While browsing travel news, I read about the plans of Australian mining billionaire and professor Clive Palmer to create the Titanic II, an exact replica of the Titanic that sank in the Atlantic Ocean more than 100 years ago. Palmer and his Blue Star Line company revealed blueprints of the Titanic II at a press conference in New York City last month and announced the ship will make its maiden voyage in 2016 from Southampton, England, to New York, with 2,600 passengers in 850 cabins.

Palmer plans to recreate the original experience of the first ship almost entirely; the Titanic II will feature a grand staircase, the dining rooms for second and third class, Captain Smith’s sitting room, a gym, Turkish baths and swimming pools. Passengers will even be given 1920s-era costumes. First-class passengers will not be permitted to interact with those in second or third class, though they can chose to switch quarters (and costumes) on the trip.

“The area [for] passengers will be authentic, with the same design and facilities, but there will be modern things such as air conditioning and other features we are debating, such as Internet on the ship,” Palmer said.

One of the main differences between the two ships is the Titanic II will have 18 lifeboats, enough to carry each passenger on board. According to a representative of Blue Line, “It will be the most safe cruise ship in the world when it launches.”

Palmer hasn’t announced ticket prices yet, but he said he received an offer for $1 million. While I don’t think I’ll be journeying across the Atlantic on the replica ship, I do have plans to visit the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia to check out Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, a showcase of artifacts and real-life stories of nineteen passengers aboard the ship. Eight cities in the United States are currently hosting the program and honoring the ill-fated voyage. The exhibits display replicas of ship features such as the grand staircase and staterooms and contains possessions of passengers and pieces of the ship retrieved from the ship’s wreckage on the Atlantic Ocean floor. Upon entering the exhibit, guests receive “boarding passes” with the name of and information about an actual passenger who sailed on the cruiseliner and can search for them on a memorial wall. 

More information on the different exhibits can be found on the website.

Would you want to sail on the Titanic II?

— Monique Barrett, advertising and editorial coordinator