Huge new ‘floating city’ will have homes, schools, and a 15,000-seat stadium

It’s set to be the largest vessel ever built, at over a mile long (Picture: Freedom Cruise International)

Almost 30 years on from the idea first being floated, it looks like the world’s first ‘city at sea’ could finally soon set sail.

Measuring up at over a mile long and 800ft wide, the Freedom Ship is set to be bigger than any vessel ever built, with capacity for 80,000 passengers across 30 decks.

This isn’t just a colossal cruise liner though — proposals envision 50,000 of those on board being permanent residents, circumnavigating the entire globe every two years as part of a mobile ocean colony.

Although the ship will stop for at least a week at a time at various different destinations, its inhabitants should have everything they need to never step foot on land again, from schools and banks to offices and even a research hospital.

The Freedom Ship comprises 30 decks (Picture: Freedom Cruise International)

Beyond essential facilities, blueprints also show a 15,000-seat sports stadium, a convention centre, a two-storey food hall, three acres of parks, a shopping mall, casino and a full-service spa.

If that wasn’t enough, there’ll be two museums, eight helipads, a symphony hall, and a nightclub, along with a water park, and an aquarium where divers can swim among tropical fish.

Passengers will have access to all the amenities they expect on land (Picture: Freedom Cruise International) There’s even on-board schools providing education from early years up to secondary age (Picture: Freedom Cruise International) Passengers have no shortage of food options to choose from (Picture: Freedom Cruise International)

To get from A to B, passengers have the option of riding the on-board tram system, or exploring the Freedom Ship’s 15 miles of walkways.

And going ashore could prove something of a mission too.

Because of the boat’s sheer size — nearly seven times the length of the Titanic and nine times that of the Villa Vie Odyssey ‘residential cruise ship’ — it can’t actually dock in any port, so will have to stay in international waters, transporting guests to and from terra firma via a fleet of ferries.

The ship has capacity for 50,000 full-time permanent residents (Picture: Freedom Cruise International) In terms of length, it’d be nearly seven times that of the Titanic (Picture: Freedom Cruise International) Passengers can travel to dry land via smaller ferries, or explore the ship on its tram system (Picture: Freedom Cruise International)

The concept has been in the works since the 1990s, when US engineer Norman Nixon proposed a community free from the laws of traditional nation states.

However, financing the £12 billion project proved difficult, and following Nixon’s passing in 2012, a number of others have also failed to get it off the ground.

Now in the hands of Freedom Cruise Line International CEO Roger Gooch and a new, 12-strong leadership team, bosses are ‘confident’ it could at last go ahead.

Plans show a whole host of leisure facilities, including a casino and spa (Picture: Freedom Cruise International) Did we mention the 15,000-seat stadium? (Picture: Freedom Cruise International) Essential services like offices and banks will also feature (Picture: Freedom Cruise International)

Despite still needing to raise its start-up capital, the company has also forged ahead with hiring architectural firm of Schopfer Associates, in the hopes it will elevate the ship ‘from an unprecedented engineering endeavour to a fully realised, livable global environment.’

According to Gooch, once the Freedom Ship build is funded, construction will begin in Indonesia, and is expected to take three to four years — but people could start moving in once it’s just halfway complete.

‘Maintenance on our hull would actually be done while it’s in the water every day, even while it’s moored off shore,’ he told The Telegraph. ‘The ship will constantly circumnavigate the globe, it never has a home port

The chief executive was also keen to allay any environmental concerns, claiming the vessel would clean oceans as it crosses them, and use nuclear power to reduce the hefty carbon emissions commonly associated with cruise liners.

Apparently, the team have even discussed hosting a Taylor Swift concert in the middle of the ocean — which, if it does come to fruition, would be a surefire way to get people on board.

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