Those who have been on cruises before know that weird feeling when the ship starts to move underneath your feet. For those that have yet to cruise, are you wondering how these ships get from one port to the next within a day?
Both of these questions are essentially asking about speed. How fast do cruise ships go?
Most ships sail at a comfortable cruising speed, but their rates do vary greatly. This is depending on the size of the ship, its engine power and the fuel consumption.
Speed can also be determined by captains, who may want to adjust the speed for passengers to enjoy the scenery. While sailing in Alaska, for example, you may find the ship sailing much slower than normal while in the Inside Passage.
This allows passengers to enjoy and soak in the scenery while protecting the marine life in shallower waters. It is also an expected standard to slow down sailing wine approaching glaciers or gliding through a fjord.
Keep in mind that weather and ocean conditions may impact how fast the cruise ship is sailing. Unlike ocean liners, cruise ships can't cut through waters as smoothly during inclement weather. What they can do is sail a little faster or slower than a normal pace to ensure smooth sailing.
This may sound a little nerve-wracking, but no worries! If you happen to get caught in a storm, your captain will know exactly what to do and how to deal with it.
Modern ships can actually increase their speed and sail faster to avoid a storm when needed. Meanwhile, large, choppy swells may require the ship to slow down for safety.
Average Speed
For ships sailing at sea, speed is measured in knots and nautical miles. One nautical mile is approximately 1.15078 miles per hour on land. In other words, you will never a true sailor say, "This ship is sailing at 20 miles per hour!"
Most cruise ships sail around 20 knots per nautical mile, which translates to 23 miles per hour on land. However, anywhere between 18 and 22 knots would be considered a typical speed for a cruise ship. This would be a speed of 20 to 25 land-based miles per hour.
To put this in context, if a cruise ship was able to sail on land, it would take about 100 hours, or just a little over four days, of constant sailing to reach Los Angeles from New York. This is impressive considering the massive size of most cruise ships these days.
Maximum Speeds
The maximum speed for most cruise ships is between 25-30 knots per nautical mile, which is a maximum of 35 miles per land-based mile. Currently, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, a transatlantic vessel, has the fastest speed for a modern-day passenger ocean liner with 30 knots as her maximum speed.
On average, Royal Caribbean vessels tend to have the fastest average speeds.
For the most part, cruise ships would rarely sail at their maximum speed other than during sea trials. During a ship’s sea trials, the captain will usually test the ship’s maximum speed to ensure the ship meets performance specifications.
For example, Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas reached a maximum speed of 25 knots during her sea trials; however, the cruise line's CEO clarified they would probably never have the ship sail at that speed. This is mostly due to fuel efficiency.
Faster Ships
With ships continuing to get built larger and larger, it can be hard to imagine that cruise ships can sail at even faster speeds.
In fact, new ships are being redesigned to improve the overall performance of their engines and hull design. This is where cruise lines can tweak the ship's design or structure as needed.
Improvements are being made to allow ships to sail faster without consuming as much fuel. Today, many new cruise ships are starting to run on LNG-powered fuel, which helps to reduce the ship's carbon emissions by about 30% In other words, it is one of the best fuel options for modern day cruise ships to help them reduce their carbon footprint.
Most cruise lines are not looking to make their ships faster though, as this is not environmentally friendly. Rather, cruise ships are being built to improve efficiency that would allow the ship to consume less fuel while sailing at the same speed.
You are on vacation and do not want the ship to be moving so fast it becomes annoyingly noticeable! Those who are prone to motion sickness would not appreciate that. Of course, the ship has stabilizers for this reason.
Read more: Bonine vs. Dramamine for Motion Sickness: Which Is Better for a Cruise?
Did you know cruise ships will purposely slow down when arriving in port? You will rarely arrive earlier than expected, and that is because cruise lines are charged docking fees based on the amount of time spent in each port.
The cruise line passes along those fees to the passengers when booking in what are called "port fees." They do not want the burden of paying an extra fees, so they will slow down to make sure they arrive right on time. Usually, port fees are a summation of a few different fees, such as the per-passenger fee (head tax), docking fee, and pilot fee.
On sea days, cruise ships will often slow down during the day when in favorable weather conditions. Sometimes, your ports are relatively close to one another, so there is no need for a fast sailing speed. You might notice that the ship increases its speed after sunset once most guests have migrated indoors for the evening.
Allie Hubers
Allie Hubers has been cruising since she was a tiny toddler. What started as a yearly vacation with family quickly turned into a passion for travel, cruising and adventure. Allie's been on over 45 cruises all over the world. She even studied abroad on Semester at Sea, sailing the world on a ship while taking courses for college and visiting 4 continents.
