marne-c

Roger this big time! Or read my longer review here. --Marne

@-Lew- Sounds like a great plan for Bordeaux! Besides Sonoma County, Paso Robles has some terrific wines. A great area! --Marne

@-Lew- EXCELLENT!!! Debbie and I owned a Pinot Noir vineyard in the Sonoma Coast / Russian River appellations in Sonoma County for 19 years. We were just growers, selling our grapes to a couple of artisan wineries. --Marne

@Texed We indeed were together on Ascent's just-completed eastbound transatlantic. AND, as you say, I believe we have sailed together in the past. Perhaps the future too! --Marne

@-Lew- Excellent! We will indeed see you on board this fall. Are you wine drinkers????? --Marne

In the Istanbul port, the issue was Turkish visas. Oceania had (correctly) advised pax that B2B passengers needed them, but all others did not. However, the embarkation staff at the port wouldn't process anyone without a visa, which only were available online if (a) you had a smartphone that (b) you knew how to use, to (c) pay online with a credit card while (d) in a tent with hundreds of annoyed pax trying to use (e) primitive WiFi with dialup-speed throughput and the bandwidth of a string telephone for the entire tent. Oceania personnel did come down from the adjacent ship to correct the issue, even when alerted to it by boarding passengers. The Callao port for Lima, Peru is a container port. Its infrastructure is not designed to handle cruise ship embarkation (or, from what we heard from other pax, disembarkation, or on/off transit of passengers for port-stop ShoreEx. Embarking passengers not on Oceania hotel packages were dropped off at a seemingly random side street a mile or so from the port entrance. There was no Oceania signage nor Oceania personnel. But there were a small group of very well-meaning teenagers hired by the port trying to assist the arriving, disoriented pax. One nice young girl spoke some English. A few police loitered nearby. Scores of passengers, all with full complements of cruise luggage and many with walkers or wheelchairs, packed onto the sidewalk awaiting buses to the port. These didn't come for well over an hour, as more and more pax arrived. (Fortunately, there was no rain that day, nor hot sun.) When two buses did arrive, the more able pax pushed through the elderly and less aware pax to toss their luggage into the bus' lower compartment and jump onboard. Over half the crowd didn't fit into these buses, so they remained on the sidewalk dazed, confused and angry. Oceania could have, should have had signage and personnel at this transfer area, But no. (Amazingly, things went waaaay downhill on the bus after departing for the port blocks away. That was not an Oceania issue, but having an Oceania rep on the bus would have helped to explain the situation and to communicate to the ship the extent of the snafu.) My thoughts, @QuestionEverything: If you are going to embark in Istanbul, get a visa online before heading to the port. With decent WiFi in your hotel room or at the airport pre-cruise, it's a 5 minute task. The cost is a fraction of your cruise fare. Do this even if Turkiye's rules say you don't need one. And just don't embark, disembark or leave the ship for a port stop in Callao, Peru. --Marne

Multiple things. One thing, experienced on two consecutive cruises half a world apart, was Oceania having a waaaay too hand's-off attitude at problematic embarkation ports. Another was turning off WiFi for about nine days on a 25 day itinerary. And another, again repeated, was falling very short on their signature commitment to 'the best cuisine at sea'. Regent was a much better choice. When we considered Oceania's cruise fare PLUS what we spent additionally for gratuities, shore excursions and wine, Regent was a better deal, financially. And great service. --Marne

We are delighted and committed (per my sig line below) Regent pax. But our Ascent cruise was wonderful, and what a different kind of Captain can do was eye opening. --Marne

I wasn't sure where to post my review. I ended up putting it on the Celebrity forum here. --Marne

My wife and I now happily sail with Regent, after Oceania twice in a row sinned unpardonably. (See my signature line below for our cruise history.) But our dearest friends wanted to do an eastbound transatlantic with us, and a Celebrity Ascent itinerary best matched our desired timing and price point. I was dubious, since I had read here on Cruise Critic plenty of not-so-great things about Celebrity (mostly on penny-pinching). But I was willing (grudgingly) to give it a college try. Whoa! Start to finish, the cruise was excellent in every way. A major mental reset for me. Let’s start with the food, the key reason we originally left Celebrity and began a long set of Oceania cruises. The food on the Ascent was outstanding, certainly the best we have had on any cruise ever. Food preparation was spot-on throughout, even for difficult-en-masse entrees like lobster and duck. Amazingly, this held true for MDRs as well as specialty restaurants. We were AquaClass, and so could eat regularly at Blu. Again, comments on CC about Blu being boring were thoroughly wrong. We had plenty of variety, without annoying (or even noticeable) repetition. Even the buffet had terrific food, in astounding variety, sensibly and spaciously presented. So food, ten stars. The Ascent is near brand-new, having debuted right at the end of 2023. As expected, everything sparkles. The design with very well thought-out, providing plenty of venues and charming nooks-and-crannies for pax to hang out. We had nine sea days (seven of them consecutive), and the ship never felt crowded. My wife and I have and will continue to sail venerable vessels like the RSSC Navigator, so shiny-new is not a requirement for us. But it was marvelous. And there was another surprise for me. I’ve seen threads here on CC praising one or another captain or cruise director. But in 20+ years of cruising, my wife and I never had had a captain or cruise director than made any kind of impact on our on-board experience. Until the Ascent. Captain Tasos is the consummate leader — intelligent beyond measure, with a heartfelt love of people, accessible to everyone and thoroughly focused on mentoring the entire staff to radiate these same qualities. And the guy is funny as hell. On the PA and in multiple SRO theater presentations, Captain Tasos and his (much shorter) sidekick and straight man Cruise Director Alejandro had pax rolling in the aisles and (deservedly) singing his praises. It would never have occurred to me before to choose a future cruise based on the ship captain. But now Captain Tasos would add serious weight to my cruise considerations. And likely stemming from the leadership and mentorship of Captain Tasos and his hand-picked executive team, the Ascent crew has been superlative. (With one exception noted below,) they entirely have been personable, competent, on-the-spot and endlessly willing to make our cruise special. Highest marks. What else? The entertainment was plentiful, focused and competent. Granted, not much to my taste, but my taste is waaaay out there, and no cruise yet has really hit the entertainment mark for me. WiFi: This was the first time we’ve shipboard service by Starlink, and we had the best throughput and consistency we’ve ever had on a cruise. Embarkation was the smoothest and fasted we’ve ever had, an astounding experience given the 3200+ pax on this sold-out itinerary. Disembarkation was a snap too. Was there anything negative? Yes. We had a less-than-satisfactory experience with Future Cruises. (The manager later apologized abjectly.) I didn’t like the cover on our bathroom trash can. And the switch on the Infinite Veranda window and the TV remote both occasionally had Y-chromosome lockout enabled; they’d only work for my wife. But this happens at home too with the FireStick remote in our bedroom… So would we sail Celebrity Ascent again? Absolutely! We’ve already booked the westbound transatlantic this fall. Would we sail with Celebrity again on a non-EdgePlus class ship? We’d certainly consider it. So I was wrong to hesitate — we had a seriously wonderful time on Celebrity Ascent. No regrets at all. --Marne

@HeinBloed It is SO great to see that you still are cruising and contributing to this great community. Waaaaay back, 17-18 years ago, I relied on your perfect advice and step-by-step photo-illustrated instructions to happily navigate cruise-stops like Venice and Warnemunde. Happily, I'm still cruising too. MANY thanks and good wishes, HeinBloed! 🐻 --Marne

@forgap Thanks for the reference on Gate One Travel. I'll look them up. --Marne

@forgap Debbie-wife and I will be on the RSSC Explorer in Fall 2025. I am VERY much enjoying your travelogue!!! I love your itinerary to-date. Please tell me how you planned and organized your tour. Was it DIY? Or did you work with a tour company? --Marne

@catsmit Cathy: Thanks for the check-in info. We hope also to board at 11am. --Marne

@catsmit Great pics! Many thanks!!! My group and I board on 14 April. A question: You note that you're at the terminal for check-in at 10am. Did you have any issues arriving at that time? (I assume that your official check-in time from Celebrity was later than 10:00.) --Marne