Dining on the Celebrity Ascent | Top 10 Food Experiences, Drinks, Buffet, MDR and Specialty Dining

[Music] hey all we are Hannah and Jeremy from the Savory suitcase today we are counting down the top 10 food and beverage experiences we had on the celebrity Ascent this is the final installment in our Ascent Series so far we have shared an in-depth look at the ship with a tour of many of the different venues as well as videos from all of the ports that we visited San Juan Puerto Rico torola and St kids on this episode we will dive deeper into the food and beverage experiences on the ship the EDG class ships have a unique dining experience where there are multiple main dining rooms to choose from each with their own exclusive items themed to that restaurant as well as offering the classics available across all restaurants in addition to the included restaurants there are also a number of specialty restaurants on board we did not try all of them like RW 5 and the steakhouse but we did make it to about half the specialty restaurants range in price most with a specific cover charge and some with an art menu pricing in addition to the dining rooms there is also the Ocean View cafe the buffet that's open for breakfast lunch and dinner sometimes it was basically empty but sometimes it was also pretty full on the last day they offered a special going away way Buffet which had shrimp and crawfish and some specialty dishes as well as a chocolate fondue fountain we even saw 50% of the captains there there are also a number of Quick Service restaurants on board including the cafe for specialty coffees the Mast Grill and the gelateria where you could get unlimited soft serve towards the after of the ship you could find the nearly 24-hour pizza place we recommend enjoying it with sunset views now that we've had a quick overview of some of the dining venues on the ascent let's rank our dining experiences from the soo to the extraordinary starting with number 10 room service more specifically room service for breakfast we did not try the room service for any other meal other than breakfast but it was certainly a letdown considering how fantastic the rest of the meals were there was an option for a complimentary continental breakfast but there was also an option to add items from the premium menu which added a 9.95 room service charge as well as the standard gratuiti for the weight staff this was a nice option to not have to fight with the buffet on Port mornings but the food did not wow Us number nine Cafe Elio Cafe Elbo and truthfully any of the places where coffee was served were kind of disappointing for us were big coffee drink ERS and specifically we drink iced coffee the majority of the time and although they did offer iced coffee on board it always seemed like an afterthought not a specialty item we've sailed previously on princess ships and we're very happy with their coffee options so we were missing a good cup of coffee each morning number eight Cyprus Cypress is the Mediterranean themed main dining room on board we dined here on the last night of the cruise and despite having the best artwork on the ship and the weight staff being so much fun they even sang Happy Birthday to Jeremy the food was definitely not our favorite we sampled some of the Cypress exclusive like the MZ board and grilled octopus for the main course we tried the short rib and the lambshank it was all just a little underwhelming the dish we ended up liking the most was the cheese tortillini which was on the traditional menu and available in any of the other dining rooms as well we also picked dessert as well however the only exclusive Cypress dessert option was not appealing to us so we went with one of the classics number seven Pizza MK Grill Quick Service we are going to lump all of the Quick Service restaurants in together because they were all about the same level of quality we made the mistake of trying to visit the Mast Grill at lunchtime on the first sea day and ended up in quite the Sea of people who had the same idea overall the burgers were good and the soft serve was plentiful so I don't think that you could really ask for more we found the pizza to be pretty good although it's not totally 24 hours like on some Cruise Lines there are also a few quick service options that we didn't try but Eden Cafe is available for breakfast and I believe lunch on C days and the spa Cafe and the juice bar which are located near the solarium pool it seemed like no matter where you landed on the ship you weren't too far from a quick bite to eat and it was all pretty good number six the Magic Carpet the magic carpet is more than just a dining option the magic carpet is a full experience during the day it is typically up on Deck 14 or 16 and functions as a bar and really kind of a lounge hangout spot with some of the best views from the ship in the evenings the magic carpet is lowered down onto the fifth deck where it transforms into a dining space where it offers Raw on five favorites as well as its own unique menu we did not book this experience instead opting to spend our budget on some of the other restaurants but we did take advantage of our drink package multiple times while it was up on Deck 14 during the day I could definitely def itely see this being a really neat place to spend sailway number five the Ocean View cafe the Ocean View cafe is the buffet that's open for breakfast lunch and dinner you might be surprised to see the buffet so high on our list but we found the food on the buffet to be quite good with a large variety always available for breakfast they even had a made to order eggs benedict which if you know us that's a big win sometimes it was basically empty but sometimes it was very very full like on embarcation day but stay tuned because we have a special tip for embarcation day it was also quite a popular spot on the last day when they offered their special going away buffet that had shrimp crawfish and some specialty dishes as well as a chocolate foundu fountain I'm going to use this as a moment to talk a little bit about the desserts we found the desserts to be one of the most underw ing parts of the entire dining experience at the Ocean View cafe we always found the small little desserts to be dry and kind of simple we also found the desserts at the restaurants a little uninspired most nights but you could always find a good classic piece of cheesecake or apple pie number four the martini bar the martini bar is the center of the action in The Grand Plaza under the ship grand chandelier you'll find the bar usually packed with guests and about 5 and 10: p.m. each evening you'll see quite the show the bar Falls quite high on our list because not only is it a super fun atmosphere but because the drinks were also very good notably if you do have a standard drink package the martinis are more than what's covered so you will have to pay the difference we found it to be about $7 per drink we'd also like to make an honorable mention to the Eden Bar although not as fun as the show at the martini bar Eden also had bartenders with quite a flare we found the drinks at Eden to be a little more obscure but they were also pretty good number three the main dining rooms Cosmopolitan Normandy and Tuscany we are grouping the other three main dining rooms together as number three given that they were all about the same quality for us our first night was in Tuscany this is an Italian themed restaurant offering some traditional pasta dishes we did a mix of the Tuscany exclusives and the traditional main dining room options ordering the French onion soup Bretta which my mom said was good but unusual we had the pumpkin salad and carbonara a good sampling for the first night we also need to note that the canoli was not a ricotta filling it was whipped cream and for this Italian's heart that's almost enough to disqualify them from the list altogether the next day we visited Normandy which features contemporary French cuisine we noticed the service was a little slow this being the only night that our table was not ready during our reservation time so maybe not the best choice if you're trying to make it to a show that evening we ordered the baked brie and the Kia St shock which is scallop Dish as well as a wedge salad and a rigoton dish seems a little halfhazard for French cuisine the Cosmopolitan is a modern take on the classic cruise ship main dining room or MDR we ended up dining here a few times as this is also where they serve breakfast which is arguably better than the room service breakfast we picked the fancy night to dine here but it was the first one which did not include the steak and lobster menu we were on fortunately at a specialty restaurant the second fancy night we ordered a classic French onion soup as well as the corn soup Jeremy tried the cauliflower flain which he said was surprisingly good the Entre were picked were Steak Diane a spaghetti and cheese and the salmon which was cooked pretty well number two LR Bistro and La Petit Chef the grand beastro is a classic French beastro with a singular cover charge in the evening it transforms into La Petit Chef which is both a meal and an animated show we visited the grand beastro twice once was for the lunch menu which we did on the first day before we sailed away since the buffet is usually very busy on embarcation day this ended up being one of the best meals that we had on board and definitely did set a good tone for the rest of the care fitting in with the French theme we had the lobster bisque and french onion soup and we also ordered the lavender lemonade which was not covered by the dining cover charge however was covered by our drink package we also ordered the double cheeseburger which may have been one of the best that we've had in a long time on one of the last C days we headed back to the beastro for the La Petite Chef experience this is a one-of-a-kind EXP experience that is really unlike anything we've ever done before there is a projection mapping that creates a visually immersive experience right at the dining room table the story takes you through the Journey of a little chef who has Big Dreams this was such a fun experience and there was a prefix menu that went right along with the show we found the food to be quite good magical recipes to solve all sorts of problems such as Greek salad to make you 10 years younger strawberry chocolate cake to make everyone adore you and garlic in oil spaghetti that protects you against vampires and your mother-in-law deer to the B of fairy dust by creating the magical soup Li shf summoned a powerful Spirit into being but before we continue with our [Music] story yeah oh it's just a bit too small but but problem I have an Ida w [Music] can I borrow your umbrella [Music] yes and now the finishing [Music] touch I present to you the world record break be [Applause] [Applause] goodberry oh guys there's nothing left for me to create a dessert with oh don't worry there's more F Chand okay but this time need some ingredients for my desserve of course we're no longer hungry oh that looks so delicious come on guys stop eating everything thank [Music] you oh no what are you doing need something for me I have nothing left no ice cream land noes not even my old worner kitchen this oh poor py Chef no need to be so melodramatic oh wow mer you're the best and so Liberty Chef learned a valuable lesson he came to realize that there are no magical shortcuts in life and decided never to use the book again and to throw away the key Le Chef decided to throw away the key uh yeah it might still come in Andy later just in case the world is invaded by vampires or my mother-in-law gives me trouble oh dear number one the rooftop garden Grill hands down the rooftop garden Grill was the best dining experience we had during the entire 7even night sailing we planned this din so that it was on the day that we were leaving torola around Sunset as we sat down for our meal this is also a perp Person cover charge which includes whatever you choose off the menu everything about this experience was extraordinary our waiter was great helping us pick from the menu options the Ambiance was so beautiful especially as we left port and although they didn't have any control over this the weather was also great interestingly they do not sered bread at this restaurant because they must know that the portions are plenty big for appetizers we ordered the crispy cauliflower pork sliders and a feta watermelon salad a little Insider tip we learned from the waiter is that all of the steaks at the rooftop garden Grill are also the same as the ones served in the steakhouse so my dad ordered a ribeye and I had the WTF Burger the rooftop grill was also the one exception to to the disappointing desserts with a few different options but the waiter highly recommended the cookie Skillet I ordered the Mason jar s'mores and the waiter still brought me a cookie because he knew I would want it and he was not [Music] wrong there are definitely other dining options that we didn't try and we'll hopefully have a chance to try next time like Luminate at The Retreat and blue which is reserved for the highclass Ste rooms although we didn't try the steakhouse or Eden restaurant we feel like we had a good sampling of the dining options let us know if you're planning a trip on the ascent and what restaurants you would put on your must try list thanks for joining us for this celebrity Ascent Cruise series we hope you enjoyed this in-depth look at the meals that we enjoyed and if you want to see the full ship tour or any other ports we visited we will put a play list down below if you liked this video please leave us a thumbs up consider subscribing to the channel and we will see you next time [Music]

Channel: The Savory Suitcase

Views: 2,996

Keywords: cruise, cruising, cruise ship, Celebrity, Ascent, Celebrity Cruises, New Cruise ship, Food, Food Review, foodies, dining on board, specialty dining

Id: FrKQvIwZ-34

Length: 17min 51sec (1071 seconds)

Published: Sun May 05 2024