Regent and (ex-)Oceania cruiser sails Celebrity Ascent (long-ish)

[Texed]

On 4/27/2024 at 12:16 PM, marne-c said:

I was dubious, since I had read here on Cruise Critic plenty of not-so-great things about Celebrity (mostly on penny-pinching).  But I was willing (grudgingly) to give it a college try.

 

 So would we sail Celebrity Ascent again?  Absolutely! 

So I was wrong to hesitate — we had a seriously wonderful time on Celebrity Ascent.  No regrets at all.  

--Marne

 

Marne,

I believe we were on one of the cruises with you.  I am so pleased, but not surprised, that you throughly enjoyed your Ascent cruise.  We were very pleased also.  😊

[marne-c]

1 hour ago, -Lew- said:

@marne-c...  Thank you for relating your experience sailing on Ascent.  Like you, we're Regent cruisers who will be catching a ride home on the Ascent TA this fall after 27 days on Splendor out of Southampton around the UK then down the coast to Barcelona.

 

See you onboard Ascent...

@-Lew-  Excellent!  We will indeed see you on board this fall.

 

Are you wine drinkers?????

 

--Marne

[marne-c]

1 hour ago, Texed said:

 

Marne,

I believe we were on one of the cruises with you.  I am so pleased, but not surprised, that you throughly enjoyed your Ascent cruise.  We were very pleased also.  😊

@Texed  We indeed were together on Ascent's just-completed eastbound transatlantic.  AND, as you say, I believe we have sailed together in the past.

 

Perhaps the future too!

 

--Marne

[-Lew-]

1 hour ago, marne-c said:

@-Lew-  Excellent!  We will indeed see you on board this fall.

 

Are you wine drinkers?????

 

--Marne

 

Yes, we are... 🍷🍷

[marne-c]

@-Lew- EXCELLENT!!!  Debbie and I owned a Pinot Noir vineyard in the Sonoma Coast / Russian River appellations in Sonoma County for 19 years.  We were just growers, selling our grapes to a couple of artisan wineries.

 

--Marne

Edited April 30 by marne-c

[-Lew-]

17 minutes ago, marne-c said:

@-Lew- EXCELLENT!!!  Debbie and I owned a Pinot Noir vineyard in the Sonoma Coast / Russian River appellations in Sonoma County for 19 years.  We were just growers, selling our grapes to a couple of artisan wineries.

 

--Marne

 

Very interesting...

 

We visited Napa Valley a number of years ago, but didn't get over to Russian River, and more recently Paso Robles in 2019.  I'll have to look for some Russian River Pinot Noir to try.

 

We always book winery tours and tastings when we travel in Europe.  We're looking forward to an overnight in Bordeaux in October.  We have a full schedule threre with the highlight being dinner at Château du Tertre.

[Stockjock]

I'm taking the GF on Oceania Sirena for a milestone birthday.  I'm really concerned that it might be too boring for us, and especially for her.  Frequent Oceania cruisers mentioned entertainment which included shuffleboard, lectures, hanging out in the library and "curling up with a Kindle."  In other words, the sort of things I want to avoid on a cruise.

I also hear that their food is going downhill.  I'll probably try it anyway, but it's not a cheap birthday gift (I'm covering the cruise, hotel and cross-country air), but I have been second-guessing my decision to try them.

Edited April 30 by Stockjock

[-Lew-]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

I'm taking the GF on Oceania Sirena for a milestone birthday.  I'm really concerned that it might be too boring for us, and especially for her.  Frequent Oceania cruisers mentioned entertainment which included shuffleboard, lectures, hanging out in the library and "curling up with a Kindle."  In other words, the sort of things I want to avoid on a cruise.

I also hear that their food is going downhill.

 

We haven't cruised on Oceania, but from what I have read and heard first-hand your suspicions are well founded.  Fellow cruisers on Regent who have also cruised on Oceania feel Regent's food is better.

 

We enjoy the entertainment on Regent, but it's closer to what you describe on Oceania than what might be available on lines such at Celebrity.  There are lounges with entertainment as well as a main stage with well done shows.

 

Our second cruise experience on Celebrity was 55 days on the Edge in the Med and a TA.  We enjoyed an excellent time in the Retreat.  The food was mostly excellent and the entertainment was top notch.  As mentioned above, we're on the Ascent for a TA in October.  If you haven't reached final payment for your Oceania cruise, I strongly suggest you give one of Celebrity's Edge class ships a close look.  There are some good videos on YouTube you might want to check out. 

[Stockjock]

21 hours ago, -Lew- said:

 

We haven't cruised on Oceania, but from what I have read and heard first-hand your suspicions are well founded.  Fellow cruisers on Regent who have also cruised on Oceania feel Regent's food is better.

 

We enjoy the entertainment on Regent, but it's closer to what you describe on Oceania than what might be available on lines such at Celebrity.  There are lounges with entertainment as well as a main stage with well done shows.

 

Our second cruise experience on Celebrity was 55 days on the Edge in the Med and a TA.  We enjoyed an excellent time in the Retreat.  The food was mostly excellent and the entertainment was top notch.  As mentioned above, we're on the Ascent for a TA in October.  If you haven't reached final payment for your Oceania cruise, I strongly suggest you give one of Celebrity's Edge class ships a close look.  There are some good videos on YouTube you might want to check out. 

We will be doing Ascent this summer out of “Rome”, so we are both looking forward to that one. She had a limited amount of time available later in the year due to her work schedule, so I saw a seven day Caribbean that fit our needs on Oceania, and booked it.

[Lastdance]

On 4/29/2024 at 8:53 AM, REDSTRIPETYPE said:

Thanks for your detailed review and humor. We just got off our first Oceania and we are back to Celebrity for good.

Could you elaborate and name the ship/itinerary?  We are booked on vista’s TA next May, but chose it for price and itinerary, as we want to stay in Portugal.

[Lastdance]

On 4/30/2024 at 9:03 AM, Stockjock said:

I'm taking the GF on Oceania Sirena for a milestone birthday.  I'm really concerned that it might be too boring for us, and especially for her.  Frequent Oceania cruisers mentioned entertainment which included shuffleboard, lectures, hanging out in the library and "curling up with a Kindle."  In other words, the sort of things I want to avoid on a cruise.

I also hear that their food is going downhill.  I'll probably try it anyway, but it's not a cheap birthday gift (I'm covering the cruise, hotel and cross-country air), but I have been second-guessing my decision to try them.

I have also had the same thoughts with Vista, but have been told that the noise issues are being dealt with, so that is at least a positive if true.  I know it will be a little boring, but that’s fine as we stay busy with the gym, relaxation, reading and walking the entire ship.  

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I've sailed with both Captain Tasos and Alejandro but not both at the same time.  They're both funny and would be a great match at Liar's Club.

[marne-c]

On 4/30/2024 at 5:34 PM, -Lew- said:

 

Very interesting...

 

We visited Napa Valley a number of years ago, but didn't get over to Russian River, and more recently Paso Robles in 2019.  I'll have to look for some Russian River Pinot Noir to try.

 

We always book winery tours and tastings when we travel in Europe.  We're looking forward to an overnight in Bordeaux in October.  We have a full schedule threre with the highlight being dinner at Château du Tertre.

 

 

@-Lew- Sounds like a great plan for Bordeaux!

 

Besides Sonoma County, Paso Robles has some terrific wines.  A great area!

 

--Marne 

[Texed]

14 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

I've sailed with both Captain Tasos and Alejandro but not both at the same time.  They're both funny and would be a great match at Liar's Club.

 

Yes they were.  😁

[samar]

On 4/27/2024 at 1:16 PM, marne-c said:

 

My wife and I now happily sail with Regent, after Oceania twice in a row sinned unpardonably.  (See my signature line below for our cruise history.)  But our dearest friends wanted to do an eastbound transatlantic with us, and a Celebrity Ascent itinerary best matched our desired timing and price point.  I was dubious, since I had read here on Cruise Critic plenty of not-so-great things about Celebrity (mostly on penny-pinching).  But I was willing (grudgingly) to give it a college try.

 

Whoa!  Start to finish, the cruise was excellent in every way.  A major mental reset for me.

 

Let’s start with the food, the key reason we originally left Celebrity and began a long set of Oceania cruises.  The food on the Ascent was outstanding, certainly the best we have had on any cruise ever.  Food preparation was spot-on throughout, even for difficult-en-masse entrees like lobster and duck.  Amazingly, this held true for MDRs as well as specialty restaurants.  We were AquaClass, and so could eat regularly at Blu.  Again, comments on CC about Blu being boring were thoroughly wrong.  We had plenty of variety, without annoying (or even noticeable) repetition.  Even the buffet had terrific food, in astounding variety, sensibly and spaciously presented.  So food, ten stars.

 

The Ascent is near brand-new, having debuted right at the end of 2023.  As expected, everything sparkles.  The design with very well thought-out, providing plenty of venues and charming nooks-and-crannies for pax to hang out.  We had nine sea days (seven of them consecutive), and the ship never felt crowded.  My wife and I have and will continue to sail venerable vessels like the RSSC Navigator, so shiny-new is not a requirement for us.  But it was marvelous.

 

And there was another surprise for me.  I’ve seen threads here on CC praising one or another captain or cruise director.  But in 20+ years of cruising, my wife and I never had had a captain or cruise director than made any kind of impact on our on-board experience.  Until the Ascent.  Captain Tasos is the consummate leader — intelligent beyond measure, with a heartfelt love of people, accessible to everyone and thoroughly focused on mentoring the entire staff to radiate these same qualities.  And the guy is funny as hell.  On the PA and in multiple SRO theater presentations, Captain Tasos and his (much shorter) sidekick and straight man Cruise Director Alejandro had pax rolling in the aisles and (deservedly) singing his praises.  It would never have occurred to me before to choose a future cruise based on the ship captain.  But now Captain Tasos would add serious weight to my cruise considerations.

 

And likely stemming from the leadership and mentorship of Captain Tasos and his hand-picked executive team, the Ascent crew has been superlative.  (With one exception noted below,) they entirely have been personable, competent, on-the-spot and endlessly willing to make our cruise special.  Highest marks. 

 

What else?  The entertainment was plentiful, focused and competent.  Granted, not much to my taste, but my taste is waaaay out there, and no cruise yet has really hit the entertainment mark for me.  WiFi:  This was the first time we’ve shipboard service by Starlink, and we had the best throughput and consistency we’ve ever had on a cruise.  Embarkation was the smoothest and fasted we’ve ever had, an astounding experience given the 3200+ pax on this sold-out itinerary.  Disembarkation was a snap too.

 

Was there anything negative?  Yes.  We had a less-than-satisfactory experience with Future Cruises.  (The manager later apologized abjectly.)  I didn’t like the cover on our bathroom trash can.  And the switch on the Infinite Veranda window and the TV remote both occasionally had Y-chromosome lockout enabled; they’d only work for my wife.  But this happens at home too with the FireStick remote in our bedroom…

 

So would we sail Celebrity Ascent again?  Absolutely!  We’ve already booked the westbound transatlantic this fall.  Would we sail with Celebrity again on a non-EdgePlus class ship?  We’d certainly consider it.  

 

So I was wrong to hesitate — we had a seriously wonderful time on Celebrity Ascent.  No regrets at all.  

 

--Marne

Marne - so happy to read this as we gave so much thought to this Ascent cruise as we  haven't sailed celebrity in at least a dozen years and have also booked Aqua class. Thanks for the post 

[samar]

47 minutes ago, samar said:

Marne - so happy to read this as we gave so much thought to this Ascent cruise as we  haven't sailed celebrity in at least a dozen years and have also booked Aqua class. Thanks for the post 

and that's my drink