Celebrity Ascent is the fourth ship in Celebrity Cruises’ Edge class of ships—and if that sentence makes little sense to you, you’re not alone. People who don’t take cruises often may not realize that in today’s industry, most new mass-market ships are no longer individually tailored. Instead, the major lines come up with a pattern that groups of newly built ships will follow. In the Ascent‘s case, it’s the fourth ship made that follows the pattern of the Celebrity Edge, which was launched in 2018. The Edge was followed by the Celebrity Apex (2021) and Celebrity Beyond (2022). After the Ascent, the final ship in the Edge series will be the Celebrity Xcel, which began construction in 2023 for a 2025 launch. Later, Celebrity will begin on a new group of vessels that will be similar to each other.
As an Edge-class ship, most of Ascent‘s standard oceanview staterooms are 201 square feet of living space, designed in calming (if conservative) putty tones that hide wear well. You’ll find plenty of outlets and plugs (although oddly, not on the sea-facing side of the bed, which may affect your family’s sleeping assignments). The TV has kept pace with technology, allowing for streaming from personal devices (Google Play only) and movies on demand, but like nearly all TVs at sea, you’ll only get basic news networks, not the principal American networks.
Instead of a door leading to an outdoor space, Celebrity’s Edge-class ships have what’s called an Infinite Veranda, which is neither infinite nor architecturally a veranda but 42 square feet of laminate-floor space that extends from the room to the windows. When you’re in the mood to take in the sea air, you can close off the veranda from the main carpeted area of your room with some accordion-style shutters and then press a button (on your veranda wall or on the thermostat unit) to roll down the upper pane only. It’s a lot like rolling down the window of a car. The setup provides a degree of safety for guests with wandering children and probably makes washing the ship’s exterior much easier for the crew, but even when the Infinite Veranda window is fully open, the height of the sash and the overall bulkiness still leaves you with a sense of separation from the ocean you purportedly booked your cruise to commune with.
All things considered, it’s a boon to have those extra 42 square feet added to your living space instead of being on the other side of a balcony door, but its anyone’s guess whether Celebrity will keep putting Infinite Veranda systems in its ships once the Edge class winds down.