Cruise ships hold a lot of fuel. Whether you are cruising off the coast of California and up to Alaska or doing a transatlantic trip to Europe, cruise ships — maybe more than any other form of transportation — require a vast supply of fuel. But when they do inevitably run out of fuel, how long does it take to refuel them?
The length of time it takes to refuel a cruise ship varies widely based on the size of the vessel and its gas tank, as well as the capacity and capability of the refueling barge. But, on average, the ratio for refueling a cruise ship is 110 tons (about 3,500 gallons) of fuel per hour.
Because there are many factors that affect a cruise ship’s fuel efficiency, we will examine how these factors determine how long it takes for a cruise ship to refuel. Within this we will also look at how often a cruise ship needs to be refueled, even taking a peek at some of the most popular cruise ships to examine how much fuel they use. Warning: it’s a lot!
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Size Of A Cruise Ship And Refueling Time
Cruise ships come in all different sizes. There is too much variety with the length of cruise ships and their general fuel capacity to give a straight answer, but here is a general breakdown of size in relation to the amount of fuel a cruise ship will hold:
| Size Of Cruise Ship | Size In Feet & Fuel Capacity |
| Small | 400-500 ft, 130,000 gallons |
| Medium | 900-1,100 ft, 1-2 million gallons of fuel |
| Large | Over 1,300 ft, 4+ million gallons of fuel |
There are cruise ships that are smaller than 400 ft, and there are also many cruise ships that sit somewhere between 500-900 ft. These are just average ranges to give us a place holder.
Regarding the fuel capacity, it may seem nigh impossible that anything can hold a million gallons of fuel. This is especially the case when we examine a typical car, like a Honda Civic, which holds about 12 gallons (12.4 to be exact) of gas in the tank.
After doing the math, we can see that a cruise ship holding 1 million gallons of fuel is the same amount of fuel for about 80,650 Honda Civics. Somehow, these behemoth cruise ships holding 4 million gallons of fuel can hold the fuel of upwards of 240,000 Honda Civics! Thankfully, cruise ships do not have to rely on a Shell gas station to refuel, because the rest of us couldn’t get any.
If we do some more math, we can calculate how long it takes to refuel a cruise ship entirely. A cruise ship can be refueled at about 3,500 gallons per hour. Applying this to an average small vessel — which holds about 130,000 gallons of fuel — it would take almost 40 hours to completely fill it up.
A medium size cruise ship, holding 1 million gallons of fuel, would take about 285 straight hours of fueling to be maxed out! We won’t even mention the time it takes to refuel a large cruise ship.
It’s the Barge’s Job to Refuel Cruise Ships
Thankfully, the captain of the cruise ship is not going to wait till the tank is on empty before refilling it. This means that a cruise ship captain is probably not going to wait almost 12 days at sea to refuel the tank. But, whether out on the sea or in the port, the cruise ship will require the assistance of a much smaller ship whose sole purpose is to help with refueling: the barge.
Barges are flatboats that are usually square and appear to be submerged deep within the water. Historically barges have been used primarily for transporting bulk products and, while they still do this, there are certain kinds of barges that are made specifically to carry fuel and refill other ships.
There are over 400 marine ports in the world that provide fueling to cruise ships. Barges can come out to meet the cruise ship, or they will refuel the cruise ship while on port. So if the cruise ship’s route is from Los Angeles to Anchorage, Alaska, the ship may get fueled up while on route, but it will certainly get fueled while at the port in Anchorage, and once again when it returns.
How Often Does A Cruise Ship Need To Be Refueled?
The frequency of refilling the fuel in a cruise ship varies widely. Smaller cruise ships will naturally consume less fuel, and cruise ships that are traveling slower will use less as well. This means that a small cruise ship traveling slowly will consume the least amount of fuel; while a large cruise ship going fast will consume the absolute most amount of fuel. Every other ship is somewhere in between.
As we mentioned above, there are other factors that affect how quickly a cruise ship will burn fuel. Speed and size of the ship are primary, but the weight that the ship carries and the weather — such as the speed and direction of the wind — that the ship faces will also be important factors.
There are two important items to keep in mind when calculating how often a cruise ship needs to be refueled. The first is that the average cruise ship will burn between 30-50 gallons of fuel per nautical mile. The second is that a good-sized barge can hold about 450,000 gallons of fuel to supply to cruise ships.
With these facts in arm, let’s take a look at some examples of actual cruise ships to see how often — and how much — they need to be refueled.
Norwegian Spirit
The European cruise ship, the Norwegian Spirit, sits right in between the small-medium range in size at just over 880 ft. The ship holds about 350,000 gallons of fuel and has an average speed of 24 knots (nautical miles) per hour. A nautical mile is just a bit longer than a normal mile. Taking an average of 40 gallons per knot, the Spirit will use 960 (almost 1,000!) gallons of fuel per hour.
That is at least 160,000 gallons of fuel per week, meaning that the Spirit has to fill up about every 2 weeks. If the ship is completely empty on fuel, and a barge pumps about 3,500 gallons per hour, then it’s going to take a lot of hours before the ship is full!
If the ship is averaging 24 knots per hour all day long, then it will also go around 4,000 knots in a given week, more than enough distance to get almost anywhere before refueling.
If the tank is half full, it will still take a few days — 50 hours — to refuel it back up to full.
Queen Mary 2
Another famous cruise ship, the Queen Mary 2, is right at the edge of the medium-large size of vessel, measuring at 1,132 ft — more than 3 football fields put together. The cruise ship has a reputation for its speed and can average a whopping 29 knots per hour. It also has a fuel capacity of around 1,150,000 gallons.
Because it is so big and so fast, we will take the highest average of 50 gallons per knot to use for the Mary. At 29 knots per hour, it uses around 1450 gallons of fuel per hour! However, as some reports indicate, the Mary seems to be refueled less than every two weeks. This means that it may actually use more than 50 gallons per knot!
If the tank is half full, fueling will be almost 165 hours — basically a whole week! — to complete. Thankfully, cruise ships go through rigorous maintenance before and after trips which gives crew members and mechanics ample time to see that the tanks of cruise ships are full and ready to go.
