WILL ASCENT LIVE UP TO ITS NAME?

[hcat]

"The name of this new ship is very apropos as the industry rebounds, but also as Celebrity continues to lead the industry as an unmatched new-luxury brand and cruise line," said Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, parent company of Celebrity Cruises. "Celebrity Ascent will take the industry to new heights as it pushes the boundaries of what people can experience on a ship and how they experience it."

 

We are booked for Jan 28t

 

Will it truly be a new experience or  was that typical PR?

[Georgia_Peaches]

All I can say is that our Ascent experience has set the bar quite high for our future cruises and will make booking an S or M class ship that hasn’t been updated all the more difficult. 
OTOH, we have a Regent cruise on the new Grandeur for 2025 and I am wondering/hoping it lives up to the hype.   

[cbfb]

53 minutes ago, hcat said:

"The name of this new ship is very apropos as the industry rebounds, but also as Celebrity continues to lead the industry as an unmatched new-luxury brand and cruise line," said Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, parent company of Celebrity Cruises. "Celebrity Ascent will take the industry to new heights as it pushes the boundaries of what people can experience on a ship and how they experience it."

 

We are booked for Jan 28t

 

Will it truly be a new experience or  was that typical PR?

I guess it depends on what you are looking for and enjoy. We just got off Beyond. Yes it’s a beautiful ship but by the end we prefer the S class, then M. The ship was at capacity and felt very crowded.

 

We didn’t like the martini bar, missed the alcoves and space. We felt everyone was on top of each other.
 

The 4 main dining rooms were very nice and food was good but you don’t have the same wait staff so that interaction and getting to know the staff, which  we enjoy,  wasn’t part of the experience. 
 

The balcony furniture in the SV was not comfortable at all so sitting out there was not as enjoyable as it could have been. 

 

Again, we had a wonderful cruise, it’s hard not to, but I'm very happy our next 2 are on the Silhouette. 

[jelayne]

 Jason Liberty has been the CEO of Royal Caribbean Group for 2 years.  Richard Fain is the Chairman of the Board.  Some writer didn’t do his research.

 

We board the Ascent and are looking forward to seeing what they have done to improve on the Beyind, which we loved. 

[Lastdance]

4 minutes ago, jelayne said:

 Jason Liberty has been the CEO of Royal Caribbean Group for 2 years.  Richard Fain is the Chairman of the Board.  Some writer didn’t do his research.

 

We board the Ascent and are looking forward to seeing what they have done to improve on the Beyind, which we loved. 

I will be interested in hearing your details!  Enjoy!

[Lastdance]

58 minutes ago, cbfb said:

I guess it depends on what you are looking for and enjoy. We just got off Beyond. Yes it’s a beautiful ship but by the end we prefer the S class, then M. The ship was at capacity and felt very crowded.

 

We didn’t like the martini bar, missed the alcoves and space. We felt everyone was on top of each other.
 

The 4 main dining rooms were very nice and food was good but you don’t have the same wait staff so that interaction and getting to know the staff, which  we enjoy,  wasn’t part of the experience. 
 

The balcony furniture in the SV was not comfortable at all so sitting out there was not as enjoyable as it could have been. 

 

Again, we had a wonderful cruise, it’s hard not to, but I'm very happy our next 2 are on the Silhouette. 

So, you did not have any loungers?

[cbfb]

Just now, Lastdance said:

So, you did not have any loungers?

No. We were told by our room steward that they are no longer allowed on SV for safety reasons! 🙄 She wouldn’t budge. 

[Lastdance]

21 minutes ago, cbfb said:

No. We were told by our room steward that they are no longer allowed on SV for safety reasons! 🙄 She wouldn’t budge. 

IMHO, that is so wrong.  We were told that one elderly lady had an accident on her suite balcony(Beyond), so only sunset suites and SV’s would be able to have loungers.  I can understand S1’s on E-class, due to the narrow balcony, but not those excellent large balconies due to an accident.  We always buy insurance, so would never fault Celebrity for this.  However, I wish someone with more information could elaborate on this situation.  It would keep me from booking a sunset suite ever again, not to mention giving considerable consideration to SV’s.  I guess in the future the IV will replace all balconies?  Just kidding, but this really makes me think long and hard about any other cruises, especially sunset suites😱

 

Celebrity keeps making so many changes that just do not make me feel very good about booking with them in the future, especially, if this is true on all ships.   They have done away with things that I have enjoyed  about cruising...TBD!  I am not a fan of the IV’s, nor not having a lounger or two.  I have a cruise on Edge in Hawaii, so it will be interesting to see what happens due to my large balcony.  I will not be a happy camper at all, but will enjoy spending all my OBC trying to get one...just a joke!  Sorry this happened to you, as I feel your disappointment!!!

Edited January 16 by Lastdance

[cbfb]

9 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

IMHO, that is so wrong.  We were told that one elderly lady had an accident on her suite balcony(Beyond), so only sunset suites and SV’s would be able to have loungers.  I can understand S1’s on E-class, due to the narrow balcony, but not those excellent large balconies due to an accident.  We always buy insurance, so would never fault Celebrity for this.  However, I wish someone with more information could elaborate on this situation.  It would keep me from booking a sunset suite ever again, not to mention giving considerable consideration to SV’s.  I guess in the future the IV will replace all balconies?  Just kidding, but this really makes me think long and hard about any other cruises, especially sunset suites😱

 

Celebrity keeps making so many changes that just do not make me feel very good about booking with them in the future, especially, if this is true on all ships.   They have done away with things that I have enjoyed  about cruising...TBD!  I am not a fan of the IV’s, nor not having a lounger or two.

This wasn’t a suite but a regular SV so I don’t know about the suites. What I do know is that we were told the same thing about someone having an accident so no loungers in any SV. Imagine my surprise when someone posted a you tube video of their SV on the same cruise with a lounger on the balcony. I was not happy. Not their fault at all! Good for them but obviously this is not consistent and being told it was due to an accident you would think it would be, Besides being ridiculous! I can handle getting up from a lounger! 🤣

 

I agree. Not a fan of IV and was really looking forward to having the balcony to lounge on since it was a full ship. 

[Lastdance]

26 minutes ago, cbfb said:

This wasn’t a suite but a regular SV so I don’t know about the suites. What I do know is that we were told the same thing about someone having an accident so no loungers in any SV. Imagine my surprise when someone posted a you tube video of their SV on the same cruise with a lounger on the balcony. I was not happy. Not their fault at all! Good for them but obviously this is not consistent and being told it was due to an accident you would think it would be, Besides being ridiculous! I can handle getting up from a lounger! 🤣

 

I agree. Not a fan of IV and was really looking forward to having the balcony to lounge on since it was a full ship. 

I guess the only consistency with Celebrity is their inconsistency…not part of a very good business model, but their stock is doing well; however, what goes up can easily go down too…then there is the communication problem which has long been endemic to the brand…don’t like your answer, call someone else!

Edited January 16 by Lastdance

[NMTraveller]

LOL on the Luxury part.  It is not a luxury cruise with all of the fee add ons...

[lv2cruisgrl]

On 1/16/2024 at 5:33 PM, jelayne said:

 Jason Liberty has been the CEO of Royal Caribbean Group for 2 years.  Richard Fain is the Chairman of the Board.  Some writer didn’t do his research.

 

We board the Ascent and are looking forward to seeing what they have done to improve on the Beyind, which we loved. 

We board her in April so please let us know what you think. We love Beyond and Apex also.

[CruiseMrB]

Just off Ascent (7 Jan - 15 Jan). It does live up to its name. But that's because it's a brand new ship and it is fully staffed with great crewmembers from other ships in the fleet. It was at capacity, and it ran beautifully at that level. 

 

The final judgement will come when the original crew contracts start expiring and Celebrity staffs it as if it is just another ship.