Freedom Ship is an ambitious project that aims to build the biggest ship of all time – by far. Freedom Ship, which as of now is little more than dream that is still in the development stages (the design of the ship isn’t even complete), would be vastly larger than any other ship ever built. Indeed, it’s not even clear if Freedom Ship can be properly called a “ship” – it would be, literally, a floating city. The official website of Freedom Ship claims that the primary focus on the project is not to build the biggest ship of all time. Rather, the goal is to build the world’s first mobile community – this mobile community would float around the sea, which is why it is called Freedom Ship. What is Freedom Ship, and will the planned behemoth ever become a reality?
First, let’s consider the proposed dimensions of this ship (or whatever you want to call it). By way of comparison, let’s consider what is currently the world’s largest cruise ship: Allure of the Seas (of the Royal Caribbean International fleet). Allure of the Seas is 1,187 feet long, 213 feet tall (from the water line), and 208 feet wide, and it can hold 6,360 passengers. Freedom Ship, on the other hand, will be (if it is ever completed and executed to plan) 4,500 feet long, 350 feet tall (presumably from the water line, but the promotional materials don’t specify), and 750 feet wide. The ship will supposedly be able to hold 100,000 people, including permanent residents, crew members, and visitors. It is hard to emphasize how huge of a ship Allure of the Seas already is, and Freedom Ship would be several times larger. The comparison has limitations, however, because once again Freedom Ship isn’t a ship in any traditional sense of the term. (Freedom Ship will not have a hull, for instance.) According to the project’s official website, the ship is “basically a flat-bottomed barge with a conventional high-rise built on top.” It is, as we said above, literally a floating city.
What kind of amenities will be on this floating city? Basically, everything that is in a traditional city (but one that is “luxurious”), as the project seeks to develop a community where people will actually work and live. People could merely visit or vacation there too, but it’s definitely being designed with long-term residents in mind. As such, Freedom Ship would have an educational system, healthcare providers, recreational facilities, entertainment options, and so on. There will also be a large commercial component to the endeavor; there are plans to build an enormous duty-free shopping mall, and a significant portion of the ship (1.7 million square feet) will be used exclusively for “various companies to showcase their products.” Freedom Ship should theoretically function as a normal city, one that just so happens to drift around the world.
In broad outline, that is Freedom Ship. Even though the project was originally proposed in the late 90s, it is still in the development stage, and it is unclear if Freedom Ship will ever be built. Not much has been said about the project in the last few years, and it appears that Freedom Ship International Inc. is still trying to raise money for the project. For now, all we can do is speculate about what life would be like on board Freedom Ship.