I am on a cruise in march ends in beijing

Elgina, could you please offer more information because based on the presented is not possible to tell you decisively whether you are eligible or not.

So, I assume that you will arrive by ship in Tianjin and after a stay there, tours included, you will leave from Beijing airport to a third country. Now, the most important is your itinerary...

If the port call immediately before Tianjin/Beijing is in not in a mainland China this is good.

Also, if your flight from Beijing has nonstop route that does not have any additional landing in mainland China as well as in the country that you came to China from, then you will be eligible for 144 hour visa free transit and you are allowed to enjoy visa free stay in wider Beijing area and also to stay in a hotel.

So, an eligible itinerary is, for example:

South Korea - Tianjin/Beijing - US

or Taiwan - Tianjin/Beijing/ - Japan

So, please, check your itinerary and you can come here to present it in order that we can tell you if you are eligible for 144 hour visa free transit.