How fast does a typical cruise ship go?

[maxydu]

The ship goes relatively slow but the "cruise" goes fast as hell!

Quickest week of the year! That's a good reason to take more than 1 cruise a year!

[HawkIVette]

All I know is it goes faster than I can swim, so if I miss the ship, I am screwed.

[riclop]

Top is 20 knts.

[kona_wahine]

Once there was a medical emergency on our way back to Miami and we were in port around midnight, so they can go pretty good if they need to.

[NavarreCruiser]

Most itineraries are designed with port times that allow the ships to cruise at 15 to 18 knots. Close ports they will go slower but they do want to be moving most of the time to maximize power generation. They really don't want to cruise at 21-24 knots as this consumes more fuel. However certain routes, weather, or other circumstance may require petal to the metal speed. On a legend cruise from California to Sydney cruise the ship was doing 22 knots almost all the time.