Embarkation Day

We flew overnight from Denver to Fort Lauderdale and seamlessly arrived at the cruise terminal by 10 AM. We joined the queue to board since guests were still leaving from the prior sailing. 

We only waited 30 minutes before being let into the sleek terminal for the boarding process. It was an efficient check in process and we were onboard by 11 AM. 

It’s a large ship holding 4,000 guests, and is about a year old. Check out this highlight reel to see what a newer ship looks like.

We found our room easily and were able to drop our bags before wandering around. 

The buffet opened for lunchtime and we grabbed some plates. We tried out the loungers by the resort pool and ate. They were comfortable as we both ended up falling asleep. We did not get much sleep during the red eye flights from Denver. We decided to move our nap to our cabin. Pretty comfortable bed!

We went back up to the outside decks to enjoy sailaway. We discovered port side plunge pools which were neat. The size of a hot tub but nice and cool, with a clear edge looking over the side of the ship. The Brazilian group next to us at the pool were so friendly and we enjoyed chatting with them while waiting for the ship to embark.

Finally we pulled away from the dock, turned around to exit through the narrow channel out to the ocean. It seemed like one minor slip up and we’d be careening right into a million dollar home. Thankfully no mistakes were made!

Our night included dinner, late night snacks and an evening at the casino. There was an introductory casino event giving out $1,000 in free play but we were not winners this day. 

We slept in the next day until noon. I love that an inside cabin allows for peaceful lie-ins. Finally we got our room in order and organized our stuff. This cabin was such a different layout than other ships. Here’s a list of pros and cons:

Pros: modern design, sleek edges, many shelves, different lighting levels, big television, separate vanity, sofa, more functional walking space, hard but large and comfortable bed, roomy shower, and an app to control the lighting and temperature.

Cons: no light in the closet, drawers located on other side of the bed, narrow toilet area, full length mirror in closet but too close to bed to actually be used.

More about the ship

The highlight of the day was the production show, Bridges. The cast of singers and dancers were fantastic and I was really impressed with the special aerialist and acrobatic performers. Photo and videos were recommended so here’s a highlight reel from that show. 

The captain, Tasos Kafetzis, opened the show and did a short comedy routine as part of the formal welcome. He was engaging and funny, and seemed to really enjoy the role of Master of the Vessel. He was the youngest promoted captain at Celebrity. He and his brother share the role of captain of Celebrity Ascent, although his brother was not on this voyage due to a family matter. 

Day 3 started a lot like our lazy Day 2! The weather was warm and a little breezy so we enjoyed the resort pool on what Celebrity calls the “Poolest Day Ever,” an afternoon of games and fun around the pool. I joined in on the Olympics. My dad would be so proud of my basketball skills. I sunk three baskets with the highest personal total of my three-person team, pushing us to the victory in this first round game. Next up was a paddle relay race. I opted to go second sensing that I would be a drag on the team. I plopped in the raft and had a stirring start but struggled to turn the boat around in time causing a 10 second delay. We did indeed lose that round. The final event was synchronized swimming and my teammates had some great ideas for choreography. The two teams tied that round, which resulted in a tie for the day. We all received floating keychains!

The evening production shows continued to be incredible. We watched one of the best shows I’ve seen on the sea, Jon Arons. He danced, sang, played trombone, and did gymnastics. What a performance!

The back of the ship features a beautiful gardenesque venue named Eden. It is a casual cafe in the daytime, a premium restaurant at night, and then a bar and show-venue at night. I had read that the performances at Eden were very popular and seats must be snagged at least an hour in advance. We arrived an hour before and got one of the last seats on the top floor that really had no view. It was really frustrating and annoying, and I had a hard time enjoying the show since we were squeezed in all together with a limited view. The venue is simply not made to handle the crowds that want to see the shows there. Although there are never enough seats for the demand, the shows are consistently advertised in the daily program and during the cruise director’s announcements.

The Eden shows are full production shows with a cast of singers and dancers and acrobats. If I were programming it, I would make the shows a pop-up surprise, like a night at a supper club or speakeasy. “Come out at night on Celebrity, and you never know when you might see an intimate performance.” For us, the show was good but we did not go back to try and see other shows at Eden because of the hassle. 

Bermuda

Another new country for me! This brings my count to something around 95. I don’t really keep count but I do note when I arrive someplace new to me! 

We walked off the ship early, around 8 AM, and bought a public transportation pass for the day at the tourist information center right by the ferry dock. This covers both ferries and buses across Bermuda. We then noticed that none of the public transportation left the dockyard until close to 9 AM. Oh well, island life.

Bermuda is a very polite society, where you are expected to offer a greeting before asking a question. We saw a bus driver leave the bus to escort an older passenger across the street. Folks tend to dress well, although we saw less gentlemen in knee socks than we thought we would. It’s also quite expensive, with many items imported to the island.

The weather was warmer than anticipated but we went ashore ready for anything. We took the bus to the capital of Hamilton, walked around, and drank the two main cocktails of Bermuda: the rum swizzle and the dark and stormy.

We wanted to go to St. George, the other major town, but the bus was so slow that we were worried about getting back to the ship on time. Instead we bussed to the beach at Warwick Long Bay, one of the many notable beaches of Bermuda. Incredible blue water but the sea was cold and the waves rough. We bussed back toward the ship and had a round of drinks in the touristy Dockyard before boarding.

Bermuda’s waters were amazingly blue and clear, and there are plenty of beaches to choose from, each with different scenes. The combination of the cost and the overall cooler weather will likely prevent us from coming back outside of a cruise stop.

Crossing the Atlantic

It took seven sea days to cross the Atlantic. The captain altered our course and our speed to dodge a cold front, leaving us with mostly-sunny days that were warm enough to relax on the outside decks. 

Highlights from our sea days:

• Getting back into a routine of yoga and exercise.
• Taking Greek lessons from the activities staff
• Sleeping in
• Planning for Spain and our future travels

Gibraltar, United Kingdom

We’re baaaack! We were just here a month ago on Island Princess.

This time we bought a “Hopper” all-day bus pass online. Gibraltar has two bus companies. We saw that the Citibus buses take credit cards, but Corey read that the Gibraltar Bus Company buses do not. If your first bus is a Citibus route, just buy the pass from the bus driver.

We took the bus south to the Europa Point Lighthouse. There was not much there to see, and the views are better from higher elevations on the Rock.

We then bussed to Eastern Beach, which is in the northeast part of the peninsula. There were surfers there but overall we prefer the two beaches to the south: Catalan Bay and especially Sandy Bay.

Cartagena, Spain

Built by the Carthaginians (and named after Carthage), and eventually conquered by the Romans, Cartagena is a delightful Mediterranean city with a gorgeous port. This was my first time visiting this city and we had a great time wandering around. 

We started with a walk to the old Roman theater that was only discovered in 1988. There is a museum dedicated to the theater that allows for touring the interior. But there is also a park just above the theater that has outstanding views of the theater and the city.  

Nice paths led us up the nearby hill for another viewpoint and visiting one of Cartagena’s castles, Castillo de la Concepción. Dozens of peacocks roamed the hillside, along with other waterfowl and some cats.

Cartagena is known for its Modernista buildings, and we walked around the city looking at various gorgeous mansions.

We enjoyed tapas and drinks at a classic restaurant, Bar Sol. In addition to vermouth, Bar Sol had a number of traditional Cartagena drinks, and we sampled down that list. It was a fun place to sit outside and people watch.

We decided to end the day with a Cartagena classic, the cafe asiatico. Similar to a carajillo, it is a coffee drink featuring Licor 43, which is produced in Cartagena. The locals drink the asiatico and we wanted to try one. There is a large Licor 43 restaurant by the cruise terminal, but we arrived during the limited time that the Spanish eat lunch, and were told we would have to go to the bar area if we were just drinking. We went to that area (which had no actual bar, it was just a casual seating area by the hot kitchen) and took a table. We never received any service from the waitstaff, who avoided our eye contact over and over.

We left after waiting for 15 minutes and went to the nearby Cervecería de Levante. Although it also has bad reviews on Google, we were seated immediately on the patio and served the asiaticos that we were looking for. It was a good dessert beverage and a nice afternoon pick-me-up.

La Spezia, Italy

About a year ago, we stayed in La Spezia for a week with my parents, so we have seen most of the town already. We had so many ideas on how to spend the day, but the weather was a little cloudy, so we decided to take the local bus one town over to Lerici.

(Use the Dropticket app to purchase bus tickets in advance. Typical for Italy, the tickets are sold at tobacco shops and not onboard the buses. This is the city where we gambled on taking a bus trip without buying tickets in advance, and ended up in a confrontation with and evasion from fare enforcement .)

There are so many cute towns perched over the Ligurian sea with colored houses and precarious cliffs. Lerici is one of them, located directly across the bay from Porto Venere. 

We stopped first at San Terenzo (north of Lerici), where there is a lovely seaside walk into Lerici itself.

We strolled through the alleys and stopped at a little bar for a taglieri of meats and cheese: speck, prosciutto crudo, salami, mortadella, coppa, and lardo, plus five different cheese. To drink, a local red wine called Rupestro, made mostly of sangiovese.

With the weather still nice for walking, we headed back north along the sea. The sun was coming out but rain clouds loomed in the distance. We stopped for a second small lunch at the well-reviewed Osteria La Situa, where we had octopus toast and salt cod lasagna. Both were good but we took no photos. When in Italy, we tend to gravitate toward osterias (taverns) as a well-priced way to eat local.

Rain drops started to fall so instead of laying out on the beach, we hopped on the bus back to La Spezia. With a few hours to spare before all aboard, we found our favorite gelato shop from before, WOW Emotional Food. I know, it’s a wacky name, but the owner is a delight and everything in the shop is gluten-free and lactose-free (for those that need or desire this). We shared a cup of pistachio and dark-chocolate gelato. The rain drops got bigger and more persistent so we ducked into a little bar with a covered patio for some spritzes. This checked off my in-port bingo for an Italian day: espresso, gelato, pulpo, and spritz! 

La Spezia is a fantastic port with so many options on how to spend your time. You visit any of the cities in Cinque Terre, or Porto Venere, Portofino, Pisa, Florence, Lucca, or Genoa. Or, just choose a small coastal town like we did. Lerici was perfect for us. It had all the charm of any of the more-famous towns with a fraction of the tourists. 

We sailed away a little late as there were many shore excursion buses stuck in traffic. We packed our bags that evening and went to bed early. Disembarkation morning is always early and hectic. We wanted to spend as much time on the ship as possible because we had the entire next day to spend in the Port of Civitavecchia (the port town for Rome) before taking a ferry from there to Barcelona. More on that in our next post!

If you got to the end, I’ll just add the Celebrity Ascent was a gorgeous ship and we had a great cruise overall. Sailing on newer vessel is a really different experience compared to older vessels and even those only in operation for a handful of years. An ocean crossing usually involves several sea days and it was fun to explore a new ship when we had a lot of time on our hands.