My partner and I tried our first RCCL ship a couple of weeks ago. Having only sailed Celebrity ships before, I guess our expectations were unnecessarily high. We understood what we were getting in to with the Chinese cruise and while that was the source of some stories, it was the ship itself that disappointed.

The ship is too large for the in-city cruise port and instead uses a port on the outskirts of the city, but we took the subway to the closest station and a taxi to the pier. Tip: some people recommend the bus, but this leaves you at the entry to the port with a long walk through and onto the pier dragging your luggage. A taxi from the MTR cost only 17 yuan ($3 Cdn) and brought us right to the luggage drop; go for it!

Our sailing had about 4700 passengers, less than 200 of which were non-mainland Chinese. The pier is simply chaotic with the tour groups and individual travellers trying to find their way through the masses. There's a separate check-in for international travellers, however, that made checking in the luggage and getting through the registration paperwork quick and easy for us. From dock to deck took less than 15 minutes. Tip: Bring two copies of your passport information page, or make them on site using the free copier there before getting in line. Read more