Before You Set Sail, Learn these Surprising Cruise Ship Facts

Cruise ships are a hugely popular travel and vacation choice, with 20.4 million passengers worldwide taking cruises in 2022. But even if you’ve been on a cruise before, chances are you’re not aware of everything that goes on behind the scenes. These eye-opening facts might have you seeing cruise ships differently the next time you step aboard. 

Related: 24 Tips and Tricks for Smooth Sailing on Your Next Cruise

The largest cruise ship, the Wonder of the Seas owned by Royal Caribbean, measures a staggering 1,118 feet long (that’s longer than three football fields). It has space for 6,988 passengers, as well as 2,300 crew members. It features amenities including a surf simulator, mini golf, and a suite neighborhood structure.

Related: Royal Caribbean Unveils New Decked Out Cruise Ship — and It Looks Unreal

The cruise ship life is so appealing to some people that they opt to live on cruise ships full-time once they retire. Cruise ship retirement will cost you, though, with cruise lines like Storylines charging anywhere from $352,000 to buy a 172-square foot condo to $3.2 million for a 1,690-square-foot residence purchase.

Related: Is Cruising a Cheaper Way to Retire?

Cruise ships collect data on their customers, including the purchases you make while on board. For example, Carnival’s Princess ships use their wearable Ocean medallion devices to track your behavior. You can even make purchases with the device, and Carnival uses that data to suggest other purchase options that might interest you. 

Related: Travel the World in 155 Days on This Luxurious Cruise Ship

Wondering how ships deal with unruly guests? Out-of-control travelers might find themselves locked up at sea. Most cruise ships are equipped with a jail. Guests who behave badly may be put under cabin arrest, meaning they can’t leave their cabins for a certain number of days. And if that doesn’t work, most cruise ships have a jail for more serious circumstances.

Most of the largest ships are also equipped with morgues. If someone dies on a cruise, the morgue can hold their body until the end of the trip or until the ship reaches a port. These morgues are on the lowest deck of the ship, so you won’t see it during your trip. 

Related: The Worst Cruise Ship Horror Stories

Alcohol is plentiful on cruise ships, making for a setting that’s tricky for recovering alcoholics to navigate. You might see a meeting for “Friends of Bill W.” on the ship’s agenda. Bill W., also known as William Wilson, founded Alcoholics Anonymous. These on-board AA meetings provide support during the cruise, so guests can maintain their recovery while enjoying their vacation.

Building a cruise ship requires some big bucks. Modern cruise ships start at $550 million on the low end, while the more expensive ships can cost over $1 billion to build. The luxury Royal Caribbean Oasis class vessels cost $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion each.

Related: The Most Luxurious Cruise Ships at Sea

When the Titanic took to the seas in 1912, it was renowned for its massive size. Things have changed a bit since then, with modern cruise ships averaging 20% longer than the Titanic. They’re also twice as tall. The Wonder of the Seas, currently the largest cruise ship in the world, is five times larger than the Titanic. As modern cruise ships have gotten larger, they’ve mostly grown in height and width, not length, which allows them to still dock at older ports that haven’t been expanded.

Cruise ships aren’t exactly great for the environment. In the United States, cruise ships can dump treated waste into the ocean when they’re within 3.5 miles of shore. When ships are further out in the ocean, they can dump untreated, raw sewage. Cruise ships are responsible for dumping more than a billion gallons of sewage into the ocean each year.

Massive cruise ship kitchens need to prepare thousands of plates every day, so they stock up with huge amounts of food. A ship with 3,500 passengers will go through 600 pounds of butter each day, as well as 250,000 eggs per week. The ship will also use 170,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables during each cruise. 

Related: The Craziest Cruise Ship Amenities

Much of the food that guests eat is freshly made. Cruise ship kitchens bake bread onboard, often three times a day. The movement of the ship, the air temperature, and moisture make baking bread extra tricky. Kitchens also hand-make ice cream daily to ensure that it’s fresh and available.

Before the days of refrigeration, getting fresh milk on a cruise ship was tricky — so ships brought cows along for the trip. Britannia, an early cruise ship, brought a cow on its 14-day transatlantic crossing in 1840. The cow kept passengers supplied with milk.

In 2007, Karin Stahre-Janson became captain of Monarch of the Seas, and she became the first woman in the cruise ship industry to captain a major ship. Captain Stahre-Janson had worked in cargo shipping for nine years before joining Royal Caribbean in 1997. She worked her way up, starting off as first officer on Viking Serenade and Nordic Empress, later becoming chief officer and staff captain.

The Britannia, Britain’s largest cruise ship, also holds Britain’s largest floating art collection. The multi-million-dollar collection consists of more than 8,000 art pieces that were chosen to enhance the ship’s interior designs, creating the feel of being in a luxury hotel.

After Hurricane Katrina caused devastation in 2005, Federal officials chartered three cruise ships to house refugees. Carnival Cruise Lines’ Ecstasy, Sensation, and Holiday were pulled from use, which meant that some travelers had to reschedule their trips. Instead, the ships were docked and housed 7,000 people who were displaced by the hurricane.

Sometimes cruise ship construction hits snags and delays. Rather than delaying the ship’s maiden voyage date, some ships head out to sea before they’re completely finished. In these instances, cruise lines bring workers along for the trip, and they might block off staterooms to house those workers. Workers often complete jobs like restaurant building or finishing cabins during the trip.