Travelers have been dreaming about the elusive, mile-long 'Freedom Ship' since the ‘90s. Plans are now in place to build the $15B 'floating city'

But Roger Gooch, the CEO and director of Freedom Cruise Line International — the company behind the Freedom Ship — tells Moneywise that the cruise could become a tangible floating home for 80,000 residents in the very near future.

“The initial concept came from a now-deceased engineer for a land-based small city, but [it] migrated onto a waterborne platform due to the land becoming no longer available,” Gooch said, adding the current concept for the Freedom Ship sees the cruise continuously circumnavigating the globe “once every two to three years.”

Despite never making it past the planning stage, the project continues to generate significant buzz online. Recent discussions about climate-resilient communities and the recent rise of remote-work lifestyles — with many laptop-toting workers hitting the open ocean — have sparked renewed interest in the Freedom Ship. Social media users are once again wondering whether the world’s first floating city could ever be one they call home.

And, according to Gooch, the company is currently “in dialogue with investors and concurrently proceeding with the engineering and design processes.”

“Once primary construction processes commence, it will take an estimated three or more years to complete the project,” he told Moneywise. In the meantime, it’s a massive undertaking.

A floating city (and budget) bigger than any cruise ship

The original Freedom Ship proposal was staggering in scale. At roughly 4,500 feet long — nearly a mile from end to end — the vessel would have dwarfed today’s largest cruise ships.

Designers envisioned a floating metropolis with apartments, schools, hospitals, shopping centers, parks, hotels and even an airport built on the ship’s upper deck. Residents would purchase homes onboard and live there year-round while the vessel slowly navigated a continuous route around the globe.

Unlike traditional cruise ships that operate on fixed itineraries, the Freedom Ship would function more like a mobile city. Residents could work, raise families and retire onboard while waking up in a different part of the world on any given day.

For travel aficionados, the appeal is obvious. Instead of choosing between settling down and exploring the world, the Freedom Ship promises both.

The concept emerged long before the term “digital nomads” became commonplace. Today, with approximately 330 million people working remotely and seeking location-independent lifestyles, the idea feels more relevant than it did when it was first introduced.

But the biggest obstacle to building the Freedom Ship has always been cost.

“Due to the cost of the unprecedented mega ship, capitalization has been the primary obstacle,” Gooch said, adding that the estimated construction cost of Freedom Ship is $15 billion, making it one of the most expensive construction projects ever attempted.

Engineers would also face significant challenges related to propulsion, maintenance, fuel consumption, environmental impact and maritime regulations.

Then there are the practical questions. How would a city of 80,000 people govern itself? What laws would apply in international waters? How would healthcare, education and emergency services function while constantly moving between foreign ports?

Cruising for an alternative

Despite these hurdles, interest in floating cities has grown in recent years. Rising sea levels, housing shortages across the U.S. and advances in marine engineering have prompted architects and entrepreneurs to revisit ideas once considered unrealistic.

Projects involving floating neighborhoods, offshore communities and seasteading developments have emerged around the world — though none approach the scale of the Freedom Ship.