LIVE: Salt Lifer hitting the high seas! Ascent, April 7-14, 2024

[Salt Lifer]

Update to my previous post: my husband reminded me that we have sailed with Captain Tasos' brother, too.  They are both very funny... easy to get them confused!  

[Salt Lifer]

Dinner tonight was s-l-o-w. More on that in a bit. Here is the menu for tonight, in Tuscan:

 

 

I had my favorite Tuscan shrimp soup, along with the baked Brie from Normandie, and the duck for dessert.

 

The soup was as good as always.  I may very likely order it most nights.

 

I had the baked Brie last year on Beyond and it really stood out.  I was not as impressed with it tonight.  I think the difference was last year it had a blue berry sauce, and this year it just had more like a couple small baked apple slices on it.  The pairing of the brie with the berry sauce was really a better balance.  

 

The duck dish was excellent. The duck was cooked well, the orange sauce was plentiful but not overbearing, and the accompaniments of the rice and greens were a good fit and cooked well.

 

By the time I was done with the duck I was stuffed and dessert was really not sounding good to me.  On top of that, because dinner service was so slow we were in danger of being late for the 10:30 Elton John show, so for both reasons we passed on dessert.  Our server was very apologetic - she had another table with a large group, and they were very difficult and drunk, which caused her to be distracted all evening.  We assured her that it was not a big deal and we were just too full to eat more at this point and were looking forward to heading to the show.  I had mentioned before how I love cannoli, so she insisted that she send some up to our room for later.  So when we got back to the room tonight I found a tray with four cannoli set up in our "sunroom" (i.e. Infinite Veranda)!  Since I am still stuffed I am saving one of mine for breakfast.  Anyway, that was a nice touch and makes up for the slow service.

[Salt Lifer]

6 hours ago, 39august said:

Please let us know how the Elton John goes. Last cruise on Equinox we had one and he was NOT good. I left. Don't remember his name. Hope it's not the same guy for you. 

 

I thought the show tonight was a lot of fun and thought Tom McCormick put on a good show.  I would attend this show again.

 

My only complaint has nothing to do with Tom... it is that this show was held in The Club.  I hate this venue.  There is never enough seating, and the seating that is there is not comfortable and you can only see the stage from a fraction of the seats.  For example, here was the view from my seat tonight:

 

With every new E-Class ships I keep hoping that Celebrity will do away with this venue, or at least fix it, but they seem to be stubborn. I noticed on this ship that they have monitors all over which I thought might solve the problem, but the show started and nothing was on the monitors except the show logo.  Except.... 45 minutes into the show someone decided to flip a switch and suddenly the monitors showed the show! 

 

Actually seeing the performer makes it better, but I still hate that venue.

[jam19872016]

8 hours ago, Salt Lifer said:

Good time sing along!

Excellent news!!

[jam19872016]

3 hours ago, Salt Lifer said:

Dinner tonight was s-l-o-w. More on that in a bit. Here is the menu for tonight, in Tuscan:

 

 

I had my favorite Tuscan shrimp soup, along with the baked Brie from Normandie, and the duck for dessert.

 

The soup was as good as always.  I may very likely order it most nights.

 

I had the baked Brie last year on Beyond and it really stood out.  I was not as impressed with it tonight.  I think the difference was last year it had a blue berry sauce, and this year it just had more like a couple small baked apple slices on it.  The pairing of the brie with the berry sauce was really a better balance.  

 

The duck dish was excellent. The duck was cooked well, the orange sauce was plentiful but not overbearing, and the accompaniments of the rice and greens were a good fit and cooked well.

 

By the time I was done with the duck I was stuffed and dessert was really not sounding good to me.  On top of that, because dinner service was so slow we were in danger of being late for the 10:30 Elton John show, so for both reasons we passed on dessert.  Our server was very apologetic - she had another table with a large group, and they were very difficult and drunk, which caused her to be distracted all evening.  We assured her that it was not a big deal and we were just too full to eat more at this point and were looking forward to heading to the show.  I had mentioned before how I love cannoli, so she insisted that she send some up to our room for later.  So when we got back to the room tonight I found a tray with four cannoli set up in our "sunroom" (i.e. Infinite Veranda)!  Since I am still stuffed I am saving one of mine for breakfast.  Anyway, that was a nice touch and makes up for the slow service.

The duck is another Celebrity favorite. I tried duck so many times on various cruise lines, including "

Cunard, and found it to range from didn't care for to just OK. 

 

I'd pretty much just concluded I didn't like duck but tried it again anyway and was blown away by how good this dish was! 

[Tierun]

14 hours ago, Salt Lifer said:

So far it has been a fun and relaxing afternoon onboard.  

 

First, we went for a mile and a half walk around the track... wanted to burn off some calories to make room for more goodies!

 

Then we watched the eclipse.  Very impressive, but not as impressive as it was back home where they had totality!  I video chatted with my kids during the period of totality there,  so I got to experience some of what they did.  

 

After that, my husband went to the buffet in search of some fruit and ice cream and I went to the hot tub to relax and listen to the music at the pool by the house band.

 

Upon returning to the stateroom I found snacks!  Concierge class gets a plate of snacks every afternoon and, while they are not anything to write home about, I think it is still a nice touch.  The standout star of this plate was the little bite of chocolate cake.  It was surprisingly flavorful.  It made me feel sad that I was missing my daily chocolate tart (yes, I am bitter) so I decided to head up to the buffet to check out the tea-time offerings in the hope that maybe they had more of the chocolate cake there.  No such luck, but I did find chocolate mousse so I considered it a successful journey.

 

After a brief rest, I am now heading up to the gym to see if I can take some off the afternoon snack calories off before they have a chance to take up residency in my fat cells. 😉

 

Tonight is chic night with a production show in the Theatre, an Elton John tribute by pianist Tom McCormick in The Club, and the silent disco (always fun for people watching) in the Atrium - should be a fun evening... assuming I can still fit into my dress after all my eating!

 

(There is also a show in Eden, but I am going to pass because I would much rather go to the Elton John show.)

 

 

 

 

Instead of the random daily canapés, ask you cabin attendant for fruit and cheese plate, or dare I say a plate of cookies.... maybe even those chocolate tarts you apparently really enjoy 😉 

[vickykay]

Cruised with Captain Tasos before as well.  So personable and funny. We are on the Ascent this coming Sept and hoping he will be on the ship.  Enjoying your review.

[Salt Lifer]

Good morning. Today is San Juan, but we don't arrive into Port until late afternoon so it is really more like another sea day for me.

 

Here is yesterday's step count. 

[hcat]

1 hour ago, vickykay said:

Cruised with Captain Tasos before as well.  So personable and funny. We are on the Ascent this coming Sept and hoping he will be on the ship.  Enjoying your review.

We had Capt Dimitrios..the older brother.. Have sailed with him before. He is great!

 

Very personable, entertaining and great knowledge of cruise ships  etc  He seems to enjoy the limelight!

[Salt Lifer]

Good news! The captain said we will arrive I to San Juan and hour early!

 

I enjoyed a sensible breakfast in the Oceanview this morning.  I am not sure who Celebrity sources their pineapple from, but it is always very good!

 

Then my husband and I joined in the ship's version of corn hole.  He won!

 

Afterwards I made a quick stop at Al Bacio to look for chocolate tarts.  None to be found. 😞 But they still had breakfast items out so I am not giving up hope. I'll check it out again later 

 

Now I am off to a "fun" dance class to burn some calories in the hopes that the tarts appear later.

[Cap_D]

11 hours ago, Salt Lifer said:

 

I thought the show tonight was a lot of fun and thought Tom McCormick put on a good show.  I would attend this show again.

 

My only complaint has nothing to do with Tom... it is that this show was held in The Club.  I hate this venue.  There is never enough seating, and the seating that is there is not comfortable and you can only see the stage from a fraction of the seats.  For example, here was the view from my seat tonight:

 

With every new E-Class ships I keep hoping that Celebrity will do away with this venue, or at least fix it, but they seem to be stubborn. I noticed on this ship that they have monitors all over which I thought might solve the problem, but the show started and nothing was on the monitors except the show logo.  Except.... 45 minutes into the show someone decided to flip a switch and suddenly the monitors showed the show! 

 

Actually seeing the performer makes it better, but I still hate that venue.

Agree with issues about the venue.  It has the right idea, but the configuration and seating doesn't work well.  The entrance way also becomes a bottleneck.  The inconsistent use of the monitors is frustrating considering the tech and automation that is available.  

[Salt Lifer]

The Fit and Fun Dance class was tough!  It about did me in.  Unfortunately it was not where the app said it would be, so a bunch of us missed the first 5-10 minutes.  But honestly, I am not sure I would have survived another 5-10 minutes, so all is well.  At least I burned enough calories to enjoy a treat. 😉

 

 

Leaving the class, when I was looking my absolute worst due to being near death from the class (lol), who should I bump into but the Captain!  I decided to take advantage of a photo anyway. 😉

 

 

Now I am enjoying lunch in the Eden Cafe.  I got nearly the same thing as yesterday, except I swapped out the chips for a cookie.  I like this little venue... much quieter and less crowded than the buffet!  Maybe I shouldn't brag too much on it or more people will find it!

 

I had planned to hit the pool and swim some laps after lunch and before we arrive in Puerto Rico, but it is starting to sprinkle so on to plan B (the gym) or plan C (a rest).  But first, I'll stroll by Al Bacio to see if they have corrected their error from yesterday with the lack of chocolate tarts. Stay tuned....

[Salt Lifer]

Well, Bacio has let me down again.  They did have lemon tarts so I got one.  They also had something called a pear and grapefruit tart so I got one of those to try... the lemon tart was okay, but the pear/grapefruit one was completely tasteless. I took one bite of it and tossed the rest.

 

Al Bacio is really disappointing me this cruise so far.

 

We are now docked in San Juan... off to do some exploring!

 

If you look closely, you can see the pilot captain getting into our ship.  I love watching the transition from pilot boat to cruise ship!

 

 

 

[hcat]

Looks like a crowded line up......we never had more than 2 ships there and the X Capts always made sure they arrived first...

 

On Ascent, in January,  we stayed on board, thinking we'd have more space to enjoy on the ship.  Many had the same idea and it was crowded anyhow..

 

 After more than  a few visits to SJ.. there's not  much new to see..esp in the afternoon (unless the drug store is needed).  No time to explore any distant places.   Plus the long pier walk  

 

We were glad we did stay on the ship b/ c it rained like heck....folks who did get off were soaked!

 

Hope you have better luck!

[Salt Lifer]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

Looks like a crowded line up......we never had more than 2 ships there and the X Capts always made sure they arrived first...

 

On Ascent, in January,  we stayed on board, thinking we'd have more space to enjoy on the ship.  Many had the same idea and it was crowded anyhow..

 

 After more than  a few visits to SJ.. there's not  much new to see..esp in the afternoon (unless the drug store is needed).  No time to explore any distant places.   Plus the long pier walk  

 

We were glad we did stay on the ship b/ c it rained like heck....folks who did get off were soaked!

 

Hope you have better luck!

We did have better luck. It rained in the afternoon before we got there, but once we docked the clouds parted and it was a really pleasant afternoon, weather-wise. 

 

Because the Captain got us there an hour early we had time to walk to Castillo San Felipe del Morro (aka The Fort), and took the Paseo del Morro walk outside the wall.  I've been to del Morro lots of times but this was a first to take the walk outside the wall.  It had great views and dozens of gatos (cats)!  I love cats, so pretty much stopped to visit with all that were friendly. 😉

 

After leaving del Morro we walked through town and poked around in some shops before heading back to the ship.

 

I walked about 10k steps in San Juan, so I think that calls for guilt-free dessert tonight!

 

Here's a nice shot of our girl in port with her lifeboats down/out (what is the proper terminology)?

 

Today's canapes, waiting in our room for us:

[hcat]

Glad you had a  very good day!  

[Salt Lifer]

Yesterday's step count - not bad at all, especially since a lot of those steps were going up steps or inclines in Old San Juan and del Morro!

 

Today we dock at Tortola.  This is an island I have never been to, so I am looking forward to experiencing it.  We signed up for the "Explore Virgin Gorda Baths" excursion.

 

I'll try to get caught up on the rest of last night's activities soon.

[Salt Lifer]

Last's night's Theatre show was "Rebel", a classic rock experience.  These guys put on an amazing show.  This is one I would definitely go see again on land.  They performed again at the "Shine the Night"  (aka "sparkle") party on the pool deck at night, which was enough of a bribe to get me to attend!

 

 

Dinner service tonight was much, much better with the large group of drinks monopolizing the servers time.  They were someone else's problem tonight. 🙂

 

I had my usual soup, the octopus dish (from Cyprus), salmon for my main course, and the specialty dessert from Cyprus that I can't pronounce, but it tasted delicious and was the star of the dinner!  The salmon was just average tonight but everything else was very tasty!

 

 

 

 

One cool thing I noticed as we were leaving port is that the Virgin ship had a message for Puerto Rico on the side of their ship!  What a neat use of LED lighting!  

[Salt Lifer]

I went light for today's breakfast: yogurt with museli topped with pineapple, oranges, bananas, and figs.  

[Salt Lifer]

More to come about our excursion to the Virgin Gorda Baths, but wanted to give a quick update on a very important topic... Chocolate tarts are back at Al Bacio today!  I stocked up on several extra and stashed them in my fridge to help with my 'fix' in case we don't see them again after this.

 

 

[39august]

Is the grilled octopus one of the Cyprus specials that is available nightly? I love grilled octopus!

[Salt Lifer]

31 minutes ago, 39august said:

Is the grilled octopus one of the Cyprus specials that is available nightly? I love grilled octopus!

Yes it is.  It was very good.  Paired nicely with the bean and tomato "side" that it was plated with.

[Salt Lifer]

Today's excursion to the Virgin Gorda Baths was a lot of fun.  The scenery was beautiful.  However, if anyone is considering doing this excursion be warned that it is not an easy hike to the caves or through them.  I would not advice anyone who was older or non-flexible to do this one as there were spots in the caves that I questioned if I would get through or even fit through!  And the walk down to the caves can be a little treacherous and having a good sense of balance helps.

 

Today was a "red flag" day, so no swimming or snorkeling due to the rough waves and undercurrent, but that was okay because the real star of this show is the caves.  I took so many beautiful pictures but I will try to limit them to just a few here.  

 

My complaint about this tour was that, while our two guides were wonderful, we needed more of them (or less of us).  There were times a long the paths that no one knew which way to go and there was no one around to guide us. 

 

One of our guides came across a Puerto Rican Racer snake along the trail and grabbed it to show us and, presumably, to keep it from attacking any of us.  He said they are venomous but would only cause swelling but not death (I guess that is comforting?).  He said that all these islands (Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Tortola, etc.) are all one land mass and at one time before the sea levels rose they were all one island and, so, you'll find this snake all over the islands.  Interesting!

 

This island (Virgin Gorda) has free-range chickens everywhere!

 

And while we didn't explore Tortola, the area around the dock is very picturesque.

[Salt Lifer]

Things might be getting interesting.

 

5:30 is all aboard.

5:35 - a couple comes strolling down the pier.  From my 11th floor vantage point I could hear them fighting. He commented on them being late and she said something about it "only being 5 minutes." He strolled  ahead and left her way behind.  He was not happy.

5:55 - the gangplank still has not been lifted and the ship is still tied up.  Looks like we may still be waiting for someone.  We are watching for pier runners!

 

Stay tuned!

 

Edit:

We were supposed to leave at 6:00.  We are the only ship in port.

6:06 - they pulled the gang plank in and the captain announced we would be getting ready to leave.

6:10 - They are taking up the ropes now. 

 

Not sure if we are leaving anyone behind or not, but this captain is usually very punctual so the fact that we are leaving late and they kept the gang plank down makes me think they were waiting for someone.  

Edited April 10 by Salt Lifer

[Lena11033]

12 minutes ago, Salt Lifer said:

Things might be getting interesting.

 

5:30 is all aboard.

5:35 - a couple comes strolling down the pier.  From my 11th floor vantage point I could hear them fighting. He commented on them being late and she said something about it "only being 5 minutes." He strolled  ahead and left her way behind.  He was not happy.

5:55 - the gangplank still has not been lifted and the ship is still tied up.  Looks like we may still be waiting for someone.  We are watching for pier runners!

 

Stay tuned!

 

As a person who hates being late, 5 mins seems nothing until you are left behind 🤣