Inside plans for Titanic replicas as doomed as the real sunken liner – from ‘Titanic II’ to full-size theme park hotel

Edmuns DeMarsMay 19, 2023

This is the inside story of the doomed plans for a replica Titanic ship and theme park hotel.

The legend of the original ship that sank in 1912 has spread around the world, but plans for replica ships and attractions have been equally ill-fated.

The original Titanic has inspired a number of copycat projectsCredit: Alamy

Titanic II was proposed in 2012 but now appears to be on holdPhoto credit: Reuters

A replica that was meant to be at the center of a Chinese amusement park has been rusting in a dry dock for yearsCredit: Alamy

The first project to be announced was the proposal for Titanic II, which would be a working replica of its namesake.

It was revealed by Australian Mining mogul Clive Palmer in 2012 with intentions of using it as the flagship for the newly formed Blue Star Line.

Designed by a Finnish naval architecture firm in collaboration with a number of historical experts, it was to be built by the Chinese state-owned CSC Jinling.

According to the plans, it will be a nine-deck, 840-room behemoth that will feature high-tech navigation systems and a diesel-electric propulsion engine.

However, the project was delayed from its start date of 2016 to 2018 and then again to 2022.

As of last year, there were no updates on progress and it was not confirmed if construction had started.

Blue Star Line has not updated its website for five years and has not posted any posts about Titanic II Twitter since this month for four years.

Titanic II was proposed by South African businessman Sarel Gous back in 1998, but the plans were abandoned in 2006 due to cost concerns.

Another revival project was the Romandisea Titanic, conceived as the central element of the Romandisea resort in Sichuan, China, complete with hotels.

Unlike the Titanic II, the ship was indeed partially built, but boastfully dubbed the “Unsinkable Titanic,” the “Unsinkable Titanic” rusted away in a dry dock in the Landlocked Province for nearly a decade.

Slated to open in 2017, it will cost £150m and include a replica iceberg designed to ‘simulate’ the fateful crash that killed 15,000.

At a press conference announcing the new ship, project leader Su Shaojun famously said: “If the ship hits the iceberg, it will tremble and tumble.”

“We will let people experience water flowing in using sound and light effects.”

“They’re going to think, ‘The water is going to drown me, I have to get out alive.'”

Work began again in 2021 after halting in 2018 due to alleged financial difficulties.

However, as of last year, the attraction’s website has been offline and its Twitter account has been suspended, with no further updates.

Incredible 3D images followed, revealing never-before-seen details of the Titanic shipwreck.

The stunningly detailed scans show everything from unopened champagne bottles on the seabed to a vast void where the grand stairway once stood.

The original Titanic, built by Harland and Wolff of Belfast, set sail on April 10, 1912 for the White Star Line.

But five days into her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, she struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank, killing nearly half the people on board.

Interest in the disaster was reignited by James Cameron’s epic 1997 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

It was the highest-grossing film in the world and currently ranks third in the rankings, adjusted for inflation, behind only Cameron’s own Avatar and the 1939 classic Gone With the Wind.