Plans for The World's largest ship.

Freedom will dwarf the Queen Elizabeth II and become a permanent home for 50,000 people.

"Freedom will be large enough to bring on more than 50,000 residents, 15,000 employees, 20,000 day guests and still have four times as much roaming-around square footage per person as the most modern cruise liners," says Norman L. Nixon.

He loves to talk about the enormity of it all. "Walk in a straight line for about 12 minutes," he says. "If you don't dawdle, you'll cover slightly less than a mile. Now, make a right turn and walk beyond the length of two football fields. Duplicate these lines to make a rectangle, then look up to the height of a 25-story building. This is what Freedom will be."

Listening to him talk about it, you begin to understand why Nixon doesn't refer to Freedom Ship as the world's largest vessel, but the world's first floating city.

Once under way, life aboard Freedom will be more like living in a bustling city than being on a vacation cruise. Because of its size, the ship will have its own railway system. Courtyards set about its decks will create interior park and recreation areas. Nixon has calculated that the resident population can support its own local economy, which means that residents will, in many cases, also be operating businesses at sea, in malls throughout the length of the ship.