Tempting fate

My mother emailed this to me the other day:

Former Norwegian Crown becomes the Titanic

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Balmoral to sail on Titanic route marking 100th anniversary

Miles Morgan, the UK travel company, has announced that it is accepting bookings for a cruise commemorating the fateful voyage of Titanic one hundred years ago.

The travel specialist has chartered Balmoral, owned by Fred Olsen Cruises, to sail on the historic cruise scheduled for April, 2012, marking the Titanic voyage’s 100th anniversary.

Balmoral will follow the original route, and re-create the same menus and entertainment featured on board Titanic. An early-morning memorial service will be held of 15 April, above the sunken vessel in the Atlantic, exactly 100 years after ship sank.

The ship will carry the same number of passengers - 1,309 – that sailed on the doomed Titanic.

Early in April, Balmoral will depart Southampton, sailing near Cherbourg and then dock at Cobh, in Ireland, which was formerly known as Queenstown – the site of Titanic’s final call on 11 April, 1912.

Miles Morgan, who is the managing director of Miles Morgan Travel, said: “The Titanic still grips the imagination of people throughout the world and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of a unique cruise packed with interest for those with a fascination for the Titanic story.”

The cruise will end in New York, which was Titanic’s intended destination.

For more information:

http://www.titanicmemorialcruise.co.uk/

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Now, okay, maybe I'd only think this was slightly creepy if I didn't know anything about this ship. But my parents have actually sailed on this ship (for that matter, so have I, but their trip was much more eventful), back when it was the Crown and doing the Bermuda circuit.

The ship hit a coral reef.

They were stranded on the reef for an entire day, while three little tugboats tried valiantly to pull them off. We have pictures. My parents actually didn't mind so much, since they've been to Bermuda before, and they had an open bar to get people to stop complaining about being stuck on a coral reef. But, I don't know, if you're going to pick a ship to retrace the Titanic's route, don't you maybe want one that doesn't have a history of... hitting things? Hopefully, they have a new (better) captain.

My dad's response to the email: "Will they have an open bar if they hit an iceberg?? I'm in!!"