She Sails Away Posted January 26 Author Report Share Posted January 26 OK I have recollected myself. What I said yesterday about being ready to go home, it's true because I'm just kind of cruised out at this point. But a lot that has to do with getting seasick on day one, dealing with the side effects of sickness medication on day two, and then two visits to medical on top of that. But today is a new day and the weather is gorgeous and the water in Grand Cayman is amazing shades of blue and it's been a great morning. We are tendering using a third-party that has a double-decker open air boat and that's always a really exciting adventure. We are anchored between carnival pride and a smaller celebrity ship. I explored port and looked in shops and watched roosters wandering around among the shoppers. I canceled my stingray excursion because of my wound on my finger. It's not all the way healed yet and it didn't seem like a great idea to be putting it in the salt water just yet. there are some pool deck activities planned today, there's a small sort of miniature golf game available in the club indoors, and some shows and songs and the usual lively disco parties on the dance floor tonight! Neesa, MaryS, Sweety and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 2 hours ago, She Sails Away said: I do! So much better. Pain is gone. This is GREAT news ! She Sails Away 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 2 hours ago, She Sails Away said: OK I have recollected myself. What I said yesterday about being ready to go home, it's true because I'm just kind of cruised out at this point. But a lot that has to do with getting seasick on day one, dealing with the side effects of sickness medication on day two, and then two visits to medical on top of that. The one thing the doctor suggested about my jaw pain was that it was due to stress and possibly she's right! You really have been through the wringer! I looked up your symptoms and "Google M.D." suggests that it is temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain - can be caused by grinding teeth! (i.e. stress). That came up first, then pinched nerve/ear infection/tooth infection were all possible seconds. 2 hours ago, She Sails Away said: I canceled my stingray excursion because of my wound on my finger. It's not all the way healed yet and it didn't seem like a great idea to be putting it in the salt water just yet. Yeah... especially in a space with animals and their waste, even if it is the ocean. Ocean water is very different from saline! That makes sense, although glad to hear that it is healing! She Sails Away, Sweety and Neesa 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweety Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 Relax and everything will be alright. She Sails Away 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
She Sails Away Posted January 27 Author Report Share Posted January 27 Our final day! I came up top to the pool deck at 6 AM while it was still pitch black. I wanted to watch the sunrise from the sunset bar area. That area was closed off because of filming. I think it's still closed off. They were filming youngish people (20's) in evening attire, having drinks and dinner in all of the pretty areas. There was a drone circling the ship as well, something the film crew has been using all week. By 7 AM the pool deck was hopping. People were in the water, grabbing chairs, lots of people using the walking trail. Last night in the casino, I saw a woman win $8000 on a slot machine off of $1.50 bet. She had no reaction and just kept punching that button until the last I saw, she had lost back $4000 of that and was still going. I saw that same woman a couple of nights ago win $800 and do the same thing, no reaction, just gamble it all away. I do not gamble nearly enough to comprehend zero reaction to winning $8000. I would be so gone. Last night the singer Andrew Derbyshire performed again. It was sort of a last-minute put together show because the show they were supposed to show had a technical difficulty and had to be canceled. He did an amazing job. I sat up on the top balcony this time in the front row. And I found out that this is the area where the elite and suite and concierge guests have reserved seating. For some reason the middle block was open to just everyday people. So we sat there and watched the whole show and at the last couple of songs, Andrew left the stage and came up top to see us! He high-fived people, he had us singing into the mic, he gave us all a warm acknowledgment and welcome. That was super. I had to sing "ride Sally, ride" into the mic! Today is a lot of indoor activities and games but of course the usual hard push on final sales. There's an art auction, a huge jewelry sale, sales on watches, champagne invitations to come browse the watch and jewelry collections, they're giving free drinks in the casino starting at 9 AM for players, all of those usual things. You can buy a future cruise credit for just $100. I will say that Future Cruise has been busy every day since I've been here and the busiest day of all was embarkation day. Last night was a performance in The Club. It was a live performance of piano music and singing and dancing, it was really a stage show that for some reason was put on in their little lounge area called the club. And it's actually a fairly big space, but it was not nearly big enough to accommodate the thousand people that wanted to come see the show. There wasn't even standing room left. But I heard it was really good. It was called Smoke and Mirrors. We were reminded a few days ago that this is only the seventh sailing on Ascent so far. It is still brand new. Looks like we have a beautiful day ahead with great weather. There are two cruise ships on the horizon keeping pace with us. Neesa, MaryS, JohnK6404 and 5 others 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
She Sails Away Posted January 27 Author Report Share Posted January 27 One area I've barely talked about is Eden. This is a large part of what is offered on the ship for lounging, snack-dining, a bar, and entertainment. It is at the back of the ship, and it's reminiscent of the 270 on Odyssey. Huge two-story high windows looking out at the back of the ship at the water. Lots of interesting and varied seating, lots of natural light. There's a small café here that's open a couple of times a day for very limited choices on breakfast and lunch, mostly little snack sandwiches and desserts. They have activities here all day long and into the evening. Lots of crafts here like macramé, Paracord bracelets, sketching. They have had some live music in the evenings here, they usually have a piano player. They have put on a couple of actual performances with some sort of acrobatics and music here late at night a couple of times this week but I haven't made it down there to see them, I am usually in bed by then. This is a gorgeous area and the perfect place to go if you want to read and have some sunlight and not be outside. But for some reason, I just don't click with this area at all. It is absolutely gorgeous and I'm not sure why, but I don't especially care for it as far as spending time there. I have tried it out several times and I end up leaving after a few minutes. But to each his own. There is not a thing wrong with this area, it's lovely. My favorite areas have been The Club, the coffee lounge area on deck four, (Cafe Bacio)---that has huge amount of seating and I've spent quite a bit of time hanging out there with a coffee just looking out the window or listening to live music from the plaza. And just hanging around the plaza area in general is fun. Especially in the evening. They always have live music, there's a huge crowd out on the dance floor and some of those older couples really and truly do ballroom type dancing, and the guys at the Martini bar are amazing. They do all kinds of tricks with their glasses and shakers and pours. pictures of Eden JohnK6404, MaryS, WAAAYTOOO and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
She Sails Away Posted January 28 Author Report Share Posted January 28 My favorite place up top by far is the rooftop garden. Just an amazing wonderful space. So relaxing and for some reason it never feels crowded. Part of the day the huge open space is used for pickle ball but they take the net down after a little while and it's mostly open. They have stretch class here in the morning, and they show movies outdoors. So fun. PPPJJ-GCVAB, Neesa, MichelleB1234 and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
She Sails Away Posted January 28 Author Report Share Posted January 28 Ok. I just went down to the coffee shop on deck four, Cafe Biaco, my most favorite place for grabbing endless bottles of water and cookies and coffees twice a day. I've been there many times for tea. They have a huge seating area and I'm often getting tea and sitting around. So I just went down there tonight and they just smiled and said, Hello Miss Kelly. Without even looking at my sea pass card. So now I feel a little choked up about that. They are most definitely some of the hardest working people on the ship, that place never stops. And I did not see much in the way of tipping all week over there. Well. Lots to tell for the last day. For one thing, lunch turned out to be a huge big grand surprise at the Oceanview buffet today. It was a gigantic seafood spread, I mean there was shrimp and boiled crayfish as far as the eye could see. Row after row after row of boiled shrimp and boiled bright red crayfish. Plenty of other things as well like salad and fruit and bread and grilled meats, but oh my goodness the seafood. Not in the least appealing for a vegetarian, but everybody else was excited. The other big surprise at lunch was the dessert bar. Naturally they always have a huge selection of colorful desserts. And then throughout the week at the coffee shop downstairs, they always have three cakes of the day. Each day they have three different cakes and you can go up to the coffee shop and get a complimentary slice. These are the most amazing looking cakes, super tall and super shiny and very well decorated. They don't look normal at all, they look like works of art. So every day it's interesting to go see which three cakes of the day are available. Well today at the lunch buffet along with all of that seafood, they had every single cake they make laid out in a long row along the dessert buffet. It was the most colorful and beautiful thing you can imagine. And of course I did not have my phone with me so I wasn't able to get a photo. I came back later and the whole thing was destroyed, so you'll just have to take my word for it. It was amazing. (I have one photo of one cake I took earlier in the week I will share here. ) And then while everybody was sitting around stuffing their face, all of the chefs from top chef to Assistant chef on down came marching through the dining room. And the officers came behind them clapping and encouraging us to clap as well, which we all did. There was a thunderous round of applause for these hard-working folks and it was so fun. PPPJJ-GCVAB, JohnK6404, Neesa and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
She Sails Away Posted January 28 Author Report Share Posted January 28 Anyway, it was a day of high activity on the pool deck. This was the busiest I've seen the pool deck all week. Every single chair was taken on the pool deck, even in the shaded surrounding stretches, and also every chair up on the sundeck was taken as well. People really really spent the day outdoors today And even though I'm by myself I would've been hard-pressed to find a lounge chair if I wanted one. At one point they had a dance class on the pool deck and it was just an absolute mob. Shoulder to shoulder people bobbing and weaving. They moved the magic carpet down to deck five today so it was practically sitting on the water, they timed it so you could sit out there and watch the sunset and we just happened to have a glorious sunset. I went up to Sunset bar and True to its name, it was the perfect location to watch the sun sink into the ocean. It was packed of course and lots of people lining the rails to take pictures of themselves or selfies or couple shots with the sun in the background. Really nice. MichelleB1234, JohnK6404, Sweety and 5 others 6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
She Sails Away Posted January 28 Author Report Share Posted January 28 I did a morning stretch class on the rooftop garden with everybody, had a massage, and just noodled away the day. Packed up and ready to go home tomorrow. I heard somewhere a warning that Fort Lauderdale port area is going to be exceptionally crowded tomorrow because there are so many large ships coming in at the same time with disembarkation and new people and embarking. Shouldn't be an issue for me as I plan to be off the ship with self assist by 7:30 and my flight isn't until noon. When I began this blog, I thought I would probably wrap up by comparing Oasis to Ascent. I can see now that's pointless. They are not targeted for the same audience and it's comparing apples to oranges. It really comes down to which ship is right for me and which type of cruising experience is right for me, you can't go wrong with either ship. As I said, this ship is magnificent, brand new, has a much different more upscale and resort feel to it then I have experienced before. But it's not upscale to the point where it feels like I'm in a whole other world. It's just classy. There is a much different vibe on here than Oasis, of course, a much different demographic of age groups, a much different focus. The crowd aboard this ship wants to do different things with their time than the majority of people on Oasis want to do with their time. The people here have come for fine dining, cocktails, dressing up for dinner, dancing at night with a live band, and day-drinking the hours away by the pool. Nobody is here because they're dying to go to the Caribbean or ride a waterslide or stand in line for the aqua show. (Or spend time with kids or grandkids. So few kids on this ship!) Because so many folks are in the same age bracket here (over 75) there are a lot of friendships being struck up, lots of long conversations in hot tubs and by the pool. The crowd seems more social here than I am used to. I would estimate the entire cruise crowd to be 75% over the age of 50, with most of that group over the age of 75. Across-the-board, the staff has been wonderful. So engaged, so friendly, you can see they're working like crazy, but they are so bright eyed and cheerful and friendly and helpful. Anyway, I'm going to reflect on a few things before I offer any final thoughts on the subject, and I may or may not have much to add as far as anything helpful or insightful to people considering either ship. Thanks for hanging in there with me on my two week journey, it went off the rails a little bit healthwise this past week but nothing terrible. It's been a lot of fun and I am so glad I tried out this particular ship. I think I have a good feel for what Celebrity is like now and what to expect. And I would not hesitate to sail with them again. Of course the Ascent has set the bar very high and it would be hard to picture trying out one of their smaller ships now at this point. lots to love here. JohnK6404, MaryS, WAAAYTOOO and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
She Sails Away Posted January 28 Author Report Share Posted January 28 Boy, if you want to get off the ship the fastest, self assist is always the way to go. Also a great way to see who is under the age of 60 on board. I think every one of us youngsters were self-assisted this morning and it was quite a crowd. But it was honestly about a 15 minute process from the time I hit deck five to the time I was looking for a taxi. A few random thoughts about Ascent. -no need to go over again what a beautiful ship it is, I think I've covered that. -wonderful staff. Top-notch. -I like the infinite veranda. It does tend to be a warm space during the day and I found that closing the blinds if I'm leaving the room for a while really helps. -Love love love the touchless public restroom doors. Everybody in the world needs to have these everywhere. -Love the smokeless casino and the absence of a stink cloud on Deck 4. -that film crew was a nuisance, but I do look forward to seeing the ads that come out of it. I do think that the actors they used were much younger than average demographic on the particular sailing I was on. -Super entertainment. Nothing competes with the Aqua Show or the Ice show, these are very different forms of entertainment and what they offered on this ship was really terrific. -people are people wherever you go. Doesn't matter the cruise line, there's always going to be a small chunk of your fellow passengers who are rude, cut in line, are mean to the staff, and don't wash their hands before coming to the buffet, or talk through a whole live performance. -I got the sense that most of the people on board were seasoned Celebrity cruisers and were there to revel in what they know and are familiar with and expect and enjoy. Oasis felt like a larger mix of newbies. -The two ships I used were very different from each other and not even in the same space to compare. I enjoyed different things about both ships. Ascent was obviously a newer, flashy, more refined and elegant and clean-looking ship. Less to "do", (depending on what you like to do with your cruise ) but very very classy. looking forward to reading about others experiences on both of these ships in the future. and now home to family and my cat Neesa, MaryS, JohnK6404 and 4 others 2 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 Thank you, @She Sails Away. This was an awesome set of live blogs and you did a fab job. Thank you for taking so much of your time to bring us along with you. PPPJJ-GCVAB, jbrinkm, Neesa and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryS Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 Thank you @She Sails Away for taking the time out of your vacation for this wonderful blog. It made my excitement level even higher for my cruise She Sails Away and PPPJJ-GCVAB 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 Thank you for sharing your cruises with us. I really enjoyed reading this. I'm sorry you ended up not feeling great towards the end there. I totally get the feeling of I'm ready to be home. As much fun as a vacation can bring, being in your own space really can't be beat. Thank you for your perspective on sailing with Celebrity. I do think without the kids The Boss and I will be doing a Celebrity sailing at some point, we just have to figure out when. So many travel plans, so little time. MaryS, Neesa, She Sails Away and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
She Sails Away Posted January 30 Author Report Share Posted January 30 And! I just got notified that I made Diamond with my sailing on Oasis. Somehow I didn't know that was going to happen. Very excited! My next royal cruise is not until December on Utopia, but I plan to discover all of those diamond benefits to the max. Ampurp85, WAAAYTOOO, MaryS and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 I did enjoy your blog but it has me questioning my celebrity sailing. I am a picky eater and I couldn't find anything I would eat of the menus you posted. That and the type of entertainment has me very worried. I'm classy but not that classy I love the kitty. My brother just picked up my sweet fur baby, she was so excited to go home. jbrinkm, MaryS, WAAAYTOOO and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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