Sunday, December 17, 2023
Last night we went to the Tuscan restaurant. For an appetizer Dave had a shrimp cocktail.
I had French Onion Soup (which was better than it looks 😁).
You can see our butter choices in the photo above. Each night they change up the butters. Last night the one at the top that’s mostly gone had some lemon flavor, the middle one was just butter and the bottom one had Roquefort flavor.
Dave and I had the same entree, Pappardelle alle Veneziana, a pasta dish with roasted chicken, black olives, creamy Asiago cheese sauce and slow roasted Mariano tomatoes. Dave had it earlier in the cruise and really liked it, so we decided to have it as our final dinner onboard.
Since it was our last night, we had some dessert. Dave had chocolate cake and I had vanilla ice cream. Forgot to take pictures!
We didn’t go to the show because we were planning to get up early.
And we did get up early, before 6:00AM, as the ship was suppose to dock at 7:00AM and we were “walk-offs” meaning we would get off and take care of our own luggage. Unfortunately the ship did not dock until after 7:00AM. We went to the deck when we were suppose to get off and joined a long line of other people planning to walk off. They did not let us off until about 8:15AM, and didn’t get to our car until 8:30AM which means we could not get to church for the 11:00AM service as it’s a 3 hour drive. Fortunately we were able to watch the church service on my ipad. We really wanted to see the service as the choir was singing a cantata and there was a lot of music, an orchestra, a bell choir and the children’s choir! We would rather have seen it in person, but was glad we could watch on my ipad!
The rest of the drive home was uneventful and I’m busy doing laundry!
Saturday, December 16, 2023
Last night we went to the Eden Specialty Restaurant for dinner. First we were served an Amuse Bouche which was pressed honeydew in rose water and blue curaçao. Then Dave had the crab cake appetizer again. I had sheep’s milk gnocchi and ordered an extra appetizer because I thought Dave would share, but he only wanted his crab cake. The extra appetizer was Aegean Fish Ceviche. All the appetizers were good. We both ordered the lobster casserole for entrees, and we were both disappointed! We expected some kind of sauce, some veggies, maybe something crunchy like a crust. We had plenty of lobster, probably in a small amount of butter sauce, a couple of tiny cubed pieces of bacon and maybe two tiny potatoes. Just not what we were expecting.
We went to the show in the theater after dinner. The entertainment was a pianist, Roy Tan. His show was billed as “Soundtracks” and was suppose to be soundtracks from movies. Unfortunately, we just didn’t recognize most of the movies. He obviously was very talented, and if we knew more of the music, we would have enjoyed his show. What I did enjoy was the huge screen in back of the stage showed fantastic scenes that went along with his music while he played. The scenes and scenery were really cool.
Today is our last full day onboard. It is a sea day. We kinda blew it because we were signed up for a wine tasting, but then forgot! We went to the buffet for breakfast, but had our usual breakfast of scrambled eggs – unfortunately they were cold. Just yesterday, we discovered our favorite hangout, Eden, also serves breakfast and lunch! So we had sandwiches for lunch in Eden. Then we spent most of the afternoon in the stateroom. Dave packed and I did some of my reading for my Disciple 2 class.
We have enjoyed the ship and our stateroom. We are not happy with our room stewardess as she comes very late. We requested she bring ice, which rarely happens. We ran out of tissues, and had to request more. We ran out of shampoo and shower soap and had to bring it to her attention. But what has bothered me most is we have lots of noises in our stateroom. We reported it once and waited all afternoon for someone to come – but no one came. We reported it again and finally walked into our room one day to find four men working on our “infinite balcony” but the noises were not fixed. One of the noises is a drip, or popping sound which makes it difficult to sleep. Fortunately for me I have Bose earplugs, but I don’t like to use them unless I have to because they make my ears sore. Regardless, I have been using them. I don’t know how Dave is dealing with the noise, but I know it bothers him. I told our room stewardess today that the noises need to be fixed because the next people will be bothered, too. She acknowledged hearing the noise.
After packing, we went to Eden for some evening tunes and our happy hour drinks. This is our offering for free drinks from 5:00 until 7:00PM everyday:
Eden does not have regular Absolute vodka, so after I got tired of their Chardonnay, they substituted flavored absolute vodkas or Tito’s. Here are some more pictures of Eden:
I think Dave wants to go back to the Tuscan Restaurant tonight. We will not be going to the show in the theater tonight as we need to get up at 5:30AM tomorrow morning. We want to get off the ship as early as possible because we are hoping to make it to church for the 11:00 service, which is when the choir will be performing a Christmas cantata. Ray and Celeste are in the choir so we hope to hear them. It is a 3 hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale to Englewood, and we need to be on the road by 8:00AM.
Friday, December 15, 2023
We had dinner last night again in Cypress. For an appetizer I had the Greek Mezze Board which was actually a plate with Tzatziki, hummus, dolmas, taramasalata, olives, feta and little pita’s. Dave had his favorite, shrimp cocktail. My entree was a slow braised lamb shank and Dave had Rigatoni Boscaiola which was prosciutto, button mushrooms, peas, arugula, Pinot Grigio cream sauce and pecorino cheese. We both loved our dinner! So much so, we were stuffed and again, did not go to the show in the theater. We went back to our stateroom and watched TV!
Today we are in George Town Grand Cayman. We got off the ship about 11:00, avoiding the big rush to get off. The ship is using boats from the island to transport us from the ship to shore. Lots of times they use the lifeboats, but not this time!
This was our 3.4 mile walk today!
We saw some historical markers. The first one referred to Lookout Posts.
This is a reconstructed lookout post.
Another marker told about Fort George which was located here.
Then we noticed this site had been preserved by the Walkers!
We came across a large plaza which commemorated veterans. They had a pretty Christmas tree.
Another Historical marker!
We got caught in some light sprinkles and decided to stop for a drink and a snack.
Both were local beers. Dave had the White Tip Lager and a portion of each sale goes to a marine preservation organization! So Dave had two!
We headed back to where the tender boats would take us back to the ship and could see where we had stopped for our beers.
We have reservations at the specialty restaurant in Eden tonight. We will see if we manage to make it to the show. We have been going to happy hour in Eden before dinner as they have entertainment which we’ve been enjoying.
Tomorrow is our last full day on the ship – so that means time to pack!
Thursday, December 14, 2023
Our walk to town yesterday really tired us out! We are in the Normandy restaurant as planned. For appetizers I had Coquilles Saint-Jacques which was a scallop dish, and escargot. Dave had Baked Brie Cheese. For the entrees I had Marmite Dieposse which was like a Bouillabaise and Dave had Beef Sirloin en Croute which reminded him of beef Wellington. We were both very pleased with our food.
After dinner, we decided we would not go to the show – we were just too tired!
Today is a sea day and we did a lot of nothing today! We did watch others activities. One group was doing origami and later we watched some ten-pin bowling with bean bags. I think they called it corn bowling.
We did a lot of reading and not much else. Only one picture today…taken just outside our favorite hang out place, Eden.
Tomorrow we will be in George Town, Grand Cayman, which is a tender port – meaning we will ride in life boats over to the island.
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
The show in the theater last night was great! Three guys singing Motown music and performing at the same time! Lots of energy! The stage is almost “theater in the Round” and the screen on back where it says Motown, continually changes.
Today we are in Cozumel, with 6 other big cruise ships! We were docked next to the sister ship to ours, Apex.
We have been here before, at least once. Our ship is docked almost 3 miles from the city center. We walked, but kept getting a taxi back as our plan “B”. It was very warm and humid. We walked around and were hounded by vendors. We said “No thank you” a lot! One guy said, “Come in and let me rip you off!” 😂😂😂. We stopped for a drink. Dave had a Sol beer, a Mexican beer that we like. We first had it when we lived in the South Loop, downtown Chicago, in the late 80’s! I had a Margarita – and after I drank some, Dave reminded me that the reason he drank a beer was so he wouldn’t get Montezuma’s revenge. Too late for me, but so far I’m OK.
We decided we would try to walk back, and we made it! Good workout for us today. But our clothes were soaked from the heat and humidity!
We got burgers from the grill onboard when we got back, and then went back to our room to relax and shower until happy hour time!
Because of our loyalty with Celebrity, we have a two hour happy hour with free (selected) drinks at most bars. We really like “Eden” because they have good music, and we recognize the wine they pour for our happy hour (usually St. Francis Chardonnay). To get to Eden, we have to walk through a hallway of mirrors, which is interesting! The first time through it is a bit confusing. Not sure how someone who has been over-served!
We plan to try the Normandie Restaurant tonight, and then go to the theater for the production show, “Awaken”.
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Today was a sea day. Last night we went to the Cypress Restaurant, which focuses on Greek food. Dave had Mediterranean short ribs and I had lamb. After dinner we went to the production shoe, Bridges. While the show was just OK, I really enjoyed the acrobatics and aerial performers.
This morning we went to breakfast and then trivia. We do not join teams, so we thought we did pretty good! We got 13 out of 23 points! After trivia and lunch, we went back to the room for a few minutes and noticed a dripping noise.nI reported it, and we waited all afternoon for maintenance, who never came. I am not happy. We went to happy hour just after 5:00. We went to Eden, which has become our favorite spot, and where we can get free beverages because of our captain club status. Entertainment was a piano player who played some Caribbean tunes but also Elvis and Elton John. I got hungry, so we headed out about 6:30 pm for dinner. We decided to try the Tuscan restaurant. Dave had shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, and a pasta dish. I had bruschetta, shrimp soup and the pasta dish. The food was very good.
After dinner we went back to the room and the head of housekeeping met us to check out the noises we are hearing. Of course it was not as obvious, but we will see if it gets fixed.
Then we went to a game show, “Guess It”. It was kind of like categories. The room eas divided in half into two teams – our side lost again. ☹️
We are in the theater preparing to watch the evening show which is Motown music. The theater:
Monday, December 11:
Some pictures:
We were quite impressed with “Eden” which is a specialty restaurant where we ate last night. This is a picture of the back of the ship, and all this big windows just above where it says “Celebrity Ascent” is Eden. Besides the restaurant, there is a bar, some outside tables, and entertainment in the bar area.
There was a special event for our level of loyalty called “Create and Pour”. We had no clue what this was, but were told the “pour” part involved wine, so we signed up! The ship’s resident artist (I’ve never been on a ship with a resident artist before, either) gave us an art lesson and we did indeed have some wine to drink. Some of us learned to draw an elephant 😁.
After our sketching lesson, we got off the ship and wandered around Nassau. We’ve been here before, so we did not have anything planned. We decided to look for a large bottle of water to keep in our room, and eventually found one. Surprisingly, it was not easy to find!
This evening we plan to go to our “free happy hour”, then dinner in one of the four main (free) dining rooms, and the the production show in the theater.
Sunday, December 10, 2023: We had heard that parking may be a problem at the port, so we got an early start at 7:00am for the 3 hour drive to Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale. Arriving at Port Everglades about 10:00am, there are several big ships getting read to load thousands of passengers and head out to sea. Quite a bit of traffic, but having been here before helps as we kinda know where to go. We dropped our bag, headed to the parking garage, and found there were several spots available. Whew! Interesting that an attendant was at the entrance asking what ship we were on before letting us park. Haven’t seen that before.
We walked to the ship and were surprised they let us into the building right away. Of course we had to go through a scanner. Celebrity allows you to bring on 1 bottle of wine per person, and as much soda as you can carry (!). But it didn’t seem that the person scanning cared, and I think we could have brought much more wine onboard….but you never know. We had to sit and wait about 30 minutes until the ship was cleared, and then they let us on, probably by 11:00am.
I am not anticipating much action this cruise as we’ve been to all the ports. Our plan is mostly to relax and enjoy the ship.
We are on the Celebrity Ascent, which is their brand new ship. The “maiden voyage” was last week, but there were two short 3 day voyages before the maiden voyage. It is our first time on an “edge class” ship. I did not have very positive thoughts about the edge class ships, but after being on the ship for one day, I’m pretty impressed. It is a beautiful ship with lots of places to sit and enjoy entertainment or whatever. We had lunch in the ocean view cafe, and there were all kinds of choices. I had some roast beef, steamed vegetables and a few mussels. Dave had an assortment of things including a rice dish and green beans.
We do not have any of the beverage packages, so it will be pay as we go. In the afternoon we got our internet set up, made a couple of reservations for some events – a wine tasting and a “create and pour” event.
We had reservations for 8:00pm in a specialty restaurant and tried to get an earlier time. We had to change to 5:30pm which is very early for us. As it turned out, the time was fine. We had a great table on the back of the ship by a window, and we could watch the wake. The food was wonderful. We had a crab cake, a shrimp dish and a mushroom risotto for appetizers. Dave had grouper for his entree and I had a small filet mignon and small short rib wellington. After dinner we shared a chocolate pie dessert.
We went to the show in the theater, a comedian, Daniel Joyce. He was very good, and the comedy was clean.
Overall, a good first day. Being pretty tired from our early start this morning, we were in bed early.
Itinerary:
| Sun, Dec 10 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 3:30pm | |
| Mon, Dec 11 | Nassau, Bahamas | 7:00am | 5:00pm |
| Tue, Dec 12 | At Sea | ||
| Wed, Dec 13 | Cozumel, Mexico | 8:00am | 7:00pm |
| Thu, Dec 14 | At Sea | ||
| Fri, Dec 15 | Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands | 7:00am | 5:00pm |
| Sat, Dec 16 | At Sea | ||
| Sun, Dec 17 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 7:00am |