Giving Celebrity Cruises a 2nd chance: Celebrity Ascent Review#celebrityascent #celebritycruises

[Music] [Music] I feel that I need to give a cruise line two to three tries before I decide if the cruise line is for me but at the end of the day I am just happy to be on any cruise ship I've tried Carnival royal princess and virgin at least three times each of them have their strengths and weaknesses my first experience on Virgin was not that much fun but after three more sailings on Virgin it is now my favorite Cruise Line based on what I value on a cruise vacation we tried celebrity once in 2019 the cruise was not memorable and we were bored out of our minds at night the only picture that I have of that sailing is of Joel outside of the ship and a few videos from our time at Aruba when my friend invited me to sell on celebrity's newest ship the ascent I figured this was a great chance to try the best the celebrity has to offer otherwise I probably would have never sell celebrity again I did a video where I walk around the whole ship on the first C Day the video is unnarrated and gives you a good sense of how full the ship felt on this sailing that was at full capacity at near 3200 passengers I posted the link to that video in the description below I didn't spend much time researching the ship before the sailing because I wanted to experience celebrity with no expectations and to figure out what worked for me and what had me confused like my embarrassing moment with the bathroom doors more on that later our ship sailed out of Fort Lauderdale on a rainy and cloudy day since we fly in for all our sailings we usually have Uber drop us off at the Port Terminal I did learn something new When we dropped off luggage with the porters first before going to the parking lot that was smart I probably would have carried all my luggage from the parking lot to the terminal I only printed one luggage tag before the cruise but last minute I didn't want to bring my carry-on with me during the boarding process the porters were able to get all our luggage to our cabins without tags for Peace of Mind always have your luggage tags printed in advance the terminal for the celebrity Ascent was stunning we got through the whole check-in process very quickly in under 15 minutes with the longest line being this spot which was about three people deep there were shots of sparkling water being handled out thank you and I stopped at this desk here to have my credit card on file Chang so we enter we actually going to the ride so we're not going through the ship to start here we go our first look inside the ship hello oh wow you come in and there's like a art yeah let's go left we've got a little sanitizing wipes to start off it's a unique way of entering the ship and it's already festive down here wow there's all sorts of people down here already oh my gosh look at at this ship wow the grand Vol so this is like the main center or is it like the atrium yeah what is normally called The Atrium of most older cruise ships celebrity calls the Grand Plaza and I must say this is the best setup I've ever seen on any cruise ship the area has a Coliseum style sitting with your focus instantly drawn to the action at the bar or the entertainment down below the multi-level seating areas provide many more seting opportunities for great views throughout the sailing this area was [Music] [Applause] hopping so we are going to the room get our cards and then start checking out the ship so we are in our room which is on Ninth deck 275 this is aqua class and look at this so we've got a twin bed set up and look at this balcony wao this is actually pretty cool I can't think of a more controversial Topic in cruising over the last 10 years than when celebrity introduced her innovated infinite Veranda cabins which first appear on the celebrity Edge the cabins lack a separated balcony area that is accessible through a doorway at the end of the room the new design allows for a bigger than normal interior cabin area the area that would have been devoted to a traditional balcony is incorporated into the main cabin area this increases the size by about 23% this was my first time experiencing them and I am a huge fan of these balconies we usually have always sailed in a balcony but I'm ashamed to say I really spend more than a few minutes in a balcony mostly due to how hot they can get in the summer months I do spend a lot of time in my cabin though and to have this full view from the comfort of my air condition cabin was a huge plus the aqua class living space on all Edge class ships is 243 3 sare ft the beds feature cashmere mattresses and luxurious pillows if you're not happy with your pillows there's a pillow menu where you can choose a different type the Linens were high quality and extremely soft and by far the best sleep I've had on any cruise ship outside of when we had an inside cabin on Princess Cruises you just can't beat the Sleep Quality of a totally dark inside cabin which stays cooler due to the Sun not hitting your cabin during the day like on most Cruise cabins electrical outlets are limited you have this box by the desk with some Outlets I slept on the left bed away from the balcony and there wasn't an outlet near my bed in order to connect my CPAP breathing machine I brought this power strip make sure it doesn't have a search protector as those are never allowed on a ship I also connected this little USB fan that helps me sleep at night our cabin attendant was always quick with cleaning our cabins in the morning we also got turn down service which includes the chocolates which most lines have cut back on is this a fridge oh it's a what is this it's a fridge with a lock I guess for medicines oh there's so soda and stuff we will not be drinking and we got more space other there The Spa menu [Music] space yeah plenty of space there's some robes sandals lots of more shelves and the safe and a little nice towel here tons of hangers little light accent art is really nice I haven't seen a cabin with something like that oh more storage oh my gosh look at the storage laundry bag shoe shine the beach bags there's even umbrellas that's pretty cool oh my gosh look at how big this standup shower is duy that's nice there is enough for two people's stuff on each side so that's a really big plus this is a large bathroom I love this brand I didn't know they have this my last three sailings have been on Virgin voyages and while I do love virgin their bathrooms are tiny unless you get an extra large sea Terrace and their beds are the biggest complaint from passengers according to management at virgin and they plan on new beds in the future ships so to have a beautiful shower and this spacious bathroom as well as some comfortable beds was a nice change for me on the ascent when I'm on a cruise I'm usually not too concerned about the activities on board during the day as I like to relax and spend time at the spa before the ship took off there was a presentation of the spa and one lucky winner was going to win $500 in spa services the spa was packed for the presentation and it was taking forever so we left in the middle of the presentation since a horrible experience at a princess Cru Spa years ago I never get massages on board due to the hard sale of products that always follows the services I decided to try a massage once again and this is the lounge area where you will wait to be called before your services before the massage you pull out a health questionnaire the more things you mark down is ailing you the more products you will be sold my therapist started selling me new products before the massage even started after the massage was done she sold me even more more product and I had to tell her no multiple times in which she kept on asking why not her demeanor changed after she realized I would not be a buyer and she quickly escorted me out a spot on cruise ships are ran by Third parties and they constantly fire employees to fail to upsell products so the employees are always under stress for losing their jobs the Spy itself is beautiful and the aqua class includes access to the thermal Suite area or you can buy a pass that gives you access to your sailing the thermal Suite area never felt full of P passengers the best things were the heated loungers with gray views of the ocean as well as two different types of steam rooms the Himalayan salt room is supposed to help with respiratory issues the rest of the thermal Suite felt gimmicky and of no value these rain showers were neat for a few seconds but the lack of wet areas like hot tubs found that the Norwegian cruas or even virgin with their wet areas and cold plunges was a littleit leg down this crystarium room is supposed to heal your energy the room smells good but I'm not sure I was getting much benefit from it the biggest disappointment for me was the infrared sauna I just finished 20 minutes in this infrared sauna it's not hot in here and I have like literally like no sweat so it needs to be much hotter it's nice in here though you have a great view if you just want to come and relax that's the view also why would you build the gym above the spa you could hear the bangs from the weights being dropped as I sat in the Salt Room trying to relax the gym as I mentioned earlier is literally right above the spa welome Dr the stairs in the spot and make it left to enter the gym just remember don't drop the weights on the ground there's plenty of towels available for your workout as well as wet ones to cool off afterwards the size of the gym is impressive and even during the busiest times in the morning on C days you can get a good workout in with a little bit of patience the gym features a wide selections of machines for use including free weights as well as pellaton bikes there's sus spacious exercise Studios with TRX bands and if you're interested in spin class they have shoes available for you to use with the bikes we got the upgraded Wi-Fi which worked well about 95% of the time I only paid for one device and I was able to switch from my phone to computer easily when I needed to do some work I spent a lot of time at the cafe during the day the electrical outlets are limited so make sure your computer is powered up the cafe has some of the best desserts on the ship and I had way too many of these chocolate tartlettes the LR Bistro is located right by the cafe it's a sitdown restaurant and has a selection of sandwiches and desserts available for purchase I was making great progress with work one day and I didn't want to lose my spot at the cafe so I got a sandwich and pastry for around $14 and it was [Music] delicious now that we have Sun this area out here is stunning it's so so relaxed it it's beautiful to see all this Greenery people always ask if they can catch the game while on board a ship well the rooftop garden was packed for the NFL playoffs the games were also shown at the sports bar as well as multiple screens in the casino let's talk about the food on the ship and where most people eat their first meal on board the buffet this is the buffet scene when we boarded while the buffet was crowded on a near capacity sailing the design of the stations being spread out prevented bottleneck lines at most stations there's several stations where you can have food prepared and those are the only ones that had lines even when it was extremely bus bus getting a table to eat didn't take much effort I think the longest I waited for a table was like 2 minutes the breakfast at the buffet was delicious overall my only let down was the selection of sweet breads like cinnamon rolls was limited and for the most part not too appealing if you want a dut there's none to be had on board also it seemed like they would begin to break down breakfast at different times each morning greatly reducing the availability of items in the last hour and a half of breakfast I also ate dinner a few times at the buffet which I had never done before in a cruise mostly because we didn't do a good job making reservations for dinner or we were in a hurry to go see a show so a quick dinner was the best option I was satisfied with what I had for dinner at the buffet also like on most cruise ships the desserts especially the cakes at a buffet look better than they taste for better desserts visit the cafe instead the best chocolate chip cookie I've ever eaten on any cruise ship was on this celebrity ENT you can find the cookie at the Eaton restaurant that is in the back of the ship Eaton has a great quiet spot to view the ocean during the day and the whole Space is decorated what life plants throughout kind of looks like a scene from the Batman movie where poison ivy makes an appearance eaten is a very large area and you can see it all in my walkthrough video during the day there's a cafe that has sandwiches and some other foods and at night there's shows in the space that are pretty amazing I'll discuss the shows later in the video recently I broke the screen of my tablet that was inside my other stuff backpack when I tried tried shoving it under a seat on a flight since then I've been mindful of how I pack level eight has several unique and practical pieces of luggage that fit my needs when I travel on this trip I used the Road Runner carryon in a beautiful blue navy color the back features a unique hard front storage area that easily fits my MacBook Pro it allows for easy access when going through security also the pouch fully opens with multiple pockets for cables and important documents like passports the polycarbonate hard shells make the bags light as a feather and the white handle found on some bags provide great stability my friends at level eight have provided a discount code for our viewers I've posted the full details in the description below use the code Rick 10 at checkout for a nice discount eating at night is one of the specialty dining restaurants and where we had dinner the first night we booked it 4 months in advance and the only time slot available was 6:00 p.m. on sway date so if you're interested in eating book it as soon as possible so this tasty menu is4 $44 per person in addition to whatever you paid for online and then on this one you get if you pay the coverage charge before the cruise you get two appetizers one entree and one dessert so I got the Noki and I got the RTO and for dinner I got the Fon medium rare with mashed potatoes vegetables Ando mushroom fried calamari with a salad an ink squid in Squid mayonnaise this was by far the best meal I had on the ship I was little off put by the $144 tasting menu initially when it was presented to us since we had already paid extra to eat here the chocolate dessert was my favorite on the whole Cru the chocolate was so smooth there are four themed restaurants that are included in the price of your selling Normandy is held as the French quarter of the edge series ships and features contemporary French cuisine Cosmopolitan is the equivalent of main room dining on cruise ship lines where the menus feature new Entre each day tuskin restaurant is described as an elevated version of the tuskin grill is found on other celebrity ships and Cypress offers a Greek menu featuring Seafood as well as food and drinks from the Mediterranean region the core of all four dining rooms was stunning and they were so nice that initially we thought they were part of specialty dining restaurants with an added cost these are all specialty dining restaurants um yes they're humongous fortunately I didn't get to really try any of these restaurants as we had anytime dining when we did try to eat at any of these the weight time was around 30 minutes without a reservation or on one night we were turned away for not being aware of the dress codes as we showed up in shorts we got a few nasty comments from a passenger in line about being dressed in shorts shorts are allowed in the dining room except on the Chic nights since we were in aqua class we had access to Blue which we ate on one night I didn't film any of it since we ate with some company and there's plenty of videos about blue online already to get to most restaurants on the ship you will walk through this pretty cool passage lined up with mirrors while the ship feel very Lively at night especially around the Grand Plaza area it felt like a ghost town once you got to the other side of this passage here's another great spot on the ship located by the guest relations desk where you can take some really cool pictures for social media I couldn't help but just stare at this it was so beautiful I feel I feel I feel here's a few random things about my experience on the ascent before I end with the best part the spa Cafe has a wide selection of fresh squeeze juices and smoothies I ordered one as part of my beverage package and it was so good there are also some healthy Bites available included a no extra charge I would have gotten more but it seems like every time I walked by the cafe it was closed the cafe has no set hours and the website just States open for breakfast and lunch I saw a lot of people struggling with the doors of the public restrooms on on the ship you have to wave your hand in front of the sensor and when it opens up it is very slow to close if you try to close it it opens back up after the door closes you need to turn the knob which didn't work in one particular restroom which led to an embarrassing situation for me well just had Anem embarrassing moment in the bathroom as somebody open the door it's very difficult to kind of lock this door I've tried it multiple times and I still can't really get it to lock the pool area never felt crowded on this sailing which was at near capacity the main pool is just huge the light screen lit up the pool beautifully in the evenings the infinity pools on the edge of the ship were also a great place to hang out on the sea days you could have drinks delivery to the pool but drinks inside the pool were prohibited and staff constantly came by to tell people to put their drinks on the edge I did my ship walkthrough video at 11 a.m. ship time on the first SE day and while most chairs were taken by then you could still get some loungers with great views for cruise ports on this sailing I only got off at my home country of Puerto Rico which was getting ready for one of the largest festivals of the year we wanted to visit the famous chako bar Cortez in Old San Juan but it had just closed at 5:00 p.m. when we got there the chako bar is a restaurant it has a full menu of food and drinks that are all have chocolate in them chocolate Cortez was originally established in 1929 in the Dominican Republic and the chocolate is produced in Puerto Rico there are two locations in Puerto Rico and one in the Bronx in New York as you can see by Trip Advisor the reviews are incredible and so is the food we had to ask one of the locals good place to get authentic Puerto Rican food but kind of away from the tourist area and they recommended elito so we are going to check that out we sat down and had dinner with four lovely people two of them we met at the restaurant and the wife was from Puerto Rico I was born in braon Puerto Rico I'm from Bon and she had fond memories from childhood of the food served here my my mother would in Norfolk every Christmas Eve my ABA would send her pastelis on the airplane in in norol and we would run over to the airport and get the pastelist and we would have our what they Panda the four of them met on their flight from Virginia and bonded during this Cruise Virginia mother and daughter mother and daughter retired our third fourth cruise together I love these stories of people that connect during their sailings in fact we had met these ladies earlier on the cruise and they give us some great tips about the shows so y'all are the ones that told me about that show last night Bridges so someone just told us to sit on a for this show so we're going to trust her and sit on the side where did you tell me to s sit for the best experience um around the stage in the front that's where I was at that's where you at on the left or right wa we were way down fromont maybe on the left or right side you were on the right side by the steps so they came down yeah yes yes it was perfect after dinner we rushed back to the ship which looked magical at night lit up [Music] and finally the best part of the sailing ended up being the entertainment which originally was the reason I didn't ever plan on sailing celebrity again and no celebrties geared towards a clientele that expects a luxurious and relaxed environment but on my first sailing on the silhouette years ago it seemed like the ship went to sleep at 9:00 p.m. and there just wasn't much to do the cruise director looked like the author of The Golden Girls and all the entertainment seemed to fall in line with that demographic on the ascent the current cruise director is a young Latin Fireball named Luigi let me hear a 10,000 people hola hola and the entertainment scene at night seemed to match his energetic Persona [Music] everybody the ship was active late into the night on most nights there was a lot happening still at midnight with lots of opportunities to dance from an energetic disco dance party to a packed Abba singalong I had never done a silent disco and this was so much fun either as a spectator or a participant the pool party which was part of shine the night theme night was high energy and people are encouraged to dress up in their shiniest outfits celebrities should make a bigger deal of the shine the night party and Market this a lot more than they currently do overall I had a blast dancing the night away on the ship I'm not sure if any of these dance parties are also found on other Edge class ships but the ascent has six new Production shows three of the shows are held in the the theater which features a gigantic LED screen and in the round seating we sat near the front and suggested and had a blast for all shows but according to this post in Cru critic the best seating is the middle section three rows back of the blue seats from the stage for Ideal Balance sound and great views of the stage Bridges was the first show we saw and Visually was the best one Bridges is described as a celebration of human connection unity and hope set against the backdrop of some of the world's most iconic Bridges [Music] Awaken was the more thought-provoking show according to the website it features songs that showcase her real dreams and while both shows were impressive I enjoyed residency the most it featured songs from artists that have performed residencies in Las [Music] Vegas [Music] I'm beautiful in my way Mak no M [Music] baby and a showstopping performance of two different Selen Dian songs wow were when the wind was so L I don't want to live [Music] [Music] wow wow W my first Celebrity Cruise had very little entertainment and the celebrity Ascent was loaded with options here's a one night where there's four great options happening at the same time there was live jazz at the Club the Grand Plaza was always happening there was live dance music going on this was also the final performance from the comedian which was great I couldn't smell him but I bet he was wearing cologne older guys like that they were cologne that's super sexy I bet you when sir Tom drops trouser it doesn't look like a little bird like no he's not manscaped he drops TR looks like a buzzard hanging out of his nest on a foot wall and finally a show at Eaton we only caught bits of the shows at Eaton they all looked amazing but you need to get there early and get a good seat people stood up in front of you if you were seated in a chair so for best views watch the shows from above final thoughts on this Cruise celebrity does everything so well with their target Cruise audience that is hard to find much fault anywhere I still prefer virgin as my top Cruise Line due to their food and onboard Vibe but that is a different Cruise experience and they still have a lot of room for improvements in several areas the entertainment on the celebrity ENT alone was enough for us to have a 10 night cruise already booked in 2025 on the same ship if you have any questions about the ascent or would like to assistance in Booking your next Celebrity Cruise I'd be happy to help as a travel adviser with Cruise Planners I posted my information in the description below I hope you enjoyed my review of the celebrity Ascent subscribe to the channel as I have much more Cruise content coming up we will be on the second sailing of the Royal Caribbean's icon of the Seas and we'll have much more content from that sailing and as always thanks for watching watching

Channel: Road Warrior Rick

Views: 13,978

Keywords: celebrity ascent, celebrity ascent cruise ship, celebrity ascent review, celebrity cruises, celebrity cruise, celebrity ascent tour, celebrity cruises ascent, celebrity cruise ship, celebrity edge

Id: XBm6MSrViv0

Length: 25min 33sec (1533 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 29 2024