Titanic 100th anniversary: Kensington Tours travel firm offers dive to explore wreck
The site where the fateful Titanic sunk in the Atlantic Ocean looks set to be a busy area next year as travel companies cash in and mark a century since the tragedy.
While two cruises - set to trace the exact journey of the Titanic, even hovering above the site where it sank 100 years ago on April 14 at 2.20am - have already sold out, another travel company has gone a step further, charging an eye-watering $66,257 (41,784) to dive down to the wreck itself.
The 15-day 'exclusive' dive expedition - scheduled to take place from June to August next year - will offer Titanic 'fans' the chance to see the ship's eerie remains 12,500ft below the surface of the Atlantic.
The controversial voyage is offered by Kensington Tours and embarks from St. John's in Newfoundland, Canada, 329 miles from where the ship ran into trouble.
Titanic enthusiasts will take a submarine trip to explore the remains of the ship which famously struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on April 15 1912.
Dubbed the 'unsinkable' ship, it went down in under three hours, killing 1,517 passengers and crew of the 2,224 on board.
Mammoth: The Titanic in its shipyard in Belfast shortly after construction - a group of shipbuilders gather under the propellers
Watery end: A starboard wing propeller from the Titanic shipwreck lies 12,500 feet down in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean
The wreck lay undiscovered on the ocean floor until 1985, when an American-French expedition pinpointed its final resting place south-east of Newfoundland.
The Kensington Tours itinerary startswith time in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which takes in a permanent exhibition, the pier from where ships were sent to rescue victims and Fairview Cemetery, where over 120 victims now lie.
Fromthere, guests will travel to St. John's, attending an 'introductory expedition dinner' before going aboard the dive expedition ship which takes them to the site in the Atlantic Ocean, where they will spend seven days.
Exploration: Thrill-seekers may get a glimpse of the prow of the Titanic on the dive down to the ocean floor
Thegroup's arrival at the site will be 'marked by a short ceremony to commemorate the loss of this fine ship' before diving starts.
Participants will enjoy a deep-sea dive - during the day or at night - down to the wreck in a Russian MIR submersible dive unit, which is able to plunge to depths of up to 20,000 feet (6,090m).
There will be lectures and briefings to prepare travellers and orientation sessions, plus films and presentations from experts. The journey down to the ocean floor takes around two and a half hours.
Artefacts: A spare anchor sits in its well on the wreck which sunk killing 1,517 people, a story that still moves people a century on
Kensington Tours promises: 'On the way from bow to stern, or vice versa, your MIR will move out into Titanics debris field. You will see numerous artefacts strewn across the ocean floor, undisturbed for a century. These w! ill not be touched.'
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Guests will be able to see one of the ship's boilers and one a propeller with the chance of spotting deep sealife such as rattail fishes and squat lobsters.
'Keep in mind that you are one of the few to have dived to these depths and seen these animals alive,' the trip description adds.
Prices for non-submarine divers start at $12,498 (7,881) per person.
Tours that appear to be cashing in on the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic have come under fire from some, particularly relatives of those who died in the tragedy.
Passengers taking one of the centenary cruises were slammed on the cruisecritic.co.uk forum for discussing how they would dress up as 'characters' who were on board the Titanic when it sank.
One member on the forum, with the username dd714, hit out at the self-confessed Titanic 'fans', saying: 'I like the idea of a costume party, yeah yeah. Now tell me - who will be dressing up as my wifes great grandfather?
'More specifically, who will be taking a memorial plunge in the 30 degree [fahrenheit] Atlantic ocean at the place where he met his death 98 years ago to experience what was described by survivors as a thousand knives going into the body"?'
The member went ! on to cr iticise the use of the word 'fan' in relation to the Titanic, claiming it was inappropriate to 'have five days of party' in memory of a disaster.
Comparing the tragedy to the likes of the World Trade Centre attack, he goes on to say that 'a costume party at ground zero, complete with partiers dressed as firemen' would never happen.
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