1. Cruise ships travel at around 20 knots
Depending on the itinerary, most cruise ships travel at between 18 and 22 knots. This roughly translates to around 21 to 25 miles per hour. On occasion, they may go faster, for example in the case of a medical emergency or to avoid severe weather conditions.
2. Cruise ships have godparents
A brand-new cruise ship will be assigned a godmother or godfather, a prominent figure who takes on the honorary title and thus fulfils a longstanding naval tradition. The role requires them to christen the ship, typically by breaking a bottle of champagne against its hull.
Notable godparents have included figures such as Queen Elizabeth II, Kate Middleton, Oprah, Audrey Hepburn, Whoopi Goldberg, Dame Helen Mirren, Lionel Messi, the McConaugheys, Katy Perry, Pitbull and many more.
3. Cruise ships have their own secret code
Many cruise ships have secret codes that you may hear over the PA system. They are designed to alert the crew of essential information without causing undue panic or alarm among passengers.
While this differs between cruise lines, alpha, operation brightstar, code blue or star code typically means there is a medical emergency somewhere on board.
Bravo and red parties are both codes for fire, while Charlie signals a security threat or severe weather, echo refers to a possible collision and zulu means a fight has broken out. If you hear purell followed by a location, I’d also steer clear if you’re not a fan of sick.
4. Some cruise ships are missing deck 13
Several cruise lines miss out deck 13, jumping straight from 12 to 14. Select Royal Caribbean International ships, such as Icon of the Seas, are guilty of this mystifying omission, along with P&O’s Iona and Arvia.
The reason? It comes down to superstition and the deep-rooted idea that the number 13 invites bad luck. Clearly, the powers that be considered it too dangerous to have at sea.
What’s even more fascinating is that MSC Cruises has made its peace with deck 13, only to miss out deck 17 due to an age-old Italian superstition. In Ancient Rome, the numerals for 17 were XVII, an anagram for a Latin word for ‘I have lived’, and which frequently adorned tombstones. Needless to say, the number’s bad rep has been hard to shake.
5. You can take your dog or cat on a cruise
Before you get too excited, four-legged friends aren’t welcome aboard most ships, but there are some exceptions.
Notably, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 allows both dogs and cats on transatlantic voyages. It offers top-notch kennels with a dedicated sun deck for walks, complete with a fire hydrant and lamp post for when nature calls. You can even organise a portrait session with the Kennel Master and ship photographer.
6. Some cruise lines have their own private islands
Norwegian Cruise Line pioneered the concept of a private island exclusively for the use of its guests all the way back in 1977, with Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. It proved such a success that NCL doubled down with Harvest Caye, located on the coast of southern Belize along the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.
A selection of cruise lines followed suit with their own Caribbean havens, including Royal Caribbean’s CocoCay, MSC’s Ocean Cay and Disney’s Castaway Cay.
7. You can take a cruise with no idea where it’s going
If you’ve ever felt the urge to sail into the unknown, you’ll be intrigued to hear about mystery cruises. Essentially, you’re told where the cruise begins and where it ends, and you’ll probably have a general sense of the region, but that’s about it. The ports you’ll visit along the way are kept secret.
In an age where endless choice is at your disposal, these itineraries are designed to give you a break from decision fatigue and offer a genuine sense of discovery. Top operators include Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, which has cost-effective options, and Windstar Cruises, which sits at the luxury end of the market.
8. The oldest cruise line dates to the 1830s
P&O Cruises is generally considered the oldest cruise line, dating back to 1837 when a Shetland sailor, a London ship broker and an Irish ship owner began offering sailings on a steamer from Britain to Portugal. Today, it’s still going strong, primarily focused on the British market, with an impressive line-up of cruises from UK ports, including plenty to Portugal.
Other cruise lines that started sailing in the 19th century include Cunard, founded in 1840, Holland America Line, founded in 1873, and Hurtigruten, founded in 1893.
9. The cruise industry has its own version of Black Friday
Wave Season is the cruise industry’s biggest annual sales period. It typically begins in January and runs through to March, in some cases extending into April. It’s considered the best time to snag a deal that feels genuinely worth it.
While the offers you find vary significantly, incentives often include fare reductions, low deposits, complimentary drinks packages, cabin upgrades or onboard credit.
10. You can buy an apartment on a cruise ship
The World is yours, if you have a few million USD on hand, that is. This ultra-luxury cruise ship offers residences at sea, with 165 apartments on board. When they do become available for resale, they’re typically in the range of $2.5 million to $15 million, and that’s before you account for maintenance charges. For the elite few that can afford it, it offers six-star amenities and access to destinations like Antarctica, Australia and French Polynesia.
Villa Vie Odyssey, meanwhile, offers a more attainable, but still premium experience, with options to own, rent or lease a cabin for life available. Five-year ownership starts at $74,999 for an outside cabin.
11. You can find masterpieces by Picasso on cruise ships
A surprising number of museum-quality artworks can be found on cruise ships. The ultra-luxury ship Seven Seas Grandeur hosts a 1,600-piece art collection worth millions. It includes multiple Picassos, such as Toros y Toreros, as well as a Fabergé Egg entitled Journey in Jewels.
Oceania Marina also displays several Picassos, paired with lithographs by Joan Miró and paintings by Damien Hirst, while Celebrity Beyond has an etching from Picasso’s Vollard Suite. Uniworld’s river ship S.S. Beatrice, meanwhile, brings several Picasso originals to the Danube, Main and Rhine.
12. Cruise capacity will hit 50 million by 2036
According to the 2026 Cruise Industry News Annual Report, the number of new cruise ships planned for the next decade will expand total capacity from approximately 36 million passengers, as it stands now, to 50 million in any given year.
In other words, major investment is being funnelled into the cruise industry, with those in the know predicting growing demand for holidays on the world’s oceans and rivers.
The new ships scheduled to set sail include megaships, which essentially operate as resorts at sea, as well as boutique yachts, river ships and expedition vessels.
13. Building a cruise ship can cost billions
Cruise ships come with a serious price tag, ranging from a few hundred million USD to considerably more. Legend of the Seas, the biggest cruise ship in the world, cost about $2 billion – along the same lines as its sister ships in Royal Caribbean International’s Icon Class.
That mind-boggling number starts to make sense when you consider these megaships are essentially floating cities. That means they need water purification systems, extensive plumbing and waste management, advanced propulsion systems and thousands of tonnes of high-grade marine steel that can withstand the elements.
And that’s before you consider everything that makes a cruise ship attractive to guests: comfortable accommodation, 20+ restaurants, waterparks, Broadway-style theatres and everything else that passengers now expect.
14. It’s possible to take a semester of university at sea
All the way back in 1926, Professor James Edwin Lough at New York University created the ‘Floating University’. This seven-and-a-half-month world cruise on a Holland America Line ship was designed to give students a more immersive style of education. Considering members of the class interviewed Benito Mussolini and the King of Siam on their voyage, you could say it did.
In the 1960s, the idea was revived, and today it persists as a study-abroad programme called Semester at Sea, frequently featuring three or more continents, with classes in topics like marine biology, cultural geography, world religions and tourism.
15. Cruise ship anchors can weigh as much as five elephants
Cruise ship anchors are very large and heavy, and most modern vessels will have at least two: one on the port side and one on the starboard side. These allow a ship to hold its position when a port is too shallow for it to dock and guests need to be brought ashore using tender boats.
Typically, each anchor weighs between 10 and 20 tonnes, roughly the same as a fully loaded bus during rush hour.
That said, some cutting-edge expedition ships, such as the Sylvia Earle, use modern technology to create a ‘virtual anchor’, that allows them to stay in place without disrupting fragile ecosystems on the sea floor.
16. There’s a themed cruise for (almost) everything
Chances are you’ve heard of themed cruises, but you might not know just how wacky and wild they can get. Sure, there are the ones you’d expect – food and wine, wellness and the Northern Lights – but there are also itineraries dedicated to dance, Star Trek, cat lovers, true crime, emo music, musical theatre,motorcycles and much more. And that’s before you get to the more grown-up variety (just know upside-down pineapples mean something different on sea).
In other words, if you have a particular hobby or passion, chances are there’s a cruise for that.
Read next: Everything you ever wanted to know about Queen Mary 2
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