Is there a person on this planet that hasn't heard of the Titanic? I'm betting it's the most famous cruise ship that the world has ever known. But do you really know that much about it? Well...first off ship stats...
- It was built in 1909 to 1911 in Belfast, UK
- It's first and only voyage held 2,240 passengers
- The ship was 882 feet long and 9 total decks
- It cost around $7,000,000 in 1909 dollars to build
- The Titanic could cruise up to 23 knots (26mph)
- It put out 46k of horsepower pushing 3 propellers
But the Titanic was a ship of both mass proportions AND modern features. You got to remember, this was back in the early 1900's yet the ship had a heated pool, a squash court, wireless radio, a library, an internal phone system, a barber shop, a Turkish bathhouse, a gymnasium and a Verandah Cafe!
(The Titanic as she departs Queenstown on April 11, 1912)
Plus if you were one of the lucky 1st class passengers your suites included fancy wood panelling, expensive furniture and Café Parisien which served cuisine for the first-class passengers only in a sunlit veranda. Also in first class were 3 electric elevators (plus a 3rd one in second class) and a costly message system that allowed passengers to send telegrams back home.
How much did it cost to ride in this high-tech cruise? The most costly ride on the ship that sunk was $4,375 in 1912 money wish equals about $99,000 in 2010. That was on the 1st class level in a parlor suite. If you wanted to book something much cheaper you could have gotten in on a second class room for $60 ($1,390) and third class rides were $35-$40 bucks ($928). All numbers are in 2010 US prices.
Of course none of this matters when you run into a iceberg at 20 knots. Had the ship just ran into the iceberg head-on it probably would have survived the crash. But since they tried to swerve around it the 'berg ripped a huge gash into the side of the ship and it slowly filled up with water sinking at 2:20am, after hitting the ice at 11:40pm.