Anniversary Titanic cruise to set sail

Being the Titanic buff I am, I was really intrigued to read about the anniversary cruise being planned out of New York to mark the 100th anniversary of the great ship’s sinking on its maiden voyage in the North Atlantic.

Starting today, you can book passage on the Azamara Journey which will sail out of New York harbour on April 10, 2012 with 694 passengers and head to the very spot where the Titanic sank in 1912.

The Azamara Journey will then meet up with another Titanic Memorial cruise ship, the 1,309 passenger Balmoral at the spot of the sinking for a memorial service.

Aboard both ships will be Titanic historians who will give lectures on the infamous ship that was billed as being “unsinakable.”

The Balmoral, which will sail from Southampton, England, sold out last October on a similar voyage and already has an extensive waiting list for the 2012 cruise.

Azamara Journey will call at Halifax, N.S., which has one of the most intimate connections with the Titanic disaster, becoming the final resting place of many of her unclaimed victims. I’ve toured the cemetery in downtown Halifax where the Titanic victims – the ones they found – were laid to rest and it is one of the most moving experiences of my many travels.

The journey’s not cheap. Prices aboard the luxury Azamara Journey start at $4,725 U.S. per person, double occupancy, while suites, which start at $6,750 per person, offer additional luxury amenities such as English butler service and a private portrait sitting – just like the aristocrats aboard the Titanic enjoyed before it sank.