Ascent Christmas Cruise

[CruiserFromSC]

Hello everyone, can anyone tell me if there are any special dinners/activities for Christmas cruises?  We are traveling on the Ascent over Christmas and are trying to plan some specialty dining but the specialty dining option is not currently open to make reservations. We thought that this option may open about 6 months out.  Any insight? Also, we are thinking of Eden or LeVoyage for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day but wondering if there are any special dinners in the main dining rooms or Luminae that we should consider.  Any advice or insight would be much appreciated.  

[mahdnc]

9 hours ago, CruiserFromSC said:

Hello everyone, can anyone tell me if there are any special dinners/activities for Christmas cruises?  We are traveling on the Ascent over Christmas and are trying to plan some specialty dining but the specialty dining option is not currently open to make reservations. We thought that this option may open about 6 months out.  Any insight? Also, we are thinking of Eden or LeVoyage for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day but wondering if there are any special dinners in the main dining rooms or Luminae that we should consider.  Any advice or insight would be much appreciated.  

 

We have done several Christmas/New Years sailings including this past Dec.  Specialty dining will not be bookable until about 90 days before sailing.  When pricing does come out you will find that the prices are very high (with a special menu) for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.  For the other evenings, the pricing is slightly above normal.  

[CruiserFromSC]

5 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

We have done several Christmas/New Years sailings including this past Dec.  Specialty dining will not be bookable until about 90 days before sailing.  When pricing does come out you will find that the prices are very high (with a special menu) for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.  For the other evenings, the pricing is slightly above normal.  

Thank you so much for this information.  We couldn’t figure out why we were unable to book anything yet.  

[Liao]

20 hours ago, CruiserFromSC said:

Hello everyone, can anyone tell me if there are any special dinners/activities for Christmas cruises?  We are traveling on the Ascent over Christmas and are trying to plan some specialty dining but the specialty dining option is not currently open to make reservations. We thought that this option may open about 6 months out.  Any insight? Also, we are thinking of Eden or LeVoyage for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day but wondering if there are any special dinners in the main dining rooms or Luminae that we should consider.  Any advice or insight would be much appreciated.  

If you are in an upper suite, you need not worry about specialty dining reservations, shoreside or your butler will accommodate all of your requests.

[CruiserFromSC]

On 4/26/2024 at 10:48 AM, Liao said:

If you are in an upper suite, you need not worry about specialty dining reservations, shoreside or your butler will accommodate all of your requests.

We’re in a Sky suite so I’m not sure what, if any accommodations, will be made for reservations.  Thanks for your reply. 

[Water_Baby_]

We sailed on Ascent for the Christmas cruise this past December. This was the 4th time we had sailed at Christmas on Celebrity so we had a good idea what to expect.

 

It was impossible to find available times in Specialty Dining except for a few options at 930 PM (too late for us!). Beginning in early October, I tried booking online and I even spoke to Captain's Club. Everything was booked ... We wound up eating in SD only one night (Eden - and it was excellent, worth every penny). 

 

As it turned out, the sailing had a number of large families - big groups of 25 or more, and since many of those groups had someone in a suite, they seemed to snag all of the reservations. We've never before encountered this and I don't know if it was because the ship was brand new, or sailing from FLL, or people are still wanting special travel experiences.

 

The downside was that we didn't get a chance to try any of the other SD restaurants. The upside was that we were always able to get a table in Blu the minute we walked in since so many people were dining with families in SD or one of the MDRs.

 

So my suggestion would be to find out exactly when you can reserve and book early. You can always cancel later if your plans change. 

Edited April 27 by Water_Baby_

[CruiserFromSC]

On 4/27/2024 at 2:31 PM, Water_Baby_ said:

We sailed on Ascent for the Christmas cruise this past December. This was the 4th time we had sailed at Christmas on Celebrity so we had a good idea what to expect.

 

It was impossible to find available times in Specialty Dining except for a few options at 930 PM (too late for us!). Beginning in early October, I tried booking online and I even spoke to Captain's Club. Everything was booked ... We wound up eating in SD only one night (Eden - and it was excellent, worth every penny). 

 

As it turned out, the sailing had a number of large families - big groups of 25 or more, and since many of those groups had someone in a suite, they seemed to snag all of the reservations. We've never before encountered this and I don't know if it was because the ship was brand new, or sailing from FLL, or people are still wanting special travel experiences.

 

The downside was that we didn't get a chance to try any of the other SD restaurants. The upside was that we were always able to get a table in Blu the minute we walked in since so many people were dining with families in SD or one of the MDRs.

 

So my suggestion would be to find out exactly when you can reserve and book early. You can always cancel later if your plans change. 

Thank you so much for this information.  I keep checking to see when SD reservations open and nothing yet.  I appreciate you sharing your input.  

[cricketgirl]

We are booked for the New Year's sailing on Acsent and this sailing also does not have specialty dining reservations open yet.  I just keep checking once a week or so and will continue to do so until it becomes available.  I called Celebrity about a month ago asking about this and the rep had no clue when they would make them available.

[CruiserFromSC]

10 hours ago, cricketgirl said:

We are booked for the New Year's sailing on Acsent and this sailing also does not have specialty dining reservations open yet.  I just keep checking once a week or so and will continue to do so until it becomes available.  I called Celebrity about a month ago asking about this and the rep had no clue when they would make them available.

@cricketgirlI called Celebrity Captains Club today and was told that all specialty dining is fully booked for my cruise.  I was surprised by this but the lady I spoke to said that she could not see any reservations either so she called and was told all venues fully booked.  🤷🏻‍♀️ Not sure what to believe but we are thinking or cancelling and rescheduling since we will not be able to enjoy any specialty dining. 

[NMTraveller]

For our Christmas cruise last year the specialty reservations showed up 5 months ahead of the cruise.  Keep on checking...

[beshears]

I am in the "thinking" mode for 7 or 8 of us, and we have never cruised on any Celebrity ship, and I was thinking of the Ascent, as it has an itinerary we would do. If you have cruised on the Celebrity any other time (Christmas/New Years is OK), would you give me some feed back of pros/cons of this ship, as the other people are depending upon me to make some good decisions. 🙂