Koohiichan

Just back from Nassau and Coco Cay. Enjoyed the adults only Hideaway Beach for $22/day. Much needed during spring break season on cruise with lots of families and kids. The heated pool was nice in the morning. Food was great. Easy to find front row beach seating of you walk further down. Enjoyed swimming in the cove, but more of a lagoon so no waves. Fun beach swings and hammocks. In Nassau got a day pass at Beaches on Csble Beach. The taxi was easy to arrange at the stand at the port for $10 per person. Breezes was the only option for a day pass with beach access on Cable Beach. Food, drinks, and beach facilities are included, plus the staff was welcoming and friendly. The food was good enough. The facilities themselves are run down and in need of maintenance, especially the hot tub. Kind of like an oceanfront HoJo’s. Perfectly adequate for the 5 hours we were there. I wouldn’t rule out doing it again.

Personally, I love cruises out of San Juan. You usually get the ABC islands, and you can start the cruise off in warm weather despite the time of year. Will there be a lot of native Spanish speakers on board? Yes, which makes sense. I don’t speak Spanish, but you don’t need to. You just have to go into it with an open mind and embrace the difference. IMHO the complainers are going through culture shock. Ignore them. Give it a try and find out for yourself. I think you’ll like it.

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions. We will definitely bring them in ourselves this time.

Sailing Freedom in a week or so. Haven’t sailed Royal in many years, but on a recent Celebrity cruise noticed that many people walked their own luggage on, bypassing the porters. Can we do this on Royal? Our boarding time is 1PM, if this makes a difference. Any pluses or minuses to doing this? (We seriously wished we had done so on Celeb) Thanks, Koohiichan

Ultimately we decide against booking the balloon. Thanks for your feedback though.

Got it. Thanks for both replies.

Won’t they just add gratuity as a daily charge once you board? I seem to recall this from years ago.

Has anyone experienced the balloon ride on Coco Cay? What did you think? I’m worried it might seem unquantifiable disappointing. Koohiichan

Sorry for the late reply. We dined at different times, but found a lot arrive at 6:30 and 8:30. We often ate at 7 or 7:30:if my memory is correct. The boat did seem to have a family crowd that ate earlier and another crowd that ate later like 8 or 8:30. Each cruise may differ of course.Also it would depend on how many are eating at the specialties, which seemed to be a lot on this cruise.

Nice! Looking forward to hearing how you like Aqua Class. I’ve always wanted to try it, and Blue. Maybe in the future when my daughter is out of college and we have more of a cruise budget. Enjoy your upcoming cruise.

I would say that food is subjective so I can’t really argue with the original poster’s opinion. Personally, I thought the pizza better on Apex than Ascent. (Didn’t try the burger.) Now we can start arguing about what city or US region has the best pizza. I’m from the Chicago area so … just kidding! We do not need to start that. Haha!

DH and I have cruised other lines, but for a couples cruise, and at this stage in our life, we prefer Celebrity for the (we feel) elevated service and dining. This cruise on their newest ship, Ascent, exceeded our expectations. Cruise fares were higher than usual due to timing (New Years,) newest ship, demand, inflation etc., than our room last year so we economized by choosing a Deluxe Inside Cabin, #9158. Very pleased with cabin design, size, storage, and location. We love this location forward as it is close to the spa, gym, and solarium. An IV would have been twice the price. We aren’t hang-in-the-room type of people (Not saying a large suite someday wouldn’t change that) so took the cost savings used it for week-long spa packages, a cabana, All-access ship tours, Rooftop Grill dinner, and casino money. In the end, we won enough in the casino to cover those expenses and then some. Of note on this cruise, more family groups and kids than usual. Not a problem, just different. Be aware this isn’t the time to cruise if you’d prefer to avoid children Things that Celebrity did to make this New Year’s cruise/our cruise special. - Special NY’s celebration and menu in addition to the Sparkle Night held later in the week, with liberal pouring of Veuve Clicquot champagne. -Despite a full ship, and no dinner reservations in any of the MDRs, we walked in and got a table for 2, most often by the window, with no waiting. They seemed to note and recognize our window seat preference after we kindly asked the first night. We are only Select status, but do have about 6 Celebrity cruises under our belts. They made us feel special anyway. -After NY’s day, the cabanas were underutilized. They upgraded us to a full sized cabana free of charge. We enjoy the cabanas, and the service and cabana crew were awesome, but not sure we will do it next time. (We did it on Apex last year.) Even with a full ship we never felt like we couldn’t find a seat, and DH doesn’t like to be in the sun, anyway. You can’t anticipate or control the weather, sun, shade. We did prefer the cabanas on Ascent to those on Apex. We liked facing the pool, and chose the cabana closest to the Solarium side. Maybe if we were with a friend group, it would make more sense for us. - Food was almost always excellent. And we primarily ate in the MDRs, even for breakfast and once for lunch. We enjoyed the Rooftop Grill, but don’t feel the specialty restaurants are needed to have great food and service. Oceanview cafe was very good. Go all the way to the back for more seating, including outdoor. On the All Access Tour we saw the kitchens and all food is from scratch (not pre-prepared frozen) and it is amazing how they set it up 10 entrees at a time so there is little wait for your food, generally. -Gym is a little too small. I heard others complain about this. I worked out in mid afternoon and found it true. Things I liked better on Ascent than Apex: -Infinity pools. Personally didn’t use much, but helps spread out the crowd. -Better utilization of the Rooftop Garden. Meditation, pickle ball (you can totally avoid this if you want.) -Back bar and lounge area is expanded and small groups can use or form to socialize and, again, spread out the crowd. There are actually tons of places to see the ocean, sail away, and sun set. You do NOT need to be in the Retreat to enjoy this. I just keep looking if you haven’t found it yet. -Not a big ship, but so many places to go and see. - The crew is awesome. I am not someone who pays attention to the CD and team, but Luigi, Kate (hope I remembered well,) and Daniel were professional, entertaining, and real pros. I participated in some activities this time, and they made it fun. Port recommendations: (Same as last year on Apex) -San Juan - We just walk around, but check out Old San Juan at least if you haven’t done it. -Tortola - made it to Cane Garden Bay on our own. Preferred it to Long Bay Beach. Beautiful beac, ocean, and scenery. -St. Kitts -Recommend using Blue Water Safaris to go to Pinney’s on Nevis. Warning!!!! Do not take a taxi from MIA to nearby Miami hotel. Yellow cab at the airport set us up with an off-the-clock blue cab that scammed us for $40 for under 5 miles and insisted cash only or extra 30% service charge for credit card payment. He threw in a nice story on how an Uber driver pulled a gun on his fare for good measure. We decided to shut up, pay up, and leave with our lives. I recommend Uber instead. The Uber from MIA hotel to the Port Everglades was $44 before optional tip. All in all, this cruise surpassed our very first back in 2000 (?) on the Century when they still gave you welcome aboard champagne and table side cherries jubilee, and I never thought I’d say that. From what I’ve heard, Gen X is Celebrity’s target market, and if that’s true, then they know what they’re doing. In the future, we may try other lines, but probably smaller ships to access smaller ports internationally, etc, not likely RCL, NCL, HAL, MSC, Carnival. Celebrity is a good fit for us at this stage of life, when we have only one week to cruise a year. If you are looking for a cruise where you can get an inside cabin and eat in the MDR, and still feel like you’re not missing out, then ascent is for you!

Thanks for this live report. It’s getting me excited for our New Years cruise. Would you mind telling me where the plunge pools are? (I cruised Apex last year but don’t remember seeing those on that ship.) Thanks, Koohiichan

That was quite the twist! We’ve put in for an Aqua Class upgrade bid so I appreciated the information you shared. Thanks!

Just booked the 12/31 departure on Ascent. I’ve never cruised for New Year’s. Have you? Will they have a special event? What can we expect? Thanks, Koohiichan