Voyage retraces Titanic journey

More than 1,500 people died when the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg

A holiday company is to retrace the voyage of the Titanic as part of the 100th anniversary of the disaster.

The 12-night cruise, with tickets priced from £2,595, will follow the route of the ill-fated ship which sank in April 1912 killing 1,517 people.

HM Balmoral will depart Southampton on 8 April 2012, bound for New York, and will pass the point where the Titanic sank when it hit an iceberg.

Historian David Lawrence said the disaster still "fascinated" people.

The liner sank after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic on its maiden voyage on 15 April 1912, killing 1,517 of the 2,223 people on board.

Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the disaster, who was nine weeks old at the time, died in Southampton in May aged 97.

'Bit gory'

The cruise will pass Cherbourg on the French coast before calling at the Irish port of Cobh, as the original ship did.

It will then sail across the Atlantic, arriving at the Titanic site on April 14/15 where a memorial service will be held.

Millvina Dean was nine weeks old when the Titanic sank

The voyage will then continue to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where many of those who died are buried, before sailing on to New York, the final destination.

Mr Lawrence, president of the Nomadic Preservation Society, said a first class ticket in 1912, with a private balcony, would have cost about £4,500.

"Third class passengers would have a weekly wage of £1. It was a one-way trip for them with a ticket between £500 and £600, a one-way ticket to the new world and they would have sold most of their belongings," he added.

"There are going to be people who will say its a bit gory. The cruise itself is going to be an historical thing, to be able to retrace their steps, but they should do it in a respectable way, remembering the people.

"It's a very fascinating subject, everyone remembers it."