三沙市 Sānshā Shì, Sansha City, is a prefecture-level city of 海南省 Hǎinán Shěng, Hainan Province, and it is the southernmost, largest by land-and-sea area, smallest by land and least populous city at that level in China. It governs the 西沙群岛 Xīshā Qúndǎo, the Xisha Islands, the 中沙群岛 Zhōngshā Qúndǎo, the Zhongsha Islands, and the 南沙群岛 Nánshā Qúndǎo, the Nansha Islands, together with their waters, and all three archipelagos are Chinese territory; its municipal seat stands on 永兴岛 Yǒngxīng Dǎo, Yongxing Island. For a traveller the city is defined by what it does not hold: roughly 13 to 30 square kilometres of land spread across about two million square kilometres of land and sea, and not one island that will take a visitor overnight. The only lawful way in for an ordinary visitor is the Xisha cruise out of Sanya, and the newest hull on that run is 祥龙岛 Xiánglóng Dǎo, Xianglong Island, a 43,195-gross-tonne roll-on roll-off ship of 208 metres that took over the route on 28 December 2023 and has sailed 三亚凤凰岛 Sānyà Fènghuáng Dǎo, Sanya Phoenix Island, to 赵述岛 Zhàoshù Dǎo, Zhaoshu Island, since 18 December 2025. In this city the room is a cabin and the address is the sea.
Xianglong Island sails for 海南海峡航运股份有限公司 Hǎinán Hǎixiá Hángyùn Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, Hainan Strait Shipping Co., Ltd., the listed company the trade calls 海峡股份 Hǎixiá Gǔfèn, and it replaced 长乐公主 Chánglè Gōngzhǔ, the Changle Princess, at the end of 2023. That substitution is worth stating plainly, because the older name survives in a great many itineraries: the Changle Princess left the Xisha route in April 2025 and now works the Haikou-Beihai crossing, so no one should book it as a Xisha ship. The new hull was built in 2021 and launched in January 2022, runs 28.6 metres abeam, makes 23 knots across ten decks and carries a maximum of 1,089 passengers. It is the largest and newest vessel on the route, and that size is roughly what a cautious sailor is buying; the ship carries fin stabilisers, and the honest line is that a bigger hull generally moves less. Nothing else in this city offers a guest a bed, so the vessel is the whole hospitality industry: a floating building with decks, corridors, a reception and a nightly roll call of cabins.
The shape of the trip is fixed. You board at 三亚凤凰岛国际邮轮港 Sānyà Fènghuángdǎo Guójì Yóulún Gǎng, the Sanya Phoenix Island International Cruise Port, usually at the No. 2 berth joint-inspection building, inside a boarding window the trade puts between 13:30 and 16:00, and the ship then runs about 180 nautical miles south of Sanya to the Xisha. Cabin, meals and the tender boats are wrapped into one inclusive fare rather than a room rate plus board, so this article treats the ticket as a single price. Ashore the routine is by day only: the vessel anchors off the island, passengers go across in batches on small tenders in a crossing the sources put at about six minutes, walk the island for two to three hours and return to the ship before evening. The rules that gate it are plainer than they look: the Xisha route is at present open only to mainland Chinese residents travelling on a second-generation identity card, and every passenger is filed and reviewed under a real-name registration. Age and health are answered differently across platforms, so the only line worth carrying is the operator’s own latest notice, checked on the day.
Below decks the ship is a small resort, and the cabins are the price ladder that decides the trip. In the 2 October 2026 snapshot the six-berth comfort cabin on deck seven, with bunks, an ocean-view window and an en-suite bathroom, sat at about 6,908 to 7,128 yuan a person; an inside four-berth cabin of nine square metres on decks seven and eight, with no window, ran about 7,799 to 8,180 yuan; an ocean-view four-berth cabin of about 8.5 square metres with a large window about 9,199 to 9,880 yuan; an ocean-view twin on decks eight and nine about 15,699 to 15,800 yuan; a deluxe ocean-view twin of about twenty square metres about 17,299 to 17,380 yuan; a family suite of about twenty square metres on decks eight and nine, laid out as a bedroom and a living room with a sea-view terrace and a reported 270-degree outlook, from about 20,999 yuan; and the VIP ocean-view suite of about forty square metres on deck ten, with a private sea-view balcony and a large bed, at about 23,999 to 47,080 yuan a person or per room. Every one of those figures comes from ticket agencies rather than from the operator, the spread between agencies for the same cabin can reach a thousand yuan, and the whole scale floats, so read it as a shape rather than a rate card. What sits outside the cabin fills the days at sea: a theatre stage, a VIP multi-function room, karaoke rooms, a sea-glass lounge, a music dining bar, a corner shop, a card room, a cinema, a supermarket of about 120 square metres and a gym, with a canopy area and a large screen on the open deck. Meals are a buffet three times a day and they are inside the fare.
What the Rooms Are Like
Choose the cabin by how much time you intend to spend in it and how much you mind a ladder. A bunk in a six-berth cabin is the cheapest way aboard and it is a genuine berth rather than a bench, but it is six people to a room and the top bunk is the top bunk. An inside four-berth cabin trades the window for quiet and dark. The ocean-view four-berth cabin buys daylight and a large window for a family or a group of friends. From the ocean-view twin upward the cabin becomes a room rather than a bunk, and the family suite with its terrace is built for a family of three who want the view in private. The VIP suite on deck ten, with its own balcony, is the only cabin here that behaves like a hotel suite, and it is priced like one. Because nothing is bookable ashore, book early: the sailing is the room, and when it is full there is no other bed in the city.
Practicalities
Price. On 2 October 2026 the agency snapshot read, per person, about 6,908 to 7,128 yuan for the six-berth comfort cabin, 7,799 to 8,180 for the inside four-berth, 9,199 to 9,880 for the ocean-view four-berth, 15,699 to 15,800 for the ocean-view twin, 17,299 to 17,380 for the deluxe ocean-view twin, from 20,999 for the family suite and 23,999 to 47,080 for the VIP ocean-view suite. The whole scale floats, agencies disagree by up to a thousand yuan on the same cabin, and the fare is all-in: cabin, buffet meals and the tender boats are one price. Confirm the day’s figure through the operator or an authorised channel.
Address. There is no street address to pin. The vessel is the accommodation, it is operated by 海南海峡航运股份有限公司 Hǎinán Hǎixiá Hángyùn Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, Hainan Strait Shipping Co., Ltd., and it sails from 三亚凤凰岛国际邮轮港 Sānyà Fènghuángdǎo Guójì Yóulún Gǎng, the Sanya Phoenix Island International Cruise Port, where boarding is usually at the No. 2 berth joint-inspection building.
Rooms. Book the cabin class rather than a category label: a bunk for the lowest fare, an ocean-view four-berth for a family that wants daylight, a twin from the middle of the ladder upward, and the family or VIP suite if the view is the point. Ask the booking channel to name the deck and the bed configuration, since the same class can sit on different decks, and treat any promised cabin number as a request rather than a guarantee.
Getting there. The only route in is by sea. Board at 三亚凤凰岛国际邮轮港 Sānyà Fènghuángdǎo Guójì Yóulún Gǎng, the Sanya Phoenix Island International Cruise Port, in the afternoon boarding window, and the ship runs about 180 nautical miles south of Sanya to the Xisha, where you go ashore by tender by day and sleep aboard at night. There is no free travel, no private boat and no day-trip ticket, and the route is at present open only to mainland Chinese residents who file under real-name registration; anything about age and health comes from the operator’s latest notice rather than from a platform. All figures and times are snapshots to confirm before booking.
Where to stay: a cabin on 祥龙岛 Xiánglóng Dǎo, Xianglong Island, if a bunk at the foot of the ladder or a balcony suite at the top of it is the plan, because in 三沙市 Sānshā Shì, Sansha City, the ship is the only bed out here and no island takes a guest overnight.
flowcloud would say that a city which owns two million square kilometres of sea and almost no land has answered the hotel question before anyone asked it, and that the correct way to sleep in Sansha is in a stateroom with the window open, because the address changes overnight and the wake is the only corridor that leads anywhere.