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Editorial: My Thoughts on Titanic II

Oh where do I begin? I guess I could say I don’t understand why somebody would want to sail on Titanic II, much less build it. Let’s start with Clive Palmer.

The Man Behind It

Clive Palmer
Clive Palmer

Clive Palmer is the head of Blue Star Line, the company set to launch Titanic II. He is worth around $800 million and is known for his extravagant and over the top projects. In the past these have included an attempt to create a real Jurassic Park, building a commercial zeppelin, as well as building a mega resort with a casino, hovercraft port, and international airport. Obviously none of these came to fruition. Now he has decided to build Titanic II. His reasoning, “We all live on this planet, we all breathe the same air and, of course, the Titanic is about the things we’ve got in common,” he said. “It links three continents.” He has also often made references to the movie Titanic II and having that “Jack and Rose” moment. He’s really never given a direct reason for wanting to build Titanic II, but he has assured us that he has ” enough money to build the Titanic ten times over if [he] wanted. Honestly, he sounds like a man who just has a ton of money, a lot of spare money, and not enough business sense to realize something is a bad idea.

The Ship Itself

t22Moving onto the ship itself. The Titanic II will be built to specifications that almost accurately match the original Titanic with exceptions for new safety standards such as modern lifeboats. Yes, there will be enough lifeboats this time around. The Titanic II like her sister will also feature a class system onboard. Strike one! There is no way I will ever get on a ship where I am barred from using a certain facilities based on my accommodation class. While some cruise ship’s have private areas and restaurants for suite guests, Titanic II is on a completely different level. Imagine being banned from the casino, bars, restaurants, and lounges just because you are sailing in third class. It’s discrimination and believe it or not, but our society doesn’t allow segregation on that level anymore. I don’t care if I can’t enter a speciality restaurant on a cruise ship because I don’t stay in a suite, but I will not stand for being banned from a majority of the ship. The segregation of the classes also affects meal time. Basically, third class will be chowing down on stew at long cafeteria style tables while first class eats lobster tail in their private dining room. The more you pay, the better you eat. Looking to swim in the indoor pool, and might I add the only pool? Well, be my guest as long as you’re a first class guest! The Titanic II will also have no TV’s in the stateroom or wi-fi anywhere onboard. Strike two. I use the TV for the location map at night and to catch up on the news later in the evening. No wi-fi? I’m a writer, why wouldn’t you want me writing about your ship while I’m sailing on it? Speaking of entertainment and distractions, looking for something to do in the evening? Smoking cigars and playing cards is all there is to do. There is no show lounge on this ship. At least the list of daily activities would be short. Lastly, second and third class staterooms will have shared bathroom facilities. Strike three, you’re out. Do I need to even explain that one any further? One last strike, the Titanic II will not have any balcony staterooms. Not only will this turn off potential customers who prefer to have balconies, but it will prove to be a huge financial loss for Blue Star Line. Balcony staterooms make up the majority of staterooms on cruise ships, because they are so high in demand. A great majority of a ship’s accommodation profits come from balcony staterooms and if the Titanic II doesn’t have any – they will take a huge financial hit.

It’s Place In The Industry

Now, after reading my brief overview of what the Titanic II will be offering, would you sail on it? Most of you will answer no. How do I know? There are no cruise ships currently sailing that offer that type of cruise vacation. Let me explain, if there was true market of cruisers who were looking for that kind of cruise vacation, a major cruise line would have already built a ship like Titanic II and would have snagged that market right up. So what are the odds that there is a large market of cruisers looking for a Titanic II type of vacation? Very slim, in fact, there may only be around 3,000 people who would cruise on the Titanic II. Let me elaborate, last year was the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Two memorial cruises, one on Azamara and the other on Thompson, were organized to sail to commemorate the horrible tragedy. These cruises were themed around the Titanic and offered similar activities to what was onboard the original Titanic while still offering basic amenities such as internet, non-segregated activities, as well as private bathrooms. One sold out while the other went out almost half full. Not even mainstream cruise lines could fill two ships for one cruise. Blue Star Line basically intends to do the same thing minus the basic amenities. Blue Star Line is attempting to appeal to the same group of people who were on these memorial cruises.  My question is how Blue Star Line expects to fill cruises every week for years if two well known cruise lines couldn’t even fill their ships for one week.

In summary, I do not believe that the Titanic II will ever be built. This is mostly because Clive Palmer has moved onto his next project, turning his golf resort into an animatronic dinosaur park. Also, the economics don’t work and the market isn’t there, but I  already mentioned that above. In short, it’s a terrible idea.

Well you’ve heard my side of the story, but now I want to hear from you. I would encourage you to vote in my poll below and I ask that if you vote “She will be built and will succeed,” please leave a comment to explain your take. Thanks!

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By Mike Faust

Mike Faust is an avid world traveler, often found traversing city streets in Asia and Europe rather than his home city of Boca Raton. Mike has touched down in 39 countries, set sail on 35 cruises, and flown over 400,000 lifetime miles.

5 replies on “Editorial: My Thoughts on Titanic II”

Making the comment that he can build the ship 10 times over if he likes implies to me that he doesn’t know about the costs. A net worth of $850 million is nearly the cost of a modern-day cruise ship, so it seems like he’ll deplete his money on just one.

Regardless of money or anything I think it is disrespectful to recreate something that caused so much death!

Actually, I believe that a new ship honoring the Titanic with it’s name is not necessarily a bad idea. However, this would only be a nod to the legendary original…it has no chance if as seems to be the case with Palmer, other than obeying current maritime safety regs in construction, it mimics the original closely not just cosmetically (which to a point would be a cool thing), but the totally outdated and unacceptable class system, and no show lounge, TV or WiFi?? The project Palmer is envisioning might actually make a successful museum, but not a viable pleasure cruise ship.

Excellent editorial, Mike! I was, early-on, very excited about the prospect of Titanic II. But, in recent weeks, I’ve come to have many doubts about whether I would want to sail on her. You managed, with exceptional coherence and focus, to touch on every concern I was having…..and I now am convinced, this project is doomed to failure. I will not be sailing on Titanic II — built or not! I’ll stick with my favorites like Holland America, Cunard and Crystal.
Well done, Shipmate!

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