Making its maiden voyage

The newly launched Ovation of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean cruise liner, offers a variety of activities aboard, including a swimming pool and a playground for kids.[Photo by Xu Lin/China Daily]

The ship has a ride that rises 92 meters above sea level, a surfing simulator and treadmills with ocean views.

Evenings are for cocktails made by robots. Chinese and English bar bands perform. And musicals and multimedia productions are staged.

A large sculpture of a panda mother and cub reaching for each other on the upper deck is one of 11,000 artworks worth $4.5 million onboard. The collection is inspired by a Confucius' quote: "Wherever you go, go with all your heart."

Fain says: "That phrase tells a story about our company and not just this ship. We went in with all our heart and look forward to hosting Chinese guests."

Over 1.11 million Chinese hopped aboard cruises last year, a 50 percent increase over 2014.

"The growth in China is enormous and will continue," Fain says.

"We listen to what our guests want and make adjustments for them. For example, we have a Kungfu Panda noodles shop on the new cruise. But in the US, it's a hamburger store."

In 2013, the company partnered with Tianjin Maritime College, where it established its crew-training center.

"A happy crew makes a happy cruise. Our finest feature is our crew, who work hard to provide such vacations," he says.

"But it takes a lot of knowledge and experience to do that. It (Tianjin Maritime College) is an important source of crew for our ships and an important career resource for local students wishing to have careers at sea."