Palmer has always sated that he wants the Titanic II to look and feel as original as possible. However, Palmer has to comply with all modern maritime safety regulations (SOLAS). The ship will have modern engines, modern lifeboats and state-of-the-art control and communications equipment, but these will generally be hidden from view.
However, Titanic II will have an additional deck, called the “safety deck”, which did not appear on the original RMS Titanic. Unfortunately, the details of the safety deck are still sketchy, as are the renderings. They are bound to be revised. Therefore, a bit of speculation will be required to interpret them.
Safety Deck, Fwd (courtesy Deltamarin)
The Safety Deck Analysis
The safety deck will be between C and D decks and its main purpose is to house the modern style (enclosed) lifeboats on a promenade for boarding.
The boat deck (the very top/open deck) will accommodate replicas of the original lifeboats. These are unlikely to be for use and are probably mounted too high for safe deployment.
Space for the “Safety Deck” was made by lowering decks D and below by 2.8 metres and by raising the Superstructure by 1.3 metres. In spite of the reduced draft, space was made for the lowered decks by removing the Orlop deck, which mainly housed the boilers.
Looking at the deck plans above: It is worth noting that there are eight lifeboats (dual purpose as ‘tenders’) and one lunch (rescue boat) each side, so a total of sixteen lifeboats.
It is also worth noting the location lifeboat access promenade decks, port and starboard, (labelled ‘exterior’ deck) and the two staircase ‘atriums’, forward and aft. These take quite a lot of space away from any potential new public rooms. At stern there is a label saying “New pubic rooms or 3rd/2nd class cabins”.
Crew Cabins and Medical Centre
The rendering below, which also lacks detail, has a menu that contradicts the label above that says “New pubic rooms or 3rd/2nd class cabins”. and says ‘Crew Cabins” – so that decision is yet to come.
Crew cabins, unless they are officers or entertainers, are rarely located on a public deck, onboard most cruise ships. They are often located deep within the hull and not on passenger decks. An alternative source has stated that crew cabins on-board the Titanic II will be located low on deck G, the second from lowest deck, above the engines. This is more typical.
As for the ‘Medical Centre’ (Palmer called it a Hospital) these are NOT normally located on public decks either, but in the bowels of the ship. Who wants to witness a queue of sea-sick passengers at times, near the shop and theatre? however Titanic II may well be the exception to this rule?
Looking at the rendering below: which also lacks detail, you can count nine modern specification orange lifeboats and one launch on both the port and starboard sides of the vessel. These makes eighteen lifeboats in total. (Two more than the deck plan above)
Enough Lifeboats?
The rendering at the very top of the page shows nine lifeboats and one tender, on one side of the ship.
So there are up to eighteen lifeboats which will be motor driven, with a capacity for up to 250 people each. (RMS Titanic’s only held 65 passengers). That is a maximum of 4,500 spaces. This is well in access of Titanic II’s proposed maximum passenger capacity of 2, 345 + 900 crew, giving a total of 3,245
The modern lifeboats are all motor driven, have modern communication equipment onboard and are enclosed for comfort.
As well as modern lifeboats on the Safety Deck, Palmer has said that there will be a medical centre, shop/s, a casino and a theatre, also located there.
Casino and Shop
The original Titanic did not have a Casino, they are not a British tradition anyway. However Casino’s are one of the most profitable public rooms on-board modern cruise ships. I suspect that American and Chinese passengers will particularity enjoy such a facility.
Shops are another good income generation facility on-board ships. Big modern cruise ships tend to have a number of shops on-board (like a mini-shopping mall), often selling the expensive ‘designer’ brands.
The only shop on-board the RMS Titanic, was the First Class barber’s shop on C deck, which also sold some souvenirs to passengers. There was no space on-board RMS Titanic that was specifically designated for shopping. On the Titanic II rendering above, the space on the image right is labelled “shopping”. It does not look very extensive compared to modern ships, but of course her design is not based on a modern ship!
The black space directly behind the shops, or the one to the left may be the Casino? I see no other larger spaces on the rendering that look suitable.
The Theatre
Modern cruise passengers expect to be entertained. They are normally treated to West End style shows, each evening. These are often delivered by a large cast of performers, singers, dancers and musicians.
Most modern Cruise ships have very large Theatres (often bigger than many Broadway/West End Theatres) which have a large stage, scenery and a full lighting rig. They can often accommodate thousands of passengers – sometimes half the ships passenger compliment at once. Having two performances in an evening can accommodate all of the ships passengers.
Some big modern ships have additional venues for comedy, live music and even a dedicated space for Circus style acts (NCL/MSC).
The original Titanic of course had NO formal entertainment facilities, just a few classical musicians.
If you look at the rendering above, the space on the image left is labelled “Theatre”. However it is not a very large space (if it is to scale), being 2.5 times the length of a lifeboat and of course not the whole width of the deck. This is because of the lifeboat promenade deck, port and starboard, take away space from the room.
It is obvious that Titanic II’s Theatre will be pretty small and only be able to accommodate a proportion of the proposed 2,435 passengers. I’m guessing a few hundred passengers at most. (Remember everything about Titanic II is small when compared to most modern cruise ships).
The term “Theatre” is actually the wrong word in this case, it will be a “Show Lounge”, the type often found on older/smaller ships. It will be probably be a simple affair, obviously with a non-raked floor, given the fact that this is a single height room/deck. Unfortunately, the sight-lines are always compromised by this design. (Sometimes video monitors are provided at the back of the room, for passengers furthest away from the stage).
The stage will have to be be low, small in size and the opportunities for elaborate scenery and complex stage lighting etc. minimal. However this does not mean that it cannot accommodate excellent shows. It could also double a lecture theatre (Titanic history etc.) and a cinema, using a ceiling mounted data projector or video-wall.
The image above is of a typical ‘show lounge’ on-board a smaller ship. Typically spreading entirely across the width of a deck, they are often located towards the bow.
The one pictured has a capacity of around 450 passengers. Two show’s per evening can accommodate all the ships guests. (The view of the stage in the image looks fine, but no people heads are shown and get in the way. In reality, as already stated, the view from halfway onwards, are not great).
The modest show lounge above, is still probably bigger than the Titanic II’s will be. Multiple repeat performances would be needed to allow all the Titanic II passengers on-board, to all see the same event. Organised ticket allocation will be required, to give every passenger a chance to see the same event.
Other Non-Original Facilities
The Titanic II will have modern generators and the associated diesel/electric engine equipment, rather than big steam boilers, pistons and coal storage. Therefore this equipment does not take as much space within the hull, as they did on the original ship. Therefore there is quite a lot of spare space within her hull.
It has been suggested that there will be a museum display in the hull, although this has not been confirmed.
Titanic’s II two front funnels will not be used for engine exhaust. Palmer has other plans for these.
I have a separate page about the funnels: HERE
Malcolm
Titanic II News 