I have a dirty little secret … even though I work for a travel magazine that has monthly articles about amazing cruise ships, I haven’t been on one since I was in college. It’s not that I had no desire to cruise, it’s mostly because my husband, Jim, had an aversion to the idea. He pictured big crowds by the pool and thought he’d feel “trapped” on a cruise ship. But earlier this month I was given the opportunity to go on a pre-inaugural sailing of Celebrity’s newest ship, Celebrity Ascent, and I brought my reluctant husband along.

Ascent is the newest of four ships in Celebrity’s Edge Series, which includes Celebrity Edge, Celebrity Apex and Celebrity Beyond. In 2025 Celebrity will introduce one more in the Edge Series, Celebrity Xcel, bringing the total to five in the series.

As we walked up to the ship in Port Everglades, I marveled at the sheer size. It’s definitely different seeing it in person as compared to the photos in our magazine. Then we had to navigate to our stateroom. It took a while to get used to the layout of the massive ship, but we found the signage outside elevators helpful when we didn’t know which way was forward or aft.

We stayed in a Sky Suite, which is a 319-square-foot cabin boasting a private veranda with two chairs and a table, and a large bathroom. To Jim’s surprise, this stateroom was as large as any nice hotel we have stayed in. But I was most interested in seeing as much of this magnificent ship as I could in the two short days we had on board, so off we went to explore.

Ascent has more than 32 restaurants, bars and lounges, so we couldn’t try them all, but we did try the buffet for a quick lunch. There were so many choices of cuisines from around the globe. I could see how a person could easily pick a different region of cuisine each day of a week-long cruise and never get bored.

Since I was trying to win over my husband, we headed to Craft Social Bar for a drink. He had a tough choice between an IPA and a whole menu of “build your Old Fashioned,” which allowed the guest to choose all the parts of the cocktail to tailor it exactly to their liking. (He did end up trying both, and he was warming up to this whole cruise thing.)

I enjoyed scoping out the artwork and sculptures on the ship as we wandered about that first day. While checking out the Resort Deck pool area, I was mesmerized by the octopus sculpture by Australian artist Todd Lyndon Stuart. Several more sculptures caught my eye along the way, a metal woman and a white inside-out face. As suite guests, we had access to The Retreat, an exclusive area with its own sundeck with cushioned lounge chairs; private pool; a private restaurant, Luminae; and a lounge. I was able to show Jim there were many different options for swimming and relaxing, and none of them was crowded.

For dinner we had reservations at one of the specialty dining restaurants, Le Petit Chef at Le Grand Bistro. This isn’t just a meal, it’s an immersive dining experience. The meal begins only when all guests have arrived and are seated in front of a plain white tablecloth, with an empty book on the table. Then, with the use of visual projections directly onto the table, Le Petit Chef comes to life. We had to open the blank book and watch as the story of the 3-D animated “tiniest chef in the world” came alive. The white tablecloth became a blank canvas to the colorful creations of world-renowned artists of Skullmapping. The tiny chef hopped around the table showing how each course was made, from soup to fish to Beef Wellington. After he showed us how a dish was prepared, the waiters would come by and present the real-life dish. Then a new plate would become the next blank canvas for the following course. It was a fun little story, and I kept thinking how exciting it would be for children. (But you don’t need to be a child to enjoy the fun show!)

After dinner we had fun watching the bartenders in Grand Plaza put on a show with some amazing bottle-juggling skills that put Tom Cruise’s character in the movie Cocktail to shame. Then we made our way to the Theater for a fun, Broadway-style dance show. After that, we got in on the tail-end of a game show-style trivia game, with guests going head-to-head as contestants. We are not gamblers, but the casino was all shiny and new, and people seemed to be having a great time. I stopped to check out the artwork on display for sale, and we returned to the stateroom for a good night’s rest.

Day One was amazing, and Jim was looking forward to Day Two! Stay tuned for more … .

— Tracey Cullen, art director