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When you're looking at a "Best" list in a travel publication, your eyes don't have to travel far to find Crystal Cruises winning some award, often for Best Shipboard Entertainment. And once you get on board the Crystal Harmony, Crystal Symphony, or Crystal Serenity, you don't have to travel far--any one of several lounges will do--to see why the entertainment is always singled out as superior to other ships.
Indeed, if you're the more sedentary type, (read: lazy) you don't even have to go to a lounge to be entertained. Your cabin will do, and I'm not talking about *that* kind of entertainment, but rather movies. You can stay inside and watch one of 30 movies they play each day on the Movie Channel or the Comedy Channel (what? No Lifetime movies?).
If your taste is to live entertainment, though, this is the line you should choose. Of course, if you go on an Alaskan inner passage cruise, the scenery and wildlife is supposed to be the main entertainment (I think I'm supposed to say that). But the evening productions on board the Crystal ships are so outstanding, that sometimes you're not sure whether what's on the ship is better to watch than what's off it.
This is definitely not your typical cruise/hotel show with a Passenger (no)Talent Night, or the even more cringe-worthy, waiter-dresses-in-drag-and-lip-syncs type shows. No, these are real Broadway-style performances.
For example, on an Alaskan cruise I took with my husband Paul on the Crystal Harmony, one of the evenings featured a musical medley from the '50's. Ten super-talented performers sang 119 favorite selections (from Elvis to "Sh-boom") in l l/4 hours, with at least two dozen seamless costume and scenery changes throughout. In another show, a Gershwin medley, they spent $25,000 on the dancers' shoes alone.
Whatever show they're doing, what you get is more than what you see. For example, each performer has a separate backstage dresser just to change his/her costumes and keep the show moving along. (These changes in costume and sets are great for those of us in the second sitting who would otherwise have difficulty staying awake for a show that ends near midnight.)
Besides the regular spectaculars, they also have an outstanding 3-actor Repertory Group who perform everything from Shakespeare to Neil Simon, plus a concert pianist, various lecturers, a trio, a sextet, miscellaneous performers, and movie videos in the theater.
The food here is also entertainment "Never have so few eaten so much for such a short period of time," quipped the headwaiter as he bid the passengers farewell. Indeed, the only meal they didn't serve was a Midnight Buffet. The concierge explained why when I asked him: "Most of the passengers are asleep by 11."
That about summed up this crowd: a bit older, (happily, there were almost no screaming children on board); a bit more genteel (which may be why the peace wasn't constantly broken with loud speaker announcements as happens on some other ships); and a bit richer. Also, after this cruise, almost everyone was a bit fatter.
Finally, before you take a Crystal Cruise, or any cruise, here's Cooper's Rules of Cruising:
CRYSTAL CRUISES
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