High Hopes for China Cruises

But the 3,800 passengers it can carry don’t get long to enjoy the array of amenities. The ocean-going giant, owned by Royal Caribbean International, mostly makes three- and four-night trips to South Korea that start at about the equivalent of $500 per person.

The preference for such short cruises is one of the major challenges international cruise lines face as they focus more resources on luring Chinese customers, says Zinan Liu, the Shanghai-based managing director for China and Asia for Royal Caribbean, whose parent company is the world’s second-largest operator, with slightly more than 23 percent of all cruise passengers. (Carnival Corp. is the largest, with a little more than 48 percent.)

If Chinese take to cruising in the same way as North Americans and Europeans, they could provide as many as 40 million cruise guests a year, according to a 2010 market analysis by Royal Caribbean. That is twice the number of passengers expected worldwide this year.

But unless they work for international companies, most Chinese take vacations only during the public holidays clustered around traditional festivals like Chinese New Year, usually a week or less at any one time.

That rules out the 12-night and longer cruises popular among North Americans and Europeans.

“That may change as the market matures, but for now the Chinese are party cruisers rather than serious cruisers,” Mr. Liu said.

Guo Yan, a 40-year-old bank cashier from Foshan in southern China, is typical of the current guests. She recently took her 16-year-old daughter on an overnight voyage out of Hong Kong that takes in skyscraper-studded Victoria Harbor before heading to sea for an evening of dining, shopping and shows.

It was the fourth time she had taken the trip, which is operated by Star Cruises, a regional line backed by the Malaysian travel and gambling group Genting. Ms. Guo says the cruise, at 400 Hong Kong dollars, or about $52, is cheaper than a night at many of the city’s hotels and an affordable treat for a school vacation period.

Tickets in hand, she said she never thought about taking a longer cruise but “if I had time I might do a longer trip.”

With such opinions in mind, Crystal Cruises, a Japanese luxury cruise line with two vessels that each carry about 1,000 passengers, has begun offering short cruises and plans 34 Asia-based sailings in 2014, up from just 4 in 2012.

“Originally, we’d market the sailing as an 11-day cruise, but now we look at the opportunity for a six-day and a five-day, so we answer to a few different markets,” said Marnie Whipple, Crystal’s regional sales manager for Asia and the Pacific.

However, creating short cruise itineraries can be challenging, particularly in northern Asia. Chinese regulations require cruises to include international ports, explained Tony Peisley, an analyst at the London-based industry consulting firm Cruise Market Watch. So, when the preference for short cruises is factored in, a ship sailing from Shanghai to the South Korean port of Busan, or even the closer island of Jeju, must travel much further each day than ships on longer cruises to popular destinations in the Mediterranean or Caribbean.

The likelihood of inclement winter weather also means that North Asia is predominantly a summer destination — for example, the Mariner of the Seas’ winter base is in Singapore.

Regional disputes also can create problems. Recently, heightened tensions between Beijing and Tokyo over a disputed island chain has prompted some Chinese to shun travel to Japan. Royal Caribbean said it had modified 30 sailings from Shanghai and Tianjin this year as a result.

In Southeast Asia, ports of call are close enough for a variety of cruises around Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia but a lack of cruise terminals, especially those able to accommodate large vessels, is constraining growth.