11 Nights Greece, Italy & Turkey Cruise

Absolutely AMAZING ship and cruise experience!!

This was our first Celebrity cruise and after this experience, I doubt we will book any other cruise line in the future! We booked an Aqua Sky Suite in the Retreat and loved our suite and our butler Edwin who was absolutely amazing. For anyone saying that only the higher level suites get elevated butler service, this was NOT our experience at all! Edwin and our stateroom attendant Christina both greeted us as soon as we stopped by our stateroom to drop our carry on bags upon embarkation. And Edwin was present every single day for us whether refreshing ice for my bottles of wine in the cabin or bringing coffee and pastries in the morning every single day and a charcuterie board late in the afternoon. On our St. Thomas day, the lines were very long to get off the ship. We did not book a Celebrity excursion as we prefer to find a beach and do our own thing. I texted Edwin and asked if Retreat guests got priority for leaving the ship and he came right down and escorted us directly off. As he made his way through/past the lines he recognized his other guests, called them out by name and had them follow us as well. He was truly exceptional! We ate in Luminae daily, breakfast every day was fantastic, as was lunch on embarkation day. We had dinner there every night except for the two nights we ate at Specilaty restaurants, Eden and The Steakhouse. Both were absolutely incredible! It's funny to me how quite a few people have complained about Luminae. We could not understand that at all. We had amazing meals there every evening and our waiter Charles took great care of us as did the attendant Taina (who might be the cutest and most pleasant staff we met on the entire cruise!!). I laugh at everyone complaining about the pig foot carpaccio. It was one appetizer on one night and certainly not representative of the weeklong menu as a whole. I looked at the menus each evening and booked specialty on nights that the menu didn't particularly appeal to hubby or me. I don't eat beef or pork and he's not much of a fish or seafood guy so evenings that there wasn't much for either of us that looked great (only 2) we ate at a specialty restaurant. Charles also told us that if we wanted anything off the menu from a MDR we could order that a day in advance, and they had several appetizer and entree offerings from the MDRs daily. The Retreat sundeck was incredible! Those deck chairs and pillows were the most comfortable I've ever had on a cruise ship! We never hit the main pool at all and really never had to play the "pool chair game" and get up early to get anything unless we wanted chairs with some shade which we did get up and get around 8am. St. Thomas was fine but we didn't choose a great beach. We ended up going to Secret Harbor to avoid the Magens Bay crowds and there were no chairs or umbrellas left so we sat on our towels on the beach. The restaurant there was very good though. St. Maarten was absolutely stunning! We've never been before although I thought we had. We took a cab to Orient Bay beach and it was incredible! Beautiful beach, great chairs/umbrellas for rent and had great bar and food service from the chairs. The water and beach was gorgeous and we would return there in a heartbeat! We did not hit the casino but I kind of wish we had as friends that we met in the Retreat won big on slots as well as a free cruise so I definitely want to do that on our next cruise. We ate lunch almost daily on the Retreat sundeck. Service was fantastic and while the menu was limited it was enough for us. I kind of regret not trying the Oceanview cafe because when we walked through on embarkation day for lunch it looked amazing. Including an enormous beef carving station! I think if you can't find something great to eat there then you're not trying. We had drinks in the martini bar (fab) and also Craft social (great staff and shoutout to Panda) and World Class bar where my husband had a perfect Manhattan with luxardo cherries and Buffalo Trace. We were very pleased with the premium liquor and wine offerings. We saw a couple of shows, the comedian was OK but I did hear that when she did the late night show in the club that wasn't rated for families she was hilarious. The magician was probably good on the last day but we sat so high up I couldn't really see the tricks so sit close to the stage for that one. The show that blew us away was AWAKEN! Absolutely incredible!! reading other reviews on Bridges and Residency I hate that we missed those. We also saw a show in Eden that was great. Get there at least 30 minutes early for seats. We didn't have the best view. We used the spa on the Puerto PLata day and didn't get off the ship. Spa services were great. We had Aqua class and stupidly enough didn't take advantage of any of those services! We never ate in Blu and never used the gym (our workout clothes basically took a vacation with us LOL) or the thermal suite although that suite looked pretty amazing. We really were happy to just chill on the Retreat sundeck with a book and relax. Hubby and I laughed on our last day that we sort of lived in a little Retreat bubble this past week! We loved it but probably should have taken advantage of more of the ship's offerings. We both really needed a relaxing vacation and that's what we got. Well done to all of the amazing staff on Ascent! We can't wait to cruise Celebrity again and every single person we spoke with in the Retreat all agreed that those services were well worth the extra cost. We won't sail any other way!

Awesome Ship, Trip, and Staff

What an AMAZING Cruise! I have a severe Dairy Allergy and all employees took it VERY seriously. I had NO problem on both of my Celebrity Cruises. They let me pick out meals for the next dinner a day early so they could prepare them in a way that I could eat them. Celebrity also has Vegan and Gluten free menus at the Main dining at every meal? The Infinite Veranda was wonderful. My room felt SO much bigger. We could open the doors, and open the window, and it was almost as good as sitting outside. I would definitely request the infinite veranda again. The employees were all so friendly, and willing to talk to us. I feel like we made friends with passengers and employees on this cruise. Blu restaurant was great, Jayston, Jebel and Charlene, amd Ghulhan. Our room attendant Jayson was superb! Entertainment was fantastic! Highly recommend

No complaints, just raves!

We had a great week on the Ascent! Great weather, plenty of pool time. We purchased a thermal spa pass and used it every day on the thermal loungers, sauna, crystal room, and steam room. We ate in two specialty restaurants: Le Grand Bistro (lunch) and the Rooftop Garden Grill (dinner) and both were very filling and tasty. Ate lunch in Luminae or on the retreat pool deck. Ate all other dinners in Luminae and didn't have any bad experience (although the lobster is getting smaller). Saw two of the shows, "Residency" and "Bridges" and thoroughly enjoyed both--husband said "Residency" was the best cruise show we have seen. Every crew member was over the top helpful and friendly. We also played some trivia, went to the Martini bar a couple of times, and enjoyed Shine the Night and the ABBA sing along. Luigi is the best cruise director! Tip: get a wash and blowout at the salon--my hair was a frizzy mess by day 6 and Angelo did miracles with it! Our cabin was a sky suite. This gave us the opporunity to wait to board in the retreat lounge at terminal 25. There was a glitch, though, as they couldn't account for one disembarking guest and we did not get in until 1030. By then there were many folks waiting so when everyone got to the lounge at once it was kind of a mess. They did the best they could. Also first time I noticed higher level suites getting priority. Many got in line and were told to "be patient" while the guests who were getting escorts went on ahead. As for the cabin itself, gorgeous and kept spotlessly clean by our room attendant. Our butler, Raquel, seemed to always be on the spot for anything we needed. She kept the fridge stocked with bottles of unsweet tea (what I drink instead of soda). Great service!