How Big Is Too Big?

I saw an article this week about the possibility of a massive cruise ship being built. And when I say massive it beats the current biggest passenger ship in the world hands down.

For a start it will be a mile long. The ship will sustain a population of 100,000 people comprised of 40,000 residents, 20,000 full time crew, 30,000 daily visitors, and 10,000 overnight guests to the hotel and casino. The company behind the idea is called Freedom Cruise Line International and the proposed name is the Freedom Ship. This is how the ship is promoted on the website:

“The primary focus of the project is to create a community that offers unique life-style opportunities. Freedom Ship would be the world’s first mobile community. It would provide an international, cosmopolitan, full-spectrum, residential, commercial, and resort city that circles the globe once every three years.

It would offer a wide array of novel opportunities for business ownership, travel, and daily living. The ship is as large as it is, simply because that is the minimum size required to make the community economically self-sustaining and a desirable and attractive place to live.”

Currently the world’s biggest cruise ship is Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas with a maximum capacity of 6,680 passengers.

The ship also plans to have a landing strip so people can be flown in to join the ship even when it’s at sea. Freedom Ship intends to circumnavigate the globe in 2 year sailings which will take in many countries and ports. And the cost to build such a vessel? A mere $11 billion!

I heard talks about this idea many years ago and just thought it was pie in the sky, but now the company is hoping that construction will start within a year. I like the idea of living in a mobile city although would I be in a constant state of wondering where in the world I am? Also with the cost to build it I don’t think I will be able to swap my little terraced house for a luxury condo on Freedom Ship any time soon. Would you fancy having a floating home on this ship?

Read more about the facts here

TTFN!