China Culturally enriching cruises from China

[Mike.s]

Hopefully the forum can help us, we're keen on a cruise from China on Spectrum but concerned on which of the activities we'll be able to join in (we only speak English).

I appreciate the shows will be more song and dance and the dining options will be slightly different but are any of the quiz activities in English or will we be watching the quiz rather than joining in it?

Any information from those who have cruised from China would be much appreciated.

[steverk]

Perhaps this would be a worthwhile video. 

 

[Jaedensou]

I recently went onboard Spectrum of the seas, all activities are in english but with a translated version. Not sure if the quizzes would be more towards the chinese influence but pretty sure that it is hosted in english as all in all rc is a american owned company. Dining options are about the same...just with more authentic asian cuisine (definitely no orange chicken and chow mein) and also almost everyday there will be key lime pie so if you are a key lime pie lover like me, this is it. Honestly if you are planning to go to specialty dining, all the meals are exactly the same. If you are planning to book a suite think again as the benefits there are different and probably worse even with the same price of a western caribbean cruise

[KristiZ]

Do it! Here’s my blog from right before the pandemic (so there may be some post-covid changes but not enough to worry about). Zero issues with the language. There are some great itineraries out that way and Spectrum is lovely! 
 

 

[Mike.s]

15 hours ago, KristiZ said:

Do it! Here’s my blog from right before the pandemic (so there may be some post-covid changes but not enough to worry about). Zero issues with the language. There are some great itineraries out that way and Spectrum is lovely! 
 

 

Loved the blog and we've taken the plunge and booked sailing from China, looking forward to a different Royal experience.

[Stephanie]

We are booked on a 7-night from Shanghai in September. Like you, we were hesitant prior to booking and did a ton of research.  Kristi's blog is super helpful. There's also a full YouTube video tour of the ship.  The signs are all in English & mandarin.  We were on Navigator when we booked our next cruise.  One of the cruise director's staff had previously worked on Spectrum, and she said that there will be onboard activities in both English & Mandarin. And the shows are in English.

My biggest challenge (aside from booking flights into Shanghai & being worried about the whole visa situation) is that there are only 4 shore excursions available in English through the cruise ship. I'm one of those who would've missed the boat had I not been on a RCL shore excursion where they waited for us to get back to the boat before sailing, so I'd much prefer to book my excursions via RCL but .... what do you do if there aren't any?