A rendering of Titanic II. Image via Blue Star Line
There will be no emailing, Facebooking or tweeting about the voyage aboard the Titanic II in order help replicate how passengers may have experienced life aboard the original luxury Titanic in 1912.
The Jinling Shipyard in Nanjing, China, has already signed an initial agreement to build Titanic II with billionaire mining tycoon Clive Palmer, owner of the Blue Star Line Pty Ltd cruise line. The cost of the project has not been revealed.
The Times of India reported Palmer as having said the kibosh on email and social media aboard Titanic II will offer passengers a chance to return to a different age, when there was a different social fabric.
“It’s no bad thing to take some time with your family and friends,” Palmer said. “In 1912 things were simpler.”
The Times of India also reported that Titanic II passengers will be issued with a wardrobe of 1912 clothes.
On 15 April 1912, while on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, claiming more than 1,500 lives. The ship had only 20 lifeboats for some 2,200 passengers and crew.
Titanic II is to be completed by 2016 as a full-size working replica of Titanic. However, Titanic II will include advanced technologies.
Around 40,000 people have already expressed an interest in booking one of its 835 first, second or third-class cabins for the voyage planned to begin in late 2016.
