Titanic trip for money, not respect: Candace Kaw, COLUMNIST

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” Winston Churchill said. Apparently, the people in charge of Fred Olsen Cruise Lines haven’t heard that saying.

The cruise line started booking a cruise that would follow the same path of the infamous Titanic on Wednesday, exactly 97 years after the ship sank. The Balmoral will leave port from Southampton and travel to New York, where the Titanic was supposed to complete its journey.

It will also have 1,309 passengers, the same number as those on the Titanic, serve similar food and offer period entertainment.

On April 15, 2012, the ship will be at the precise spot where the Titanic hit the iceberg, exactly one hundred years after the tragic event.

“We will be avoiding icebergs at all costs. We want authenticity — but not to that degree,” travel agent Miles Morgan, who has chartered the Fred Olsen ships, told the Sun.

Though it has been nearly a hundred years since the Titanic sank and there has been everything from a blockbuster movie to a musical based on its voyage, it seems eerie and morbid to recreate it.

The cruise seems to have less to do with respect for those who died and more to do with making money.

Morgan expects the tickets to sell out fast.

Passage on the ship starts at about $3,775 and includes an airplane ticket back from New York to England.

Candace Kaw is senior majoring in history and mass communications.

Titanic voyage trip of a lifetime: Emily Handy, COLUMNIST

The tragic story of the sinking of the Titanic has been relived in several Hollywood movies, but now history buffs — or anyone with at least $3,775 — can have a more up-close-and-personal seat.

On April 5, 2012, almost 100 years after the Titanic’s final day, a new ship will set sail with 1,309 passengers — the same number the original ship carried on her first and final voyage.

Tickets went on sale Wednesday, and having one should be considered an honor. The first time a liner under the name of Titanic set out across the Atlantic Ocean it was called a historic voyage and indeed made history the night it sunk into the frigid waters. This new trip pays homage to those who lost their lives that night, and is a historical event in its own right.

It will not be the maiden voyage of the Balmoral, the cruise ship that will carry passengers along the same path the Titanic took 97 years ago, but travelers will find other things about the trip eerily familiar. The events, food, music and interior feel of the ship will all be planned to mimic those of the Titanic.

Fears about another sinking should be ignored. The reasons for the sinking of the Titanic have been determined: The crew ignored iceberg warnings, and preventing the number of deaths could have been as simple as providing more lifeboats — the amount of which is one number the cruise will not copy from the original trip.

The sailing of the Balmoral is a tribute to those who died on the Titanic. It will give travelers a chance to relive a time in history they’ve only experienced in movies and should prove an exciting and memorable voyage.

Emily Handy is a sophmore majoring in mass communications.