Royal Caribbean in Asia: Sailing from Hong Kong

[Velvetwater]

Hi my husband and I have looked at August 2019 cruises sailing from Hong Kong (there is a 7 day Japan/Philippines and a 9 day Japan)  on Voyager.

 

We will probably be spending a week in Hong Kong and Southern China mainland beforehand. This part of the trip we have researched and are comfortable with. We are quite adventurous travellers and cruisers and enjoy most things. It will be just us (couple in their early 30s).We have cruised with Royal before on the Indy and loved her but it was a sailing from the UK.

We also have travel and cruise experience in South East Asia but our ship was an Aussie line heading back to Oz so was almost completely Aussie.

 

Just wondered if anyone had been on these sort of cruises and what demographic of your fellow cruises was like as its an American line in Asia and also what the entertainment was like and the general feel of the cruise. Any tips? recommendations?

 

Thanks 🙂

[xpcdoojk]

I have no personal experience, but I am guessing that the passengers will be 80% from China/Hong Kong.  As experienced travelers you should be fine.  

 

It just won’t be a lot like your experience on Royal sailing from the UK with a bunch of Brits onboard.

 

jc

[calypso17]

We sailed to Taiwan from Hong Kong on Voyager of the Seas two years ago. Although ostensibly a “cultural immersion” sailing, there was a large number of non-Chinese on that cruise. Food was of a good variety as was entertainment and there was something for everyone. We are Asians but very used to cruising on the usual international lines (and would hesitate to sail out of the mainland Chinese ports) and we did not feel out of place on that cruise. In fact, we quite enjoyed ourselves!

[Velvetwater]

 

Thanks for the replies!

 

Is there a split language in the entertainment at all? Ie trivia done in Cantonese/Mandarin/English?

 

We are big fans many aspects of this holiday but are not in any way good at speaking the languages apart from learning survival symbols (both simplified and not) and key phrases from our Chinese friends. 

 

We stand out in most places anyway as we are pasty skinned Brits. 😄

 

 

Edited January 12, 2019 by Velvetwater

[calypso17]

2 minutes ago, Velvetwater said:

 

Thanks for the replies!

 

Is there a split language in the entertainment at all? Ie trivia done in Cantonese/Mandarin/English?

 

We are big fans many aspects of this holiday but are not in any way good at speaking the languages apart from learning survival symbols (both simplified and not) and key phrases from our Chinese friends. 

 

We stand out in most places anyway as we are pasty skinned Brits. 😄

 

 

 

I recall that English was the primary language of communication. There might have been a Mandarin / Cantonese karaoke session somewhere but I cannot be sure. I don’t think you’ll run into any problem on the language front on the ship! 🙂

[Ellaleah]

I did the Ivation last May rt Hong Kong, 9 nights Best of Japan.  There were 4900 people.  We were given the statistics and though I can’t remember exactly, I believe it was about 65% Chinese.  The rest was UK, many British and Australians.  I believe there were 150 Americans.  I thought the entertainment was excellent, but cannot say the same about the food.  My tip would be to buy the specialty restaurant package.

 

[umlaut]

Did a cultural immersion cruise two years ago, will never ever do that again. At least not from Shanghai. The menus were all catered towards the Chinese mainland market, and the western menu were the same all five days. To get rights to sail in China they had to have at least 50% Chinese staff, so the service was far from the usual, don't know if that has changed. Ever been to mainland China? That kind of service, e g no smiles no kind of chit chat. And no people in the bars, I asked the bartender how many drinks he made per night on our cruise, he said about five to ten (and I stood for maybe 3 of them each night). But on our cruise there were less than 100 people who were not mainland Chinese. So sailing from Hong Kong might be a big difference.

Edited January 13, 2019 by umlaut

[Velvetwater]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Was the food not great because it was all Asian in the MDR?

 

As long as the quality is decent my husband and I really like Chinese food and often cook it at home (whether it's westernised Cantonese stuff or authentic mainland things like hot pot etc and I have been known to chow down on chicken feet when eating Dim Sum) and our city caters to quite a lot of asian students.

 

We are have experience with the kind of service you describe and are ok with it.

 

We just want to make sure that there will be a good vibe on the ship and enough people to chat to I guess.

 

Edited January 13, 2019 by Velvetwater

[umlaut]

2 hours ago, Velvetwater said:

Thanks for the replies.

 

Was the food not great because it was all Asian in the MDR?

I'm half South East Asian half Caucasian and I found both the Western as well as the Chinese food very bad. Especially the rice, way overcooked 

[Ellaleah]

We would not have cared if it was all Chinese food, but it was not good.  I did not think there was an over abundance of Chinese food on my Hong Kong RT, but both were bad.

[Velvetwater]

 

Ah ok.

 

We found the quality of food decent as other lines on our Royal cruise from the UK so didn't really give much thought to it until it was mentioned here.

 

 

[debgreg]

I am going to book the three night specialty restaurants just in case 🤗

[xpcdoojk]

You might want to consider the UDP...  IE specialty dining every night. If I was on that cruise and not in a suite where I could do Coastal Kitchen, I might consider the UDP.

 

jc

[notts cruiser]

We did a similar cruise from Hong Kong 2 years ago and it was fine we really enjoyed the experience. The food was fine we had no issues at all. 

[Ozy71]

We did the Hong Kong 9 night Japan cruise in August 2018 on the Voyager. We had no problems at all with the cruise. The mix was mainly Chinese as you would expect, the food was as always hit and miss, you could always find something you could eat. The Ocean view was always crowded and should be avoid at peak times. It is very hot and humid in Japan in August, this was an issue for us. If you are a Diamond or above you are treated very well in the club. We would do it again in a cooler month. Go and enjoy your self.