Titanic 2012

[Shelley Dziedzic]

It's not too early to beginning thinking about what we are all planning to do about the Centennial Year. Although a few years away- these things take at least a year in the planning and promotion, and if there is to be a large group, two years advance to book a suitable venue. I would ask all of you out there in the various societies, have you considered a JOINT Titanic Society Convention? Ideally either Southampton, or perhaps New York would be the ideal location for a multi-society function. The mind BOGGLES at the possibilities of speakers and exhibits and the colossal pool of knowledge and talent out there. Who would you like to hear and see? Got some thoughts on this?

 

[Tom Pappas]

Maybe Halifax would be more historically appropriate?

But let's think BIG! How about chartering a ship to leave Southampton on April 10, etc. How much could that cost? A few thousand a head? If we're canny about peddling the media rights, we could probably damn near pay for the whole thing!

 

[Jerry Nuovo]

Say Tom that is a great idea to charter a ship on April 10th of 2012 tracing the route from Southampton to New York. During the crossing the ship could pause at the Titanic wreck site. Sincerely,Jerry Nuovo

 

[Sahand Miraminy]

Why not build another TITANIC! Though people wont like sitting down drinking tea for a week. Im also starting to think about the design of a new Titanic with different rooms. All The Best.

Sahand

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Why not build another TITANIC!<<

If you mean a cruise ship/liner named Titanic, I don't think you'll find any shipping line too keen about the idea. It brings up all the wrong historical memories. For some reason, passengers on cruise ships don't like to be reminded of just how fragile and precarious that life at sea can be.

 

[Sahand Miraminy]

Hey,
Well screw all of em! hehe just kidding. I would go on it if it was going to hit an iceberg! Thats just me though. All the Best....

Sahand

 

[Matt Smith]

Really guys, the main reason would be because of the cost. I heard it would cost about $400,000,000 to build it.

Matt

 

[ian Hough]

Would you like cash or a cheque

Houghie

 

[Jerry Nuovo]

Today it costs on average about $400,000,000 to build an cruise ship.Except for the Queen Mary 2. Since the Queen Mary 2 will be the first true ocean liner to be built in about 30 years,the Queen Mary 2 will cost about $800,000,000. The last ocean liner built was not the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969. It is the Vistafjord in 1973.The Vistafjord today is the Cunard Ship Caronia. Sincerely,Jerry Nuovo

 

[Tom Pappas]

MS: Not the cost per se, but the fact that the backers would like some hope of realizing a return on their investment. Using rule-of-thumb finance, the debt service on the $400 million would be about $4 million a month. So just to pay off the construction loan, you'd have to board 4,000 passengers at $1,000 each (on average) every month. Add to that the cost of fuel, provisions, labor, insurance, and myriad other expenses, and the prospect of attracting enough paying passengers quickly goes way out of reason.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

The idea of being at sea with all the societies is appealing- doesn't matter which ship. Although by 2012, there may not be many doing a transatlantic crossing. If we could charter a whole ship though, I guess we could go where we wanted! More practically though, might be thinking of a hotel in the Edwardian style- in Manhattan, Liverpool or Southampton- even Cobh or Belfast. Do you think we could get all the societies together under one roof at last? Perhaps the convention planning team could be made up of a few people from each society. Vendors and exhibitors are a must and I would love to hear Bill Miller, Maxtone Graham and others speak. Any ideas? Think big.

 

[Don Tweed]

I would be open to anything.
The cruise ,Southamptom, New York.
There is something quite appealling about the idea of retracing her route on that fateful day!
I will start making monthly installments now to secure my cabin for that historical sojourn!!!
Best reguards, Don

 

[Jerry Nuovo]

I was wondering how much would it cost to charter a ship for this crossing across the atlantic. Does anybody have an idea? If it is to expensive to charter a ship and a lot of people still want to do a transatlantic crossing to remember the Titanic, The only solution would be to cross the Atlantic on the Cunard Line. Sincerely,Jerry Nuovo

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Jerry, I think that question would be best addressed to a travel agent, though with 2012 a good nine years off, good luck factoring in inflation.

As to what I plan to do in 2012, to be perfectly honest, I haven't given it a lot of thought. It's still a bit off into the future. I hope to commemorate this day with my freinds that I've made here in this forum, either in a gathering, or by way of the forum and/or the listservs.

 

[Jerry Nuovo]

Michael, You are right. With 2012 a good 9 years from now it is a bit too early to make plans for April,2012. Though next year on April 25,2004 when both the Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Mary 2 sail out of New York together, I will be aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 and I do hope that both ships will sail near the Titanic wreck site to commemorate the Titanic tragedy. Whether or not Cunard is planning a ceremony commemorating the Titanic,I don't know. I know that last April they wanted a ceremony over the wreck site, But the QE2 had to do the ceremony about 100 miles South of the wreck site because of, you guessed right,icebergs. Sincerely,Jerry Nuovo