On 10 November, "Gneisenau" departed Wilhelmshaven, bound for Germany's Kiautschou Bay concession in China. She stopped in Málaga, Spain, while en route, for a ceremony commemorating the men killed when her namesake corvette had been wrecked there on 16 December 1900. She then passed through the Mediterranean Sea, transited the Suez Canal, and while crossing the Indian Ocean, stopped in Colombo, Ceylon. There, she embarked Crown Prince Wilhelm on 11 December, who was on a tour of British India at the time. "Gneisenau" carried him to Bombay, where he left the ship. After resuming the voyage to East Asia, "Gneisenau" rendezvoused with the light cruiser and made stops in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Amoy before arriving in Tsingtao, the German squadron's home port, on 14 March 1911. There, she rendezvoused with her sister "Scharnhorst", the squadron flagship. On 7 April, "Gneisenau" carried the new ambassador to Japan, Arthur Graf Rex, from Taku to Yokohama, where she met "Scharnhorst"; the squadron commander, "Konteradmiral" ("KAdm"—Rear Admiral) Günther von Krosigk, Uslar, and "Scharnhorst"s captain met with the Emperor Meiji. "Gneisenau" thereafter went on a tour of Japanese and Siberian waters, but she was sent back to Tsingtao during the Agadir Crisis to prepare for a potential conflict.