How Much Does a Cruise Ship Weigh? Displacement, Gross Tonnage, Fuel Consumption, Newbuild Values and Reported Incidents of Ocean Cruise Ships from US Coast Guard, EU MRV and Company Filing Data, 2003–2026

The size of cruise ships is usually quoted as gross tonnage, a volume index that is often mistaken for weight. We compile the displacement, deadweight and gross tonnage of ocean cruise ships calling at US ports from US Coast Guard registry records and relate them to fuel use from the 2025 EU monitoring, reporting and verification data and from the filings of the three largest cruise companies. Across 114 ships with a usable record, the median displacement was 50,243 tons (110.8 to 112.5 million pounds) and the median ratio of weight to gross tonnage 0.516; Icon of the Seas weighed 114,291 tons against 248,663 gross tons, of which 92,778 tons was the empty ship. Ships built in the 2020s averaged 1.82 times the gross tonnage of 1990s ships. Averaged over all days, a large-line ship burned 80.9 to 87.2 metric tons of fuel a day; among 201 ships in the EU data the median burn was 3.03 metric tons per hour at sea, and the two most fuel-intensive burned about 9. Carnival Corporation's fuel per 1,000 berth-days fell from 55.7 to 29.2 metric tons between fiscal 2006 and 2025, while its fuel price ranged from USD 179 to USD 830 per metric ton. The three largest companies spent USD 3,629.9 million on fuel in 2025, and published order values average USD 1.18 billion per new ship on the industry order book. Ocean cruise passengers reached 37.2 million in 2025, and 182 serious incidents were reported on ships serving US ports that year. All inputs are public.