Titanic II Prepares to Set Sail, Clive Palmer Unveils Blueprints for Replica Ship, Seeks to Mimic Original Experience

Titanic II is getting ready to set sail...on the North Atlantic Ocean, that is, and not on the silver screen. Although a sequel is not in sight for DiCaprio and WInslet's classic movie, the cruise ship upon which the Hollywood hit was based, is in the process of being recreated along with the experience.

USA Today states that Australian billionaire Clive Palmer unveiled his plans on Tuesday for construction of Titanic II, a cruise ship designed as a "full-scale re-creation" of the original Titanic, which sank in the Atlantic Ocean in April 1912. He wants to "complete the journey" that the original Titanic set upon nearly a decade ago before it unfortunately sank. Titanic II will "sail into New York on the ship they designed," Palmer states.

The billionaire, who refused to reveal the actual cost of building the ship, said "the Titanic was a ship of dreams," and "the Titanic II will be the ship where dreams come true."

Displaying a blueprint for the Titanic II at a news conference aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Palmer announced that the ship will be built in China and begin carrying passengers in the third quarter of 2016. It will be built 883 feet long - 3 inches longer than the original Titanic - and weigh 55,800 gross tons, according to Palmer. It will carry a maximum of 2,435 passengers and 900 crew members, and include a gymnasium, Turkish baths, a squash court, a swimming pool, a theater and a casino, reported in USA Today. 

According to The Guardian, the Titanic II seeks to replicate the original cruise experience so hardcore that the ship is even split into three different classes, just like the first Titanic where poor immigrants took steerage while the highest echelons of Edwardian society enjoyed luxury in first class. Palmer said the guests would be segregated into the different classes though he claimed he wanted to journey in steerage because - just like in James Cameron's movie Titanic - that was where the fun people would be traveling. "I will be in third class. I will enjoy it," he claimed.

Unlike the original, however, Titanic II will feature a modern hospital, a helicopter landing pad, full air-conditioning and access to high-speed internet. Further, it has more than enough lifeboats and evacuation equipment for all passengers and crew should the unthinkable happen and history repeat itself. It was a point that Palmer was careful to dwell on.

Palmer will even go to the extremes of offering the guests aboard the new ship the option to wear costumes similar to the dress worn by Jack and Rose a decade ago. Maybe guests will even find a replica of the car on board where the lovers had their first "steamy" encounter, who knows.

It has also been said that the new ship will most likely follow the same route from Europe to Americas. Already 40,000 applications have been submitted to be part of the maiden voyage in what is surely a "triumph of hope over experience" - and a sign of the clever marketing campaign that lies behind the project, states The Guardian.

Palmer is hopeful and confident that his new ship will avoid the jinx of sinking like its mother ship.  "There are not so many icebergs in the North Atlantic these days," he said.

Although Jack and Rose will not be on board the Titanic II this time around, their "hearts will go on" as Palmer seeks to "complete the journey" that they first embarked upon together. However, If history does happen to repeat itself on the Titanic II, everyone who has seen the movie knows better than to be selfish like Rose and to make room for their significant other on the wooden plank instead of letting them freeze to death in the water.