MS Titanic 2

Next links jump directly to China’s Titanic hotel and our concise RMS Titanic review featuring the provocative Titanic conspiracy video. You'll be surprised how much you may not know about the world’s most tragic and best-known cruise ship disaster!

Godspeed to the new ship!

Clive Palmer's ship Titanic II

The creator of the Titanic II shipbuilding project is Clive Frederick Palmer (born March 26, 1954) — an Australian businessman managing iron ore, nickel and coal holdings. Forbes Magazine estimated his wealth in January 2013 at USD 895 million.

In late April 2012, Clive Palmer signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with one of China’s largest shipbuilding companies — CSC Jinling — to construct a replica of RMS Titanic. Apart from his “Titanic II” project, Palmer is also known for another ambitious plan — creating a Jurassic Park-style attraction (with over 100 animatronic dinosaurs) at his resort in Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. In 2013, he formed the political party Palmer United to compete in the federal election. He was a candidate for the Division of Fairfax and won the election by 36 votes.

The replica cruise liner is planned to be fully fireproof and built with an ice-strengthened hull (ice class PC6) to withstand icebergs and extreme weather. The maritime industry’s most advanced navigation equipment and all modern safety standards will be implemented.

The “Titanic II Ship” project was initially joined by three major companies — Deltamarin (marine design, engineering, construction support), Tillberg Design Sweden (cruise ship design, hotel and restaurant interiors) and Lloyd’s Register Group Ltd (marine services and vessel classification). The Titanic replica project was also supported by an advisory board. The ship model was tested in Germany.

Between 2015 and 2018, the project was suspended due to Clive Palmer’s dispute with China’s state-owned CITIC Group Corporation Ltd over royalty payments (hundreds of millions of US dollars) owed to Palmer-owned companies.

On October 16, 2018, Clive Palmer (current Chairman of the Paris-based Blue Star Line) appointed his nephew Clive Mensink (former director of Queensland Nickel, Townsville QLD, Australia) as Project Director and company CEO. He is responsible for staff recruitment, crew training and contractor negotiations. The company’s headquarters in Paris, France, was scheduled to open in March 2019.

On October 30, 2018, Ms Baljeet Singh — lawyer and former Blue Star Line employee (Project Director from 2012 to 2015) — was announced as “Global Project Director” for Titanic II. Her responsibilities include organizing and attending worldwide planning and development meetings, liaising with USCG and US government agencies, and overseeing the company’s European Director. She previously worked for Clive Palmer as Legal Director of his mining company.

On December 17, 2018, it was announced that V-Ships Leisure Ltd (a subsidiary of V-Group) was contracted as the ship management company for Titanic II. V-Group is a major vessel management and support services provider and the industry’s first with a dedicated cruise ship division (V-Ships Leisure).

On November 2, 2018, it was announced that Deltamarin rejoined the project. After reevaluating the concept, in 2020 Deltamarin began searching for a shipyard as an alternative to CSC Jinling Shipyard (China).

Titanic Ship Hotel in China (Romandisea Resort)

RMS Titanic inspired the Chinese company Qixing Energy Investment Group to build a full-scale hotel ship replica. The order was placed with Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group.

The Chinese group, which manages energy factories, announced the ship-hotel as part of a theme park officially called “Romandisea Seven Star International Cultural Tourism Resort”. The resort covers 6.7 km² (2.6 mi²). It is located in Daying County (Sichuan Province, China) and features a spa resort (with Turkish baths), artificial beach, amusement park (with medieval castle replicas, a Venetian church replica, clock tower, large swimming pool). The next image shows the resort’s amusement park.

The resort’s main attraction is the life-size Titanic ship-hotel. The project cost nearly CNY 1 billion (USD 165 million / GBP 105 million). Construction was scheduled to begin in 2014, with an initial opening date set for 2016.

The full-size replica is located more than 1200 km (745 mi) from the sea (approximately 114 km / 70 mi from Chengdu). It is 269 m (882 ft) long and 28 m (92 ft) wide, with original features such as a theatre, ballroom, swimming pool and staterooms.

The hotel is floating (moored permanently within a reservoir on the Qi River). China’s Titanic replica has a capacity of 1500 guests per day.

Qixing revealed the plan to rebuild the luxury ocean liner in January 2014. Ticket prices start at CNY 3000 (GBP 350) per cabin per night. Suites start at CNY 100,000 (GBP 11,580). Onboard entertainment includes Vegas-style productions, ballroom dancing, pool-deck parties and menus inspired by the original liner.

The ship was designed over two years, with design and technical services provided by US and UK companies using blueprints of RMS Olympic. Groundbreaking took place in March 2015. Manufacturing of ship parts began in May 2015. The keel-laying ceremony was held on November 29, 2016, attended by Lord Peter Mandelson (British politician). Completion was later rescheduled for 2018.

On-site assembly, originally planned for May 2015, began in late November 2016. In December 2017, hull construction at the assembly site was completed. By September 2017, six of the ship's nine decks were built. In January 2018, it was announced that due to financial issues (including rising steel prices), the project was pushed back until 2019.

Around 50,000 tons of steel were used for construction — more than what is used to build an aircraft carrier. The replica includes many original features (the atrium’s grand staircase, dining rooms, passenger cabins, swimming pool, boiler room 1, engine room, engine replica, mock-up steam engine) plus new facilities (ballroom, cinema/theatre lounge). An audiovisual simulation of the iceberg collision was initially planned but later cancelled. A disaster simulator allows “passengers” to experience a 6D shipwreck atmosphere.

For a Royal Caribbean (Sovereign-class) ship-shaped hotel, see CruiseMapper’s review of the Sun Cruise Resort (Korea).

RMS Titanic

The maiden voyage of RMS Titanic began on April 10, 1912, at noon. The intended journey from England covered approximately 5350 km. Unfortunately, the liner never completed her first and only voyage. On April 14, after receiving six warnings about floating sea ice, the crew sighted an iceberg. Travelling near maximum speed and unable to turn quickly enough, Titanic struck the iceberg at 23:40 (ship time). Within less than 10 seconds, the hull was torn open below the waterline for a length of 91 m. Titanic sank 2 hours and 40 minutes later (at 2:20 ship time / 5:18 GMT) on April 15, 1912.

The tragic story of Titanic has been portrayed in several films because it combines themes of wealth, ambition, love, courage and loss. The first successful film was “A Night to Remember” (IMDB), released in 1958. It was an adaptation of Walter Lord’s 1955 book based on the stories of 63 survivors. Without doubt, the most famous movie inspired by the disaster is James Cameron’s “Titanic” (IMDB), released in 1997. The story centers around the romance between two fictional characters from different social classes: Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) and Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio).

The exact number of passengers and casualties remains debated. Some passengers (mainly business magnates) cancelled their trip shortly before departure. Some travelled under false names and were counted twice in casualty lists. Others died soon after rescue due to injuries, hypothermia or illness. Officially, Titanic left Ireland with 2224 passengers. Approximately 1514 died and 710 survived.

Exhibitions displaying artifacts from the liner can be seen in museums such as the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and the SeaCity Museum in Southampton.

The next YouTube video is dedicated to RMS Titanic’s maiden (and final) voyage.

Next, you can watch “Did Titanic Really Sink” — presenting the conspiracy theory that the sister ships RMS Titanic and RMS Olympic were “switched” as part of an insurance fraud scheme.

Unfortunately, in 2020, the intriguing and highly provocative “Titanic Conspiracy Documentary” (2012 film) was removed from YouTube.