Retrace the Historic Voyage of the RMS Titanic

100th Anniversary Cruise Planned For 2012

May 1, 2009

A British travel agent is to recreate the tragic voyage of the RMS Titanic, 100 years after the ship struck an iceberg and went down in the North Atlantic.

The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic is to be marked in three years’ time in 2012 with a once in a lifetime cruise following the ship’s original route.

The historic voyage, arranged by British travel agent Miles Morgan Travel, will take place on Fred. Olsen Cruises’ Balmoral, specially chartered for the occasion, will include a memorial service in the early hours of the morning of April 15, 2012 above the exact spot in the Atlantic where Titanic went down, exactly 100 years after the disaster.

Glory Days of the White Star Line

Balmoral will carry 1,309 passengers for the voyage, exactly the same number that set sail on the Titanic. The whole cruise will have a Titanic theme, with menus reminiscent of the glory days of the glamorous White Star Line, owner of Titanic, and entertainment similar to the orchestras and dance bands of 1912. Passengers on the cruise are expected to be Titanic enthusiasts, historians and those with a personal connection to the events of 1912.

Balmoral will leave Southampton on April 9, 2012 and sail close to Cherbourg before docking at Cobh, formerly called Queenstown, in Ireland, where the Titanic made its final port of call on April 11, 1912, picking up passengers bound for a new life in New York. A Titanic heritage tour will take place in Cobh.

The cruise will continue following the route of the RMS Titanic and arrive over the spot where the Titanic sank on April 14. Then there will be a special memorial ceremony between 11.40 pm when the ship hit the iceberg and 2.20 am on April 15, exactly 100 years after the great ship slipped below the icy waves.

Ironically, Balmoral will have to leave port in Southampton earlier than Titanic did so that it can reach the spot where she sank on the actual anniversary; Titanic at its time the largest and most luxurious ship afloat, was actually faster than the contemporary Balmoral.

Arrival in Halifax, Nova Scotia

After the service the cruise continues to Halifax, Nova Scotia where passengers can visit Fairview Lawn Cemetery where 121 Titanic victims are buried, along with Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery and Hirsch Jewish Cemetery, which also have graves of victims of that fateful night.

The cruise continues to New York – the ultimate planned destination of the original voyage – where it is set for an historic welcome.

The voyage is on sale now, even though the event is three years away, and has created great interest on both sides of the Atlantic.

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