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 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 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 had 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 are 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."