Royal Caribbean International, the world-renowned luxury cruise company has announced an additional 10 routes from its base in Xiamen. The routes include voyages to Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam and one China based tour.

The addition of these routes from the Fujian province port city, host to the cruise line company since 2011, is a direct reaction to the staggering 200 percent increase in passenger volume at the cruise port of the city in 2015.

The routes range greatly in duration and location, from a one-night cruise to Hong Kong to a seven-night voyage to South Korea and Japan.

If the speed at which tickets sold for the maiden voyage of a five-night cruise to Kagoshima and Okinawa is anything to go by, these new routes are bound to be hugely popular. The visa-free policy adopted by some of the countries towards Chinese tourists certainly adds to the ease of travel.

These routes will be pioneered by Legend of the Seas, a state-of-the-art 70,000-ton cruise ship that was given a glossy makeover in 2013. The ship spans across 11 decks and offers a range of rooms from reasonably affordable to outright indulgent. The vessel is equipped with a gluttony of restaurants, a multitude of sport facilities, and a coterie of entertainers. You can shop till you drop, learn how to make perfect sushi rolls or simply lounge by the pool and sip on something ice-cold. Boredom aboard Legend of the Seas is nearly impossible.

Tickets for a berth on the ship vary greatly depending on room type and duration of voyage. Tickets for the overnight cruise to Hong Kong can be found for as low as RMB 620 ($91) and for the 5-night cruise to Kagoshima and Miyazaki prices start at RMB 4,450 ($670).

The Xiamen cruise port handled 175,000 passengers in 2015 and passenger flow has increased a further 90 percent in the first half of 2016. These numbers are being capitalized upon by the Miami based company Royal Caribbean International as it attempts to meet a seemingly insatiable demand for luxury cruises from the city itself and other cities in the Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces. The vast majority of cruises that set out of Xiamen during the month of July were full.

In response to this increase in passenger flow, the cruise port of Xiamen is undergoing a series of constructions to better accommodate the situation. Several more developmental projects, including those at Xihaiwan (west bay) cruise city, part of the Dongdu cruise port, are awaiting planning permission.

An artist's impression of the Xihanwan (west bay) cruise city project. [Photo from Xmhouse.com]

By Liu Sitong and edited by Richard Whiddington

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