The America World City, the world’s largest passenger ship – if it is ever built – which would sail under American flag is part of the American Flag project. It only took a decade and $60 million has been invested in this project which is now ready for development. But that might not happen anytime soon as the U.S. government prohibits the use of its Title XI ship financing program – which was originally drafted to create American jobs – for American-flagged cruise ships. The World City president, Ms. Stephanie Gallagher, in an open letter to President Obama writes that none of the 200+ ocean-going cruise ships operating in the North American cruise market “hire American officers or crew, and none pay U.S. income tax on their multibillion-dollar annual profits – unlike every other U.S. hospitality organization.”
The designers of this cruise ship have improved all of the features which are incorporated in the current cruise ships and have taken them to a new level of innovation. Some of the unique features will include the enclosed, instant boarding 400-person life craft, energy efficiencies, waste management, green technologies, and advanced security systems. The vision is in the prototype, now all they need is to make that vision into a reality.
The ships is estimated to weigh 265,000 gross tons, which is a lot bigger than the current biggest cruise ship in the world, the RCCL Oasis of the Seas, it will have 2,800 guest rooms and suites, and carry about 8,000 people with 2,600 American officers, crew, and hotel staff.
The ship will include a lot of everyday amenities that one little town does, in a sense that is the whole idea behind creating this megaton cruise ship. It will have conference rooms, pools, sports complexes, about seventeen restaurants, bars, bistros, cafes, thirty shops and boutiques, a library, a museum, art gallery, and so on.
This cruise ship sounds amazing and it will support the American economy, as well as create jobs in the States. One may wonder why this cruise ship would run into any problems in order to be built. World City shades a light to this matter by saying that “politics and special interests…the rich, non-taxpaying foreign-flag cruise industry does not want an American entrant into this market because it will focus the spotlight on the reality that these hospitality companies are operating unfair in competition with American hotels, resorts and entertainment facilities…they especially don’t want the American Flagship Project to happen because it promises to build the largest, safest and greenest passenger ship in the world, to fly the Stars & Stripes, to hire Americans, and to pay taxes live every other U.S. hospitality organization. That’s why.”
