A company called Freedom Cruise Line International is reviving a 30-year-old concept for a floating city that would carry 80,000 people around the world on a vessel nearly a mile long. The Freedom Ship would be 800 feet wide, 30 decks high, and displace 2.3 million gross tons, making today’s largest cruise ships look like dinghies by comparison. It would house 50,000 permanent residents alongside 10,000 cruisers and 20,000 crew, with high-rise hotels, a 15,000-seat sports stadium, a research hospital, schools from elementary through college, an aquarium, museums, a water park, a casino, and 15 miles of walkways.
The ship would circumnavigate the globe every two years at seven knots, staying in international waters and ferrying passengers to shore by smaller vessels. The concept was first proposed in the 1990s and has been revived multiple times without getting off the ground. Current CEO Roger Gooch says he has a 12-person leadership team in place and insists the demand exists, but acknowledges that raising the estimated 12 billion dollars in startup funding remains the central challenge.
Source: Yahoo Travel
