Since this cruise was 16 days long most of the passengers were retired which means 65+. There were very few people under the age of 50 and I saw no children onboard at all.
Crystal brings a lot of lecturers and teachers onboard and they all fraternize with the guests on a regular basis. We spent a lot of our time with the computer and music instructors as well as the lecturer on International Law, Rene Beres.
I didn't say the entertainment was bad, I said it was typical curise ship entertainment and I am a harsh critic. For a luxury cruise line it was far superior than most ships, because most lux lines only carry about 300 passengers.
Crystal Serenity has over 1000 passneger capacity. Their cast of singers and dancers is 10 people including a dance team and a piar of featured vocalists. There are a lot of costume changes.
It reminded me of a production show you might see on Princess or Holland America. In my opinion the shows on the mainstream mega-lines Carnival, Royal Caribbean and NCL are the bets shows. They tend to have lasers, pyro effects, integrated slides and video effects, special lighting and casts as big as 20 people.
Crystal often gets rated as highest in enteratinment in the cruise industry, but I would say the shows appeal to an older demographic, older than baby boomers, and that is a large part of their clientele, so that is OK.
My favorite port on this cruise was Tortola only because I had never been there before. Frankly, I am a bit tired of the Caribbean and we were more onboard to see the ship than the ports.
This was the most fun I ever had transiting the Panama Canal. The onboard expert was really informative and fun. Richard Morgan is his name and he has lived in Panana City since the 1980s.
As for day-time entertainment, I have to say Crystal is probably at the top of the industry. With three scheduled lectures daily on great topics like journalism, international law, espionage, football, etc. It was the best lecture series I have ever seen on a ship.
I was a bit disappointed that the shore-ex department was not better prepared with our visit to Costa Rica. I had been there before and had great wildlife experiences seeing monkeys, macaw parrots, etc. I specifically asked them in detail this time which tour I could take to have the best chance of repreating that adventure so my wife could see it. The tour they recommended was obviously not the best choice.
The guide even told me that where they were scheduled to take us was not known for wildlife, more for botany. And he was a botanist. he said I should have gone to the national park which we passed on our way in and out.
To the line's credit - they did refund my money for that tour after I explained how disappointed I was. They did not have to do that and I only said I felt that I was given a bad a recommendation. They chose to refund my money.
So - to sum up, on many cruises I hear people raving about the shore excursions. We were onboard with people who were still onboard for the world cruise that had just officially ended in Los Angeles but they were sailing back to Florida. I never once heard anyone raving about any shore tour. I heard one guest talk about a private tour they had set up in Tortola. Many of the guests were older and with somewhat limited mobility, so I just get the feeling that they are not onboard for the ports, they are there for the lifestyle onboard the ship, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.