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

[dlh015]

Hey, thanks for an outstanding 'Live'...I kid you not, it was truly a pleasure to follow along...

 

Safe travels home to you and your DH!!

[TourDeCruise]

Thank you, Georgia Peaches, for a very enjoyable and informative Live report! And thanks to others who contributed too such as twins_to_alaska. I appreciate the time you took to share your experiences and photos and answer questions. We will be onboard the Maiden Voyage in 5 days, so I am very appreciative. Safe travels tomorrow.

[cw2go]

11 hours ago, blueslily said:

 

Have you asked someone what the theory is behind this or share your thoughts about how horrible it is? 

 

7 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I will make note of it on my end of cruise survey but haven’t taken the time to discuss it with anyone while on board this trip. 

 

On my past two Beyond sailings, the stateroom attendants personally told us to place the plates/glasses outside the door. I actually questioned this to be sure of what I was hearing and was told yes they have a cart that comes by regularly to retrieve them.

 

I assume it's to lighten the load for the stateroom attendants because most likely the cart "drive by" would be serviced by someone doing Room Service or some sort of other kitchen duty?  

 

These sailings were in Feb/Caribbean and Aug/Europe

 

Through the sailing I saw many staterooms along deck 8 doing the same. 

 

Thank you @Georgia_Peaches for taking the time to share your cruise with us, 

Patty 

[Georgia_Peaches]

13 minutes ago, cw2go said:

assume it's to lighten the load for the stateroom attendants because most likely the cart "drive by" would be serviced by someone doing Room Service or some sort of other kitchen duty?  

Yes, that would make sense. The room attendants only have so much room on their carts and I suppose it’s easier for room service personnel to pick it up instead. 

[hcat]

if they left a few carts  at the end of the hallway for plate deposits,  it might be cluttered but more sanitary than having dirty dishes sit on the floor....so gross.!

 

The stateroom attendant should clear and put dirty dishes on the carts  It is not the job of cruisers to clean up..If we are told to do  that....no extra tip !

 

whoever thought of doing the "plates on floor" idea needs to re-think this.  Wonder if the Hotel Director approved this? Has anyone reported it?

[cgolf1]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

if they left a few carts  at the end of the hallway for plate deposits,  it might be cluttered but more sanitary than having dirty dishes sit on the floor....so gross.!

 

The stateroom attendant should clear and put dirty dishes on the carts  It is not the job of cruisers to clean up..If we are told to do  that....no extra tip !

 

whoever thought of doing the "plates on floor" idea needs to re-think this.  Wonder if the Hotel Director approved this? Has anyone reported it?

 

I have seen this on other lines, maybe guests set them outside, but would agree that at the retreat level for sure this would be unacceptable. 

[TeeRick]

Thank you Georgia_Peaches!

[wednesday]

On 11/27/2023 at 2:45 PM, Pushkin said:

OMG!  You are the only person (outside of a few in my family) who eat grits with over-easy eggs!  We must be related!  BTW - I have had pretty good luck with grits on my cruises.

 

My husband eats them that way.

[Georgia_Peaches]

Just wanted to conclude our wonderful cruise on the beautiful Ascent with a few random thoughts. 
First, this cruise was definitely not the Guinea pig cruise I expected it to be. The crew of Ascent have their acts together and offered some of the best service we’ve received since our cruise restart. Kudos to Ascent and Celebrity!

 

Second, it was great having a b2b experience comparing Retreat to everything else. We have found that E class ships have managed to elevate the overall experience in and around the ship that access to the Retreat is not necessary in order to have an enjoyable cruise. In fact, aside from the bigger room, we enjoyed our first 4 nights outside the Retreat more than the last three nights. 
 

We never met our Retreat host/butler, spent very little time in the retreat common areas, and the one request we had (dinner at Garden Club) we could have easily done ourselves. 
 

We found Luminae has lost its intimate feel as it was loud with conversation and very crowded. 
 

Since Celebrity have removed some of the perks for Sky suites, I would entertain the opportunity to buy a sky suite room with the option to forego the access to the Retreat/Luminae amenities for a lesser rate. These areas are so crowded now that I see it very difficult for them to elevate the experience for everyone. Too many passengers/too few crew to service them. 
 Third, I regret that it has taken us this long to try E class. We absolutely loved it!  Our go-to spots ranged from the Sunset bar by day and the World Class bar and Eden by night. All areas had wide and varied entertainment which is something I felt was significantly lacking on our previous Equinox cruise. 
 

Thank you all for following along. I had fun chronicling our journey on the newest Celebrity ship!  @twins_to_alaska thank you for your contribution, safe travels home!

 

Here’s some final random pics to include the hall of mirrors leading to Eden and the ingredient list of our 2 favorite drinks. After some food and beverage detox, I plan to try and replicate these cocktails at home. 

 

For now, Pipercat and Jane await. Until next time, happy cruising everyone!

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by Georgia_Peaches

[brockmom]

42 minutes ago, cgolf1 said:

 

I have seen this on other lines, maybe guests set them outside, but would agree that at the retreat level for sure this would be unacceptable. 

At any level…..in my opinion 

[PTC DAWG]

28 minutes ago, wednesday said:

 

My husband eats them that way.

It's the correct way to eat eggs..especially if shrimp aren't available.  🙂

[twins_to_alaska]

Safe travels to you, @Georgia_Peaches. I left my cabin at 8:10 and got to my gate at FLL at 9:05. Flight boards 10:10. There was a back up on the ship exit ramp for a bit with no one moving but then just kept walking until outside. Lyft wasn't finding me a ride so after 7 minutes I switched to Uber. I've been cruising from MIA lately and forgot how nice and small FLL is. Baltimore is currently 30 feels like 22 (but warming up) so I'm going to miss bare arms this morning. I loved the Ascent (also my first time on Edge series). I talked to my retreat host Ivan and the head butler Miljan many times each day as they seemed to always be in the port deck 10 hallway. I didn't utilize their services as I didn't even have Ivan come into my room to clean/neaten. I got my dailies from him in the hallway and dumped my trash with him when he was cleaning other rooms. Miljan saw me coming back sea day with another plate of sweets from Eden and said he could have gotten someone to do that for me. But I needed to walk off the calories! Miljan said on the transatlantic trip over crew members got to eat in all the restaurants and give everyone practice working together. He had worked with many crew previously. He said he coordinates all the requests for the sky suites and farms the actual doings out to others. For future cruisers if you want services you should call your head butler and get acquainted.

[wednesday]

13 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Just wanted to conclude our wonderful cruise on the beautiful Ascent with a few random thoughts. 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us, I am glad it was amazing!  I really cannot wait for January 28th to get here now.

 

Also, love your kitty!  Black cats are the BEST!  I love my girl Nyx to pieces, she is the sweetest thing around

 

[wednesday]

8 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

It's the correct way to eat eggs..especially if shrimp aren't available.  🙂

According to him it is..... unless it's my mom's smoked gouda and rotel grits. He says and I quote "anyone that doesn't like your mama's grits is an a@@hole"😂  I've never done the egg thing, either lots of butter or cheese.  We are both native (North Central FL) Floridians, so pretty southern (my accent draws constant attention down here in central FL where we live now.)

[Cap_D]

Thank you, @Georgia_Peaches and @twins_to_alaska.  

 

 

[vickykay]

Thank you for your wonderful review.  We’re on the ship next Sept - can’t wait!

[Azulann]

Enjoyed reading your trip report and review of the new ship.  thank you for taking the time  , and safe travels home.

[jcpc]

@Georgia_PeachesThanks so much for posting your very informative "live" review.  I really enjoyed reading it.  And very happy to hear that Thor was kind to you.....LOL  The E-Class ships definitely have a lot to offer.  

[hcat]

2 hours ago, wednesday said:

Thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us, I am glad it was amazing!  I really cannot wait for January 28th to get here now.

 

Also, love your kitty!  Black cats are the BEST!  I love my girl Nyx to pieces, she is the sweetest thing around

 

wonderful kitties!

we miss our Black cat Tiffany..:she had a very sweet disposition!

[Stem to Stern]

@Georgia_Peaches Safe travels home.  Thanks for taking us along.

[hcat]

thanks for a great review!

the comments &  pics were  lovely and ..will be  helpful for our Jan cruise

 

one comment..those passage ways to EDEN are getting worse..esp for those with  visual challenges and scooter users who zoom through..dreading it already!  Eveything else looks great !

[NJ Gal]

Thanks for a great review.  We will be boarding the Ascent on Dec, 3 for B/B/B--all have different ports. We have been on the Edge and Beyond.  Missed the Apex due to covid cruise which was cancelled. 

  Belated Happy Anniversary to you both.  Safe travels home. 

[kwokpot]

Thank you very much for this excellent review. I know how much time and effort it takes to do these things(I ran out of steam on my last Carnival 30 day cruise trip report and never wrote an end of cruise post, lol).

People seem to forget we do these things out of personal enjoyment and not as a profession! And also thank you for taking personal question requests. Happy holidays!

Edited November 29, 2023 by kwokpot

[DaKahuna]

5 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

It's the correct way to eat eggs..especially if shrimp aren't available.  🙂

 

 Just need to add five or six dashes of Tabasco to any fried egg dish to make them perfect. 

 

[theopup]

Thanks so much for the wonderful review, and taking the time to write it.

 

Lots of reading today, lots of pages and pictures. Just read all the pages in one go, as we just returned from a non cruise trip to Dublin and London, which was great fun (first time in Dublin)

 

We will experience our first Edge class ship on the Apex in February, and then on the Ascent in the Mediterranean in September, so did enjoy all your information.