Cruise in Asia??

[Stoffel1982]

Hi everybody

 

We are a couple from Belgium and love cruises. We sailed with Celebrity Cruises (Reflection), Holland America Line (Koningsdam), Norwegian and MSC. We traveled in Europe and the Bahamas.

 

Next summer (2018) we are looking for a cruise in Asia. I would love to experience the Quantum of the Seas and although the ship and itinerary will please me, i'm not sure if I will like my fellow travelers on board... I read some horrible stories about spitting, yelling, etc.

 

Just want to make sure we won't be making a wrong decision by booking an Asian cruise with Royal Caribbean. I hate the 'survival of the fittest' mentality (especially on a relaxing vacation)...

 

Do you know someone who has any experiences with this and confirmed the horror stories?

[xpcdoojk]

I would not be worried about the cruises that are not the ones starting and ending in China. Those are the ones with the horror stories, because almost all of the passengers are from China and any culture in large doses can be overwhelming.

 

We just did an Ovation cruise starting in Singapore and ending in Tianjin (port nearest Beijing). The passengers were mostly Australian, New Zealand, American, British, and people from Singapore(some of which are ethnically Chinese) but are very westernized. So, no worries on those cruises. Now in China, there is definitely a lack of personal space, but it was not really a problem.

 

Our cruise visited Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, South Korea and China. My review is ongoing and in this forum.

 

JC

[Stoffel1982]

I would not be worried about the cruises that are not the ones starting and ending in China. Those are the ones with the horror stories, because almost all of the passengers are from China and any culture in large doses can be overwhelming.

 

We just did an Ovation cruise starting in Singapore and ending in Tianjin (port nearest Beijing). The passengers were mostly Australian, New Zealand, American, British, and people from Singapore(some of which are ethnically Chinese) but are very westernized. So, no worries on those cruises. Now in China, there is definitely a lack of personal space, but it was not really a problem.

 

Our cruise visited Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, South Korea and China. My review is ongoing and in this forum.

 

JC

 

Thanks for your input!

 

The cruise i'm looking for starts (and ends) in Beijing :o

[datolim]

Hi everybody

 

We are a couple from Belgium and love cruises. We sailed with Celebrity Cruises (Reflection), Holland America Line (Koningsdam), Norwegian and MSC. We traveled in Europe and the Bahamas.

 

Next summer (2018) we are looking for a cruise in Asia. I would love to experience the Quantum of the Seas and although the ship and itinerary will please me, i'm not sure if I will like my fellow travelers on board... I read some horrible stories about spitting, yelling, etc.

 

Just want to make sure we won't be making a wrong decision by booking an Asian cruise with Royal Caribbean. I hate the 'survival of the fittest' mentality (especially on a relaxing vacation)...

 

Do you know someone who has any experiences with this and confirmed the horror stories?

 

I would say give Quantum a miss. The culture shock is overwhelming. Why even the ethnic Chinese in HK and SG are scared of them.

[awestover89]

We are going on Quantum from Shanghai in about 10 weeks, I'll definitely write about our experiences (and I'm going to try to live blog as much as possible, as well) That doesn't necessarily help you right now, but if you are still looking at the end of October look for my review posts.

 

When we were researching before booking we saw some horror stories, but a lot of other stories that didn't match up with the horrors at all. I mean, the cruise will be mostly mainland Chinese, and there will definitely be some culture shock, but overall I'm not too worried, and I'm really excited. I guess we'll find out in 10 weeks if my faith is justified.

[888sydney]

Check out this recent thread :

Review. Ovation of the Seas. Tianjin - Japan. June 14th 4 nights June 23rd 5 nights

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2515846

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[xpcdoojk]

Thanks for your input!

 

The cruise i'm looking for starts (and ends) in Beijing :o

 

Well if you are very tolerant of completely different behavior and you don't mind being truly a minority, go for it.

 

I, am glad we did our trip with a ship full of Aussies.

 

JC