A show performed at the ice skating rink on Mariner of the Seas.[Photo provided to Shanghai Star]

Xue Yifan, who returned last week from a six-day cruise trip to Japan and South Korea with her 6-year-old son and parents, paid 8,000 yuan for the trip per person. She says the itinerary arranged for the guests was amazing.

"Children enjoy activities in the children's club from morning to evening and seniors have great fun in the karaoke bar and cinema. I saw some older people in wheelchairs on board. Cruise travel is fabulous for everybody," says Xue, a 35-year-old from Shanghai. She says she is keen to try the Royal Caribbean’s newest cruise ship, the 18-deck Quantum of the Seas that can carry 4,180 passengers, which is moving to Shanghai in May.

Carnival, Royal Caribbean's parent company, was the first cruise company to sail from China in 2006. It also plans to debut its ship, Costa Serena in Shanghai in April 2015, to join the other three that are already based in Shanghai.

The company will offer the first around-the-world cruise departing from Shanghai next year, visiting 28 destinations in three months.

"Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal on the North Bund, which can hold three luxury cruises, is designed to be outperforming," says Zhu Guojian, a policy and regulation official at Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration.

"The increased investment of international cruise companies in Shanghai and the further explorations of the world-leading cruise operators in the market will bring more fabulous cruise ships and offer more varied routes and frequency of sailing," he says.