We have always wanted to see parts of Asia and this cruise allowed us to travel to Beijing the day before and have a one day tour. We were not sure if we needed a visa as we were coming only one day prior. We called Royal Caribbean and were told we did not need a visa. Technically, you do not need a visa but I would highly recommend getting one. There is a 72 hr rule in China where you do not need a visa but most of the people were not familiar with what to do if you are boarding a ship and not returning by plane. We were warned in LAX and then spent 3 hrs in the immigration line at the Beijing airport.

Embarkation was a breeze as there were only 550 International travelers. The rest were Chinese nationals. The ship was at capacity with 4100 travelers. We had an assistant cruise director who was Chinese and everything was announced in English and Chinese. Despite this, most of the travelers still did not follow any of the instructions.

The Ovation of the Seas is a brand new ship and it was very nice. No one used any of the bars and we were able to do the flow rider multiple times as the staff were mostly Australian and didn't speak much Chinese so the majority of the travelers were intimidated to try it. The Ripcord was not what I imagined and I would not do it again. The bumper cars were extremely popular with everyone on board including the elderly. We did not do the North Star because the only thing you can see is ocean and it wasn't worth the money. Read more