My wife was speaking to someone who brought this up in conversation. I was curious as to what veteran travelers thought of it. I'm not advertising mind you, no affiliation and not sure that it would be for me.

The idea here is that there is a plan underway to build a giant ship to continuously circumnavigate the earth, starting in 2007. Called the Freedom Ship, it would be 25 stories tall, and four times longer than the Queen Mary. It would house up to 100,000 people including 20,000 crew. Rather than being a cruise ship, it would be a small mobile city, with owned "real estate", both residential and commercial. Essentially a self-contained economy. On board would be schools, hospitals, a hotel, casino, sports facilities and most amenities found in a small city. There will be a small commercial airport on top and a fleet of hydrofoils for shore excursions.

They plan to skirt along the coast of all the continents except Antarctica and of the Mediterranean, with 70% of their time in port and 30% in transit. A full trip around the world would take 3 years. Kids sports teams would play local teams in port cities and take field trips to the sites on shore.

As I said, I'm not sure I could live in a controlled environment like this one, but I was intrigued by the idea and if it could work. I'm especially curious as to whether this thing really <i>would</i> float, as it will not be a deep-hulled boat, but relatively flat bottomed, like a barge. Also I'm wondering what would happen locally when a 100,000 person city pulls up along side of a city like Dubrovnik or Venice. 100,000 day trippers in town for the next week... hmmm...

What do you think?

www.freedomship.com

picture:
http://www.freedomship.com/freedomsh...w/image5.shtml

A couple of years ago I saw something on TV about a massive cruise ship that was being built, that had big-time LUXURY apartments on it, to be sold exactly as one would sell any piece of real estate. The owners (families, couples, singles) had the option of living aboard full-time and traveling around, or using their apartment as a second or 'vacation' home. The concept sounds somewhat similar to the Freedom Ship, but the design was totally different from what I see on the Freedom Ship's website.

Don't know if it's the same group, and they just changed their design, or if it's a separate thing altogether.

But anyway, my point is that it's an idea that has floated around for a while.

EEK.....floated....no pun intended, lol.

Clifton,

Would you want to live on a ship with 100,000 people that you couldn't get away from?

Hmm. Not much indication of any thought given to the impact they might have on the places they visit. If they don't plan all that in a lot of detail, there might be some embarrassments at immigration

It's probably the same one. They have an &quot;old design&quot; image gallery and a new one. Yeah, no one is getting onboard on the cheap, but some were a little liss extravagant from what I was seeing. Up to 9Million US but down to $212,000 (a closet, I'd imagine). Looks like they were doing the timeshare thing as well.

ira,

You know I was kind of thinking the same thing. Then again, I like open spaces and elbow room. I think this is one of those &quot;facinated in theory&quot; concepts for me. Then again, if you lived in a small city somewhere in the world, away from major urban centers, where do people really go to get away that they couldn't go from the ship (ie on holiday)

Patrick,
That's what I was thinking too. Not so much the passport issue as I assumed they'd have to have one to board. I'd read that everyone remains citizens of their respective countries. No escape from the tax man. But I was thinking of that local impact issue and found nothing on it, but they already have their schedule set and there are some relatively small cities on it.

Hmmmm....you might be right, Clifton.

It's an idea, for sure. But, being a country girl, I think I'd seriously miss those long drives in the countryside, stopping at roadside pumpkin stands in the Fall, or just simply being able to 'get away' from civilization whenever life gets too hectic. Even if I happened to have $9 million sitting around, I honestly don't think I could bring myself to jump on the Freedom Ship bandwagon.

Definitely not for me.

Having a valid passport doesn't necessarily get you in to any country, Clifton. I should think everyone has, like the UK, some catch-all clause allowing the authorities to deny entry in individual cases, and I would guess if there were problems governments could deny permission to enter ports or to disembark passengers.

BrimhamRocks is thinking of The World, which was built and is cruising around now (it moored for a while outside where I live) - about the size of a very large cruise ship, but I think because the apartments give a lot of luxury space it doesn't actually carry that many people. I wouldn't like it - it looked top-heavy to me.

Hi Clifton,

People on land can get away from their neighbors, even if they have to walk.

What do you do when you are 4 days out at sea and can't stand it?

BR,
We have sort of the same upbringing. Very small town in Missouri. Long drives through Ozark country. Autumn leaves. Ahh... I'm not really a sea-farer but I'm curious how this all turns out.

Patrick,
Good point! I suppose outside of visas and other legal constants, immigration could just boot them right back up onto the ship. They are claiming to be bound by all the usual regs governing int'l cruise ships, but then they don't really know that, do they? They are the ones that are changing the rules as re: cruise ships. We'll have to see.

Ira,
Jump? Personally, I don't think I've been attracted to spending my scarce leisure on a cruise ship. Living on one? I'd probably be bobbing in the Atlantic sometime during the maiden crossing.

It's an interesting angle for 'perpetual travellers'

here's the one I read about a few years back

http://www.residensea.com/home.cfm

bigger? I wonder how it handles huricanes, like the one that just ripped into Bermuda

Thanks for correcting me, PatrickLondon and playlad. Looking at the website for The World, http://www.residensea.com/home.cfm , I can see that it is, indeed, the ship I saw on that program a while back. The apartments listed on there are somewhat smaller than those listed on the Freedom Ship website, and The World looks a lot more like a cruise ship than a floating parking garage.

Yes, Clifton, that's exactly what I'm talking about. (I'm from Arkansas, btw)

Despite my own misgivings, I'll be interested to see how it all turns out in the end, technically, financially and socially.

playlad -

Yes, the &quot;residensea&quot; has been in operation about two years now. It's all &quot;high-end&quot; and I think that most of the people who have purchased on ship use as &quot;a port in any store&quot;&quot; they're traveling other places most times and catch ship if they are both in same place at the same time.

Clifton -

100,000 people - most families of 4 in 10,000 sq. ft. can't get along - sounds more like &quot;a ship for fools&quot; or one of those &quot;dooms day movies&quot; - last people on earth! And who would want to be out there with all that H2o?

There is an article in September's Gourmet magazine about a guy who spends a weekend on the ResidenSea -- the focus was his experiences grocery shopping a cooking while aboard. Pretty interesting!
Annette