![An 11-night Mediterranean voyage on Celebrity Ascent will be departing in June](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2024/01/08/TELEMMGLPICT000361958122_17047101383510_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqrXQPXGvM58CJoUBPwmOnP4AUi_eAXJmjTzXoJ-uDM54.jpeg?imwidth=680)
On board the world’s newest cruise ship: 3,260-passenger Celebrity Ascent
Our writer finds the perfect way to live it up in style on a getaway with friends and recover from the Christmas family overload
![An 11-night Mediterranean voyage on Celebrity Ascent will be departing in June](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2024/01/08/TELEMMGLPICT000361958122_17047101383510_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqrXQPXGvM58CJoUBPwmOnP4AUi_eAXJmjTzXoJ-uDM54.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Cocooned in unashamedly plush surroundings oozing style and sophistication, I wished every night out could start like this as I sipped my seductively sweet passion fruit Martini while being serenaded by a devilishly handsome electric-violinist.
Having eagerly swapped drab December days back home for the tropical waters of the Bahamas, this was the glamorous scene-setter my friend Annette and I relished for a precious few evenings as we cruised in considerable style aboard Celebrity Cruises’ newest ship, Celebrity Ascent.
![Travel writer Sara took a trip on-board Celebrity Ascent with friend Annette](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2024/01/08/TELEMMGLPICT000361958891_17047111761630_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqcTSUi9vmp6xDmpMhvK6ABll5qe-4b8rLQwcfc1ZFHY.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Sailing through an irresistible palette of dazzling sunshine and turquoise skies in considerable style, the ship dripping with designer touches, we felt as though we’d taken to the ocean in our own private club – albeit with more than 3,000 others.
There was no mistaking the classy ambience of Celebrity’s latest monument to designer chic. As the fourth in the line’s celebrated Edge-class series, Ascent carries all the iconic features of its sister ships, but with stand-out flourishes of its own.
The ultimate draw is the Magic Carpet, a tennis-court-sized platform cantilevered off the side of the ship that glides between different decks transforming from a restaurant to a floating bar and, at its lowest level, serving as a rather swish embarkation platform for tender boats to go ashore.
![Celebrity Ascent is home to 14 restaurants](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2024/01/08/TELEMMGLPICT000361643256_17047105907580_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqtR1WRZ4lb6BOb1-FBRpn-lFGGjcI28awSNtOPAVs6pc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
We stretched out on slouchy sofas with cocktails in hand to toast panoramic views from the 150ft-high vantage point before slipping into the adjacent Rooftop Garden, a quirky outdoor deck area styled as a living urban playscape, where we picked our way between tree sculptures and shrubs to settle into inviting lounging spots.
By day, this was a popular chill-out zone, a net slung across the centre for casual padel tennis bouts and a large screen showing films and sports fixtures, but we preferred balmy warm evenings when musicians injected an evocative frisson into dramatic sunsets that painted dusky skies blood-red.
As a friends’ getaway, Celebrity Ascent proved to be a perfect match, its refined air bringing a sense of occasion to life at sea. This isn’t just a ship for ladies who lunch, it’s for ladies that want to live it up in style – and that’s exactly what we did.
The days passed in a heady whirl of dining a la mode at Celebrity Ascent’s 14 restaurants, luxuriating in the oh-so-swish spa (designed by Kelly Hoppen of Dragon’s Den fame) and sinking into the bubbles of distinctive Martini glass hot tubs on the pool deck.
![The Grand Plaza](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2024/01/08/TELEMMGLPICT000361958129_17047109080890_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqaADfBkGB97lEKiLQDL5jAqdrHhzwL6Icad4I5Sgfq0M.jpeg?imwidth=350)
The Grand Plaza, the ship’s beating heart with its central Martini Bar, is a hallmark of many Celebrity ships. The atmosphere beneath the spectacular colour-changing LED chandelier practically sizzles, providing a glitzy backdrop to evenings on board.
Choosing where to dine presented a rich seam of options. In common with other Edge-class ships, there’s no main restaurant on Celebrity Ascent but four venues with a more intimate, upscale feel and themed as Italian, French, Mediterranean and American with cuisine to match. Ascent’s culinary credentials have been given added zest with new epicurean twists, including a plant-based menu at the Eden Restaurant and a new show and menu for Celebrity’s Le Petit Chef animation dinners where miniature figures come to life on the table top.
![The rooftop is an ideal chillout spot](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2024/01/08/TELEMMGLPICT000361958099_17047109952310_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Annette and I were most tempted by the redesigned gourmet Le Voyage restaurant, celebrity chef Daniel Boulud’s second such venture at sea. Here we gorged on creamy mushroom risotto, succulent pan-roasted shrimp and tender fillet mignon in an exquisite seven-course feast (costing £99pp), rounded off with a triple dessert tasting.
Normally, this would have been an evening highlight in its own right, but we were keen for a taste of Celebrity Ascent’s showstopping entertainment mix, which has, again, been taken up a level with new shows across a number of different venues.
The main theatre leads this pack and has an immersive feel, thanks to a central circular stage reaching into the audience, with a bank of giant LED screens behind bringing musicals to life with incredible sequences of planets hurtling through space and battalions of fireworks exploding over Sydney Harbour Bridge.
State-of-the-art sound and lighting complemented by breathtaking aerobatics from the talented cast resulted in some of the best spectacles I’ve seen at sea – and I’ve seen a lot. But after watching the incredible Bridges show (my favourite), the night was still young.
We wandered into the lush surroundings of Eden, stopping enroute to pose for selfies in the Aurora – a mirrored passageway of gleaming silvery statues leading to this towering conservatory lounge stretching up three decks with vast windows overlooking the ship’s wake.
![Writer Sara and friend Annette checking out the expensive spa](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2024/01/08/TELEMMGLPICT000361643735_17047111096240_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
In this more casual setting, guests stood and watched as performers threw themselves into energetic routines combining vocals, dance and acrobatics. As the crowds grew we retreated to the cosy embrace of The Club, which had taken on the evocative spirit of an old Hollywood drinking hangout with another memorable show called Smoke & Ivories.
Each evening was similarly filled and during one memorable night we danced until the early hours in balmy temperatures under a moonlit Florida sky at a freewheeling deck party (another new addition) with a lightshow and live DJ.
Daytimes were spent relaxing around the ship, working off the fine dining (and fine drinking) by swimming laps of the main pool, which has to be one of the longest at sea, and browsing in the posh onboard shops where we gazed longingly at the Chanel and Louis Vuitton bags.
![Celebrity Ascent at sea](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/travel/2024/01/08/TELEMMGLPICT000361643357_17047103725840_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq5YrzcumTXZZ7ZolnNshsmy_T71DXBbhFs-ROLDer8RQ.jpeg?imwidth=350)
One morning, we followed a lazy room service breakfast with an indulgent pedicure in the spa whose smooth lines and cool curves reflect Hoppen’s designer input. However, the sky-high prices, with 50-minute massages costing around £160 ($200) plus an automatic 20 per cent gratuity, rather dampened our ardour for more.
Hoppen’s influence is also evident in The Retreat, a VIP deck area reserved for those staying in suites, spanning two decks and oozing sophistication with its own lounging pool and hot tubs.
Once we discovered this haven, we never looked back, revelling in the tranquil ambience – shattered only by Annette’s shrieks of horror when she checked her phone to find a picture I’d mischievously sent minutes earlier of her slumbering open-mouthed on the sunbed.
We may have spent the last few days cruising the heights of sophistication, but when you’re travelling with friends, there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned ribbing to bring you back down to earth.
Essentials
Sara Macefield was a guest of Celebrity Cruises (0800 240 4286), which offers an 11-night Mediterranean voyage on Celebrity Ascent from Civitavecchia (Rome) to Barcelona, including calls at Naples, Santorini, Rhodes and Valletta from £2,308pp. Departs June 18.
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