We're often asked, "how fast can a cruise ship go?" For some reason, this is a really popular question amongst our avid cruising community. We get it. It's fun to picture a gigantic cruise ship jumping waves... buffet dishes shattering on the ground and passengers clinging to the sides of the ship.
In reality, though, these ships rarely get a chance to test out their top speed. And for good reason. Why don't cruise ships go as fast as possible?
The most obvious reason cruise ships don't hit their top speed is, "safety." Imagine that you're three Bahama Mamas deep on the Lido deck, already struggling to walk a straight line. Then the captain tries to show off for a pretty little passenger that asks, "how fast can a cruise ship go?" You can see how things could get a bit dicey.
A cruise ship's top speed is also its most expensive speed, when it comes to fuel usage. A passenger vessel will use more fuel in a day than you will in your lifetime! While your Hyundai Santa Fe gets 24 miles to the gallon, the Carnival Dream would move 0.01 miles using that same gallon of gas. To put this in perspective, check out the infographic below. For a cruise to sail from Miami to Nassau, it would take roughly 18,500 gallons of gas. A car could make it around the planet 16 times with that same amount of fuel!
When headed over to your in-laws, you're not hitting top speeds in your car. Similarly, cruise ships don't go as fast as they can go to their next destination. For the simple reason, it's bad to get there too early. One might result in passive aggressive comments like, "I would have started cooking sooner had I known you were going to show up this early." A cruise ship's early arrival is even more frustrating. It may have to stall or just kind of loiter on the periphery. That's less preferable than a well-timed and leisurely route between ports.
How Fast Can a Cruise Ship Go?
Now that we've gotten through some fluff, let's get down to the nuts. What is the top speed of a cruise ship?
We have to split the accolades into two groups. Technically, these two are different classifications and it wouldn't be fair to lump them into the same bucket.
- Ocean Liner: The primary purpose of an ocean liner is for transportation over long nautical distances. Think "transoceanic voyages." These vessels are typically faster and built to withstand harsher conditions.
- Cruise Ship: These vessels are built for comfort and entertainment. Voyages are typically shorter.
Ocean Liner - Top Speed
Launched in 2004, the Queen Mary 2 was built for luxury Transatlantic crossings. The 1,132 foot-long ship can hold 2,600 passengers and has a primary route between Southampton (UK) and New York City.
The Queen Mary 2 has a top speed of 35 mph (30 knots), making it the fastest ocean liner in the world!
Cruise Ship - Top Speed
Launched in 2005, the Norwegian Jewel is a mid-sized cruise ship measuring 965 feet long and weighing 93,502 GT.
The NCL Jewel has a top speed of 30 mph (26 knots), making it the fastest cruise ship in the world!
Fastest Cruise Ship in the World vs... Other
We put together the visual below to put these speeds into perspective. Here you'll find the top speed of a cruise ship (an "ocean liner" to be technically correct) compared to some other things you'd find in the ocean. Some of these items may be more relatable than others. Hopefully they help, though, to put some context around ocean speed!
Cruise Ship Top Speed - Ranked
We looked at every active cruise ship to provide you with a ranking by "top speed."
If you're wondering, "how fast can my cruise ship go," then check out the list below.
We wouldn't use the list below in your cruise-selection process, but it still might be interesting. Again, while these cruise ships are technically able to reach these speeds, they very rarely do.
Cruise Line Top Speeds - Ranked
Curious how fast can a cruise ship go by cruise line?
We were. We wanted to know if one company built ships that were faster than others.
The results were a bit intuitive, in hindsight at least. The mass-market lines fighting to have the biggest ships (Carnival & Royal Caribbean) had some of the slowest ships.
Cunard, owner of the Queen Mary 2, sits at the top of the charts for greatest top speed.
One outlier is NCL. While the cruise line does short-itineraries and caters to the leisure-market (similar to Carnival and Royal), its ships are relatively fast.
