LIVE with Georgia Peaches on the Brand NEW Ascent...B2B November 22-29 Pre-Pre-Maiden Voyage!

[abbydancer2003]

8 hours ago, hcat said:

Dreadful looking ship

Well, yeah, but it does look like a shopping cart. Gone to P&O now.

[kwokpot]

8 hours ago, hcat said:

Dreadful looking ship

It's actually in the background on of the Ascent photos in this thread. 

Edited November 28, 2023 by kwokpot

[abbydancer2003]

8 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

It's actually in the background on of the Ascent photos on this thread. 

Odd, since both ships with the handle are now with P&O Australia.  

[Rhody135]

2 hours ago, abbydancer said:

Odd, since both ships with the handle are now with P&O Australia.  

It’s the Caribbean Princess.

[LoveChops]

11 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Interestingly, the wine glasses in the photo I posted have been removed but the taller cocktail glasses still remain. 

Please could I ask a favour?

Would you post pics of the Martini Bar Menu? We have upgraded to the Premium Package but I'm reading a lot of drinks are now priced at $20. 

Thank you!

[Georgia_Peaches]

4 hours ago, LoveChops said:

Please could I ask a favour?

Would you post pics of the Martini Bar Menu? We have upgraded to the Premium Package but I'm reading a lot of drinks are now priced at $20. 

Thank you!

Yes!  Will get there today. Most of the martinis are priced at $17. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

We dined in the Rooftop Garden Grill last night and aside from Eden, was one of our favorites…the star of the show. I will even go so far as to say it was hands down better than the steakhouse. @hcat when you go there in December you must ask for Rueben. He was outstanding!  We asked him for his recommendations and he was spot on!  He even threw in a few tasting items, like brisket, so we could try it without ordering a full portion. Most impressive was when he brought the bill. He drew a line through the gratuity line explaining that the 20% was already added. (We tipped him extra in cash as he absolutely deserved it!)

 

As for the venue itself, it is the E class version of the Lawn Club grill, which is only on a select few of the S class ships. It’s open air and you can see into the kitchen. Just a great place!

 

Im not sure at this point why the app didn’t show any available reservations as the venue was not full. Not even close. 
 

We had Conundrum wine with dinner. It was $2 over the premium package limit. Last time we sailed on Celebrity (July), it was priced within the premium package limit. We paid the difference of course, but it makes me wonder if perhaps Celebrity are testing the waters on how much over the limit they can eek up prices without pushback. 

[NJ Gal]

11 hours ago, blueslily said:

 

Oh, I'm one of those folks that does not like dishes in the floor down the hallway. I definitely hope that process changes. It's dirty and not appealing at all. Makes the environment look really bad. 

I agree--dirty dishes in the hall does not look appealing.  We saw alot of that on the Oasis this summer.  Rarely on Celebrity. I certainly hope this will not happen on the Ascent. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

6 minutes ago, NJ Gal said:

I certainly hope this will not happen on the Ascent. 

Oh, it’s happening… 😒

[jelayne]

34 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

We had Conundrum wine with dinner. It was $2 over the premium package limit. Last time we sailed on Celebrity (July), it was priced within the premium package limit. We paid the difference of course, but it makes me wonder if perhaps Celebrity are testing the waters on how much over the limit they can eek up prices without pushback. 

 

We got off the Edge on Saturday, drank red Condundrum almost daily and no up-charge.  Wonder what else has been moved to over the premium package limit🤔

[hcat]

8 hours ago, kwokpot said:

It's actually in the background on of the Ascent photos in this thread. 

sharp eyes!

[hcat]

The Roof top Grill menu seemed much nicer now.  When we went on EDGE on  its initial sailings, it was  mostly burgers and huge fries..Service was SLOW although only a few  tables seated.  So SLOW that they  refunded our charges and begged us not to give bad reviews!  We did finslly get our meal...but left before dessert.

 

For Ascent, we booked ahead at 

$ 94.36 for two  for dinner  for Tortola !   Looked like a good deal with the discount.

hoping for nice weather!

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by hcat

[Texed]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

We dined in the Rooftop Garden Grill last night and aside from Eden, was one of our favorites…the star of the show. I will even go so far as to say it was hands down better than the steakhouse.

We had Conundrum wine with dinner. It was $2 over the premium package limit. Last time we sailed on Celebrity (July), it was priced within the premium package limit. 

 

We agree with you completely about Eden and the Roof Top Grill.  We also love La Voyage.

 

My wife's go to wine is Conundrum.  It was on the premium package for our transatlantic on Beyond October 30th.  

[Tyler414]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

We dined in the Rooftop Garden Grill last night and aside from Eden, was one of our favorites…the star of the show. I will even go so far as to say it was hands down better than the steakhouse. @hcat when you go there in December you must ask for Rueben. He was outstanding!  We asked him for his recommendations and he was spot on!  He even threw in a few tasting items, like brisket, so we could try it without ordering a full portion. Most impressive was when he brought the bill. He drew a line through the gratuity line explaining that the 20% was already added. (We tipped him extra in cash as he absolutely deserved it!)

 

As for the venue itself, it is the E class version of the Lawn Club grill, which is only on a select few of the S class ships. It’s open air and you can see into the kitchen. Just a great place!

 

Im not sure at this point why the app didn’t show any available reservations as the venue was not full. Not even close. 
 

We had Conundrum wine with dinner. It was $2 over the premium package limit. Last time we sailed on Celebrity (July), it was priced within the premium package limit. We paid the difference of course, but it makes me wonder if perhaps Celebrity are testing the waters on how much over the limit they can eek up prices without pushback. 

Is the separate drink menu for Roof Top gone?  Someone on Beyond, when it was in the Med, said they no longer have their own drink menu and use Sunset's bars menu.   Thanks!  Enjoy tour sea day!!!

[cgolf1]

On 11/26/2023 at 5:44 PM, ladyjade3 said:

I never noticed the magic carpet being heavily trafficked or noisy. Kinda wondered what the point of it is. I imagine a Celebrity board room where some creative type has a cool idea to have an elevator-bar that goes up and down the side of the ship, serving drinks and picking up and dropping off people with a killer view of the ocean, up and down, up and down all day. nnnn-tssss nnnn-tssss nnnn-tssss. A BAR, but also an ELEVATOR. Can't ever have too many of either, right? It probably got greenlit originally this way by the execs. Then the lawyers got involved. And then maybe also the suits that regulate bars and alcohol. One by one they took away each little cool aspect of it piece by piece until we're left with a hugely expensive, over-engineered orange monstrosity that hangs out over the ocean but doesn't really do much for anyone other than need to be cleared out whenever you happen to want to hang out there so it can go from exactly one upper floor (14) to exactly one lower floor (5) and vice versa. I tried to order a martini there and they didn't even have martini glasses. And I am NOT paying for a martini in any other geometric shape than a triangle. It's just not the same. Not when you have bartenders in the Grand Plaza that do fancy flippy tricks when they make martinis....

 

Anyway. I don't have any insider knowledge. I don't want to start any rumors about the Magic Carpet. That's just what occured to me as I investigated this thing trying to figure the whole thing out. It's cute, but kind of pointless. No, its not going to be noisy. Like, ever.

 

When we were on the Edge in February for the 1/2 PC Transit cruise, the magic carpet was almost always full and it was really hard to even get a seat, which irked me because on our first Edge cruise it was hardly used and it became our favorite spot to sit. Now if the E Class had something that was even a half ****** attempt at a promenade deck it wouldn't have been an issue. Not a lot of oceanview seating on the Edge and I assume the other E class ships.

[PTC DAWG]

15 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Another “nice touch “ that has gone by the wayside. Unfortunate.

 

 

mac_tlc

This sounds like he got exactly what he wanted...a positive, not a negative.  

[Georgia_Peaches]

16 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

Is the separate drink menu for Roof Top gone?  Someone on Beyond, when it was in the Med, said they no longer have their own drink menu and use Sunset's bars menu.   Thanks!  Enjoy tour sea day!!!

This is true. The cocktails were from the Sunset bar menu. 

[KKB]

12 hours ago, Cap_D said:

 

You even had the small porthole balcony (I hope I'm not confusing my trip reports), so the SS balcony isn't entirely different.  

That being said, wow, what great trips you've had and thanks for sharing your time and observations. 

Porthole balcony & SS balcony are ENTIRELY different.

While the Porthole balcony isn't an Infinite Veranda, it is TINY compared to SS balcony, which is expansive.

Not a popular opinion, we much prefer an IV over a Porthole balcony (although they do appear to have made the Porthole balcony slightly larger--so that you can actually place your chair forward & sit in it, unlike Apex/Edge, on which you can only sit sideways, it is THAT narrow)

[DaKahuna]

@Georgia_Peaches  I would have certainly needed a wheelbarrow to take me away from that place.  Our only E-Class sailing was on Edge in February 2020 and as @hcat said it was mostly custom burgers and fries.  If we ever sail E-class again, I am will see if I can talk my DW into dining there. 

 

It would be a total shame if they priced Conundrum above the Premium package price limit fleet wide.  I wonder if that is throughout the ship or something they have done for the Roof Top Garden only?  I normally get it when in Luminae and have never had an upcharge.  Guess I'll find out in May on Millie. 

 

Keep those interesting stories, observations, and beautiful pictures coming.  Loving your review, as always. 

 

 

 

[ChutChut]

18 hours ago, hcat said:

Dreadful looking ship

Actually, a very nice ship - Caribbean Princess. 

[ChutChut]

10 hours ago, abbydancer said:

Odd, since both ships with the handle are now with P&O Australia.  

Caribbean Princess - very nice ship.

[BecciBoo]

On 11/25/2023 at 7:01 PM, hcat said:

Question:

will you get your orig seapass cards back at some point?  We keep ours..quite a collection!

I have a photo file of every cruise.  The first pic is of our seapass and then a photo of our waiters table crystal, then I take a pic of our cabin steward and their name badge, everything I need in order.

IMG_3870.HEIC

[Georgia_Peaches]

17 minutes ago, KKB said:

Porthole balcony & SS balcony are ENTIRELY different.

While the Porthole balcony isn't an Infinite Veranda, it is TINY compared to SS balcony, which is expansive.

Not a popular opinion, we much prefer an IV over a Porthole balcony (although they do appear to have made the Porthole balcony slightly larger--so that you can actually place your chair forward & sit in it, unlike Apex/Edge, on which you can only sit sideways, it is THAT narrow)

Have to agree that the PV balcony is small. For me it was the better option over SV due to the amount of shade the PV offers. Additionally, we had solid walls on both sides.. no dividers so it felt extremely private. 

[KKB]

Just now, Georgia_Peaches said:

Have to agree that the PV balcony is small. For me it was the better option over SV due to the amount of shade the PV offers. Additionally, we had solid walls on both sides.. no dividers so it felt extremely private. 

It's funny--if I have a balcony, I like it open like SV. 

Yet we are perfectly happy w/ IV--prefer it over a covered traditional balcony.

[Georgia_Peaches]

13 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

Keep those interesting stories, observations, and beautiful pictures coming.  Loving your review, as always. 

Thank you for the kind words, DK. It’s been a pleasure! 😊