Cruising – Titanic 100th Anniversary Cruise

The film Titanic was the highest-grossing movie of its time.  Millions of us around the world have seen this romance-disaster blockbuster and experienced, through surround-sound, the first and final ill-fated voyage of this luxury liner.

Billed as the safest and most luxurious liner in its days, the Titanic collided with an iceberg on April 14th, 1912 and sank, taking the lives of 1,513 passengers and crew.

Tracing the journey of the Titanic

A British travel company is capitilizing on this ill-fated voyage by re-creating a trip to mark the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking.  The Fred Olsen Cruise Line’s “Balmoral” will be chartered to replicate the Titanic’s journey.  It will:

• Leave from Southampton in April 2012
• Carry 1309 passengers, the same number carried by the Titanic
• Call at the historic Irish port of Cobh where the Titanic made its last port of call on April 11, 1912
• Arrive at the exact location of the collision on April 14

The Balmoral will then sail to Halifax in Canada where 121 of the victims were buried, before going on to New York.

The travel company organising this trip says that the voyage will be “steeped in Titanic history” and feature menus, music and dancing of the time.  There will be lectures by Titanic experts and a memorial service will be held between 11:40 p.m. when the liner hit the iceberg and 2:20 a.m. when it sank.

Although the cruise is a long three years away, the trip has been put on sale at fares ranging from GBP 1,999 to  GBP 4,093, including air travel back from New York to Britain.  There’s no guarantee that Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet will be on board.

“Memorial cruise” or “a cruise for thrill-seekers”,  I’m sure it will attract a lot of interest.  Given the state of the GBP, it might be a good idea to book this early –  for those who are interested!

To read more about historic Cobh, click here.