Take a ride on the Titanic - would you?

[Cachoo]

If it was free and I wasn't in steerage I'd go but otherwise there are too many other things I'd rather do.

[Rex]

A waste of money IMO.

[ballettmaus]

I'm surprised he can rebuild it more or less as the original. I would have thought safety standards today would prohibit a lot of things, like separating the classes so that you cannot pass from one to the other. Wasn't that part of the problem when the Titanic sank that not only were there gates but also that people got lost in a labyrinth of stairwells? I would imagine there would have to be more than just a few adjustments to make the ship pass safety inspections?!

That said, I'd certainly love to see it if it were a more or less exact replica, I have no desire to sail on it though!

[danceronice]

I'm surprised he can rebuild it more or less as the original. I would have thought safety standards today would prohibit a lot of things, like separating the classes so that you cannot pass from one to the other. Wasn't that part of the problem when the Titanic sank that not only were there gates but also that people got lost in a labyrinth of stairwells? I would imagine there would have to be more than just a few adjustments to make the ship pass safety inspections?!

That said, I'd certainly love to see it if it were a more or less exact replica, I have no desire to sail on it though!

Not really. There are areas on every ship that passengers can't pass through except in an emergency, and on QMII there are several areas Britannia-class passengers aren't allowed in (the Grille restaurants, one of the bar/sundeck areas, reserved for Princess and Queen class). Titanic I's biggest problem was even the CREW had trouble learning their way around, even officers who hadn't served on her sister Olympic (Lightoller said in his autobiography that it took him two weeks to be able to get around the ship without a map and he had a couple decades' experience at sea by that point.) Getting Third Class up to the boats was less about locking people away (though some gates were locked) than about no means of mass communication (they had to wake passengers by stewards going door to door and there were 700+ Third Class passengers to alert), a huge percentage who didn't speak English (our local Third Class survivor only found out from some men from her group knocking on her door--fortunately she didn't follow them but grabbed her two kids and went p to the boat deck instead), passengers who (understandable) refused to leave their husbands, refused to leave their belongings (fair enough as for many in Third that was everything they owned in the world) and people just plain getting lost. Or getting trapped; Lightoller sent a crew gang below decks to open some boarding doors so they could load passengers into the boats from there, but they never reached the doors and were never seen again, so even crew members were getting lost or trapped by the water.

And of course since there were no lifeboat drills or assignments, nobody had any idea what they were doing. The crew hadn't been updated on capacity or procedures for the newer-style lifeboats, no one knew what boat they were supposed to be in...basically it was a cluster.

The biggest safety concessions will be things that most people won't see--the bow design and bow thrusters, which will be below the water line. Other stuff like navigation equipment shouldn't be too obtrusive, though there'll have to be deck allowances for lifeboats and life rafts. Those aren't that bad now, though.

[zaphyre14]

I expect to see BYTCH waving from the bow.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

As long as there are enough life boats to support everyone, and the crew are extremely well-trained (at least up to standard as any crew should be on any type of cruise) to handle any sort of crisis, and there's high technology for authorities to keep track of the trajectory and communication, then I don't see the problem.

It's just a ship/cruise like any other except with a theme.

[Sofia Alexandra]

When it comes to making voyages in replicas of lost historic ships, I'd rather got sailing with Götheborg.

[danceronice]

As long as there are enough life boats to support everyone, and the crew are extremely well-trained (at least up to standard as any crew should be on any type of cruise) to handle any sort of crisis, and there's high technology for authorities to keep track of the trajectory and communication, then I don't see the problem.

It's just a ship/cruise like any other except with a theme.

That's it--she will NOT get a certificate to operate if she's not SOLAS-compliant. Cruise lines offshore their registrations to avoid labor laws (mostly about wages and hours) and in the case of US registry some really nasty taxes, not to avoid safety. Given Titanic II's supposed to mimic the relatively long, low profile I'd feel better on her than on the apartment blocks on hulls most cruise lines run (most of those can't do things like QM2's late-season Atlantic runs because they're just too top-heavy.)

And assuming they don't hire the captain from the Costa Concordia....

[Rex]

I expect to see BYTCH waving from the bow.

She's gonna be in that limo with Leo .

That tub better have some balcony cabins on it - passengers want those nowadays. There are a few balcony-free cruise ships out there, but they were built before they came into vogue.

[Whitneyskates]

I wouldn't ride on it, just because I've always thought it was ugly

[Rex]

I wouldn't ride on it, just because I've always thought it was ugly

To each his or her own, but the Olympic-class trio are considered to be some of the handsomest ships ever built...crisp, beautiful lines with broad beams and gorgeous counter sterns.

They just don't need to be built today, that's all. But ugly? No.

[Cyn]

I wouldn't ride on it, just because I've always thought it was ugly

I've always found the ships from that era (the Olympic class from White Star, the Mauritania and Lusitania, and the like) to have a gorgeous elegance that today's cruise ships are sorely lacking. The modern day cruise liners are some of the ugliest designs and look like cheap fabricated crap when compared to the craftsmanship and decor of the ships of a century ago.

[nubka]

I've always found the ships from that era (the Olympic class from White Star, the Mauritania and Lusitania, and the like) to have a gorgeous elegance that today's cruise ships are sorely lacking. The modern day cruise liners are some of the ugliest designs and look like cheap fabricated crap when compared to the craftsmanship and decor of the ships of a century ago.

The Andrea Doria and Cristoforo Columbo (both Italian Line,) looked so sleek and graceful in the water. The 50's really had some beautiful liners.

[Whitneyskates]

Well, just so I won't seem like such a terrible person, I found the interior of the ship, as of all the liners of that era, to be beautiful.