An Australian billionaire is to build Titanic II, set to sail in 2016.
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“The plan, he added, is for the vessel to be as similar as possible to the original Titanic in design and specifications, but with modern technology.”*
All in good the best possible taste, I’m sure. Anyway, if you were offered a free trip on it with your costs covered would you accept?
I’d take a free vacation, but this is a really dumb idea. Is there even a demand for a cruise ship that large any more? When the original Titanic was built, travel by ship was virtually the only way to cross the ocean, so big meant efficient. Now it would have to be cruise ship, and that’s probably not going to work.
Apparently so, see the Oasis of the Seas vs Titanic. You’re right that the original was a passenger liner and not a cruise ship, though.
The original specifications? Does that include the communal showers? The Titanic had only a very few private bathrooms.
Just to be a tad nit-picky, the Titanic was an ocean liner, not a cruise ship. Her displacement was just over 53,000 tons. She could carry just over 2200 passengers.
This past January, I went on a Caribbean cruise. The ship’s displacement was 81,000 tons, and I think there were around 2400 passengers, but I don’t remember how many crew. And this was one of the smaller ships for Royal Caribbean. I believe they’ve built one that carries more than 5000 passengers and displaces around 200,000 tons.
To compare to an ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2 carries over 2600 passengers and is over 151,000 tons. So yes, there is demand for ships that large, and yes, there are those who like to travel by sea, although I expect most passengers are there for the cruise rather than getting from point A to point B. We’re looking at doing a transatlantic crossing in the next few years.
And yes, I’d go. I’m not superstitious.
OK, I learned something new. I’m amazed that there are cruise ships that large. I went on a cruise once, but the ship was not that big.
The largest cruise ship displaces about 100,000 tons. The 200,000+ tons figure is a measure of Gross Tonnage, which confusingly is a measure of volume, not mass.
RMS Queen Mary 2 displaces about 76,000 tons, about 50% more than Titanic, but has far more interior space.
Thanks for the correction/clarification. I think I knew the difference but it’s early and I’m still working on caffeination… 
You’re welcome, the two frequently get mixed up, including in newspaper articles.
To return to the OP, I suggest giving it a different name to avoid jinxing it. Maybe something catchy, like Titan.
I’d totally go if someone paid my way, or it was cheap, or for whatever reason I had a ton of money to blow.
It’s no more likely to have some kind of accident than any other cruise liner it’s size and sailing (should we still use the word sailing if there are no sails?) in the same waters.
I’d go in a heartbeat. Hope the modern tech will all be behind-the-scenes. I’d want it to look as much like the original, inside and out, as possible.
But I can’t believe that it’d be commercially viable.
As long they assure me that it’s unsinkable, I’d go.
It’s a pity Violet Jessop didn’t have a daughter, who could have sailed on the maiden voyage.
Because that’d be the only thing that could make this whole venture even more doomed.
Will the ship include an old Marconi spark gap radio system?
And sailing at top speed at night (around ice) will be mandatory!
Full ahead, Mister Murdoch!
There’s absolutely a market for this ship. By today’s standards, it will be a small ship, carrying just short of one-fourth of the passengers that can get stuffed into some of the new monstrosities like Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, which can hold 6,360 people. Personally, I don’t find that terribly alluring.
If there are mega-ships such as ResidenSea’s The World, whose primary purpose is floating housing for the silly-rich, there will be a market for a ship whose purpose is high-end luxury. I’m assuming they don’t plan on replicating steerage class.
Any ideas on what company will be actually operating the Titanic II? My bet would be on either Seabourn or Cunard, both of which are luxury names owned by Carnival.
Sure, why not?
It would be so neat if there were a restaurant that would duplicate the over the top cuisine of the original Titanic. [I have the [book](The last dinner on the Titanic - a menu for the meal served in the first-class dining saloon of the Titanic on the night of April 14, 1912) and am gently cooking my way through it:D]
I’d go in a heartbeat too. I think it would be really cool if they did a “living history” cruise with people wearing period clothing and such (minus the iceberg, of course).
Other. I get seasick.
This is quite possibly the most awesome thing I have read all month.
Now see here–
We insist on AUTHENTIC authenticity around here, and if that means that you have to be sunk, well, that’s just a fact of life, and you’d jolly well better grin and bear it.
