for safety reasons only, and not, as some have speculated online, due to the financial position of the Ambassador.
“I want to reassure you that we are a financially robust business with trust arrangements in place and full insurance cover for incidents of this kind designed to ensure that all our guests are and will remain fully protected.”
Verhounig apologised to guests affected by the cancellations, as well as the Ambassador crew and shoreside staff. “It was the last thing we wanted to do. I can only personally say I’m sorry, and I hope one day our guests will offer us the chance to make amends for the inconvenience and disruption caused.
“As well as offering our sincere and heartfelt apologies to all guests affected by these recent developments, I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to the team – from those in the UK, who have been outstanding in coming together at such short notice to do their very best at this difficult time, to the staff and crew onboard, who have been so looking forward to hosting our guests over Christmas and into the New Year.”
Explaining the specific circumstances of the cancellations, Verhounig revealed Ambiance had in the months of December and January been due to undergo a planned independent survey to renew its Passenger Ship Safety Certificate.
“The inspection covers hundreds of different safety, technical and operational checks onboard the vessel, which is conducted both at sea and in port across a two-month period,” Verhounig continued. “This annual cycle is linked to the anniversary of the ship being built, and is not in any way related to when Ambassador actually started trading.”
’WE’LL BE BACK STRONGER
Verhounig said one of the required checks involved the safe and secure lowering of the ship’s lifeboats. During an inspection of the lifeboat stations on Sunday 18 December, a surveyor observed a slight movement of one of the sheaves used for guiding the steel wire ropes that move and hold the lifeboats in position.
“When checking on this movement further, the inspection brought to light a hairline crack on the bracket holding these sheaves in position, and more of these were found in a similar position on other brackets,” said Verhounig.
“While none of these would have interfered in any way with the ship’s safe operation immediately, these cracks could have led to potential issues in the future and needed to be repaired. Therefore, we decided to immediately arrange repairs and not to operate the itineraries.”
He added: “Ambassador and Ambience will be back in operation in the New Year, stronger than ever.”
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