Abstract As a key system to ensure residential comfort, the control mode of the polar cruise air conditioning system directly relates to the comfort of the cabin environment and the economy of ship operation. Aiming at the characteristics of uncertainty and regulation time delay in the load change of the VAV air conditioning system in the public area of polar cruise ships, this paper models the mechanism of the VAV terminal system and conducts simulation experiments on the Matlab/Simulink simulation platform. By comparing the difference between the traditional PID control strategy and the fuzzy PID control strategy in the control effect, it provides a reference for the optimal control of the polar cruise air conditioning system.