Titanic replica to set sail in 2018

Titanic II, the brainchild of Australian businessman and politician Clive Palmer will be recreated almost to the exact detail of the Titanic that sunk over a 100 years ago, and will set sail in 2018.

Titanic II will not have amenities like robot bartenders and giant slides that most modern day cruise ships boast, but instead will stick to the amenities provided by the original Titanic, like a small swimming pool, Turkish baths and an Edwardian gym. In fact, it will not even have a TV or other modern technology.

It will also have the same design as the Titanic with second and third class cabins and dining rooms, the grand staircase, smoking room, Café Parisien and Marconi Room. However, it will have some features that were not present in the “unsinkable” ship, like a helipad on the aft deck.

Other distinguishing features include modern safety and design requirements, such as a welded hull instead of a riveted one, a diesel-electric propulsion system instead of steam engines, stabilisers, and high-tech navigational equipment. It will also have enough lifeboats for everyone on board, unlike the Titanic, and will be 13ft wider than the original ship, but its length (885ft), height (174ft) and weight (40,000 tonnes) will be similar and it too will have nine decks, according to the Belfast Telegraph.

The new vessel will have 840 cabins across its three classes and a capacity of 2,435 passengers and 900 crew. Although a price tag has not yet been revealed yet, construction cost estimates have ranged from £300million to £400million.

There was even talk in the past of supplying period costumes for Titanic II passengers who want to get into the spirit, although it's not known if that is still being considered.

The project was initially announced to be built at the CSC Jinling Shipyard in China in 2012 and set to launch in 2016, but last September a spokesperson for Palmer told the Belfast Telegraph that the launch would be delayed until 2018.

Yet there is still some uncertainty as to whether the controversial ship will ever be built.

Titanic II will not take the same route on its maiden voyage, and instead of a transatlantic crossing from Southampton to New York, it will sail from Jiangsu, China, to Dubai.

These images show how the planned Titanic II will stick to the incredible detail of the original ship that sank in the Atlantic Ocean:

PHOTO: BLUESTARLINE.COM.AU

PHOTO: BLUESTARLINE.COM.AU

       PHOTO: BLUESTARLINE.COM.AU

PHOTO: BLUESTARLINE.COM.AU

PHOTO: BLUESTARLINE.COM.AU

PHOTO: BLUESTARLINE.COM.AU

PHOTO: BLUESTARLINE.COM.AU

PHOTO: BLUESTARLINE.COM.AU

This article originally appeared on Mail Online.