RMS ‘Titanic’ Commemorations Around the World

Titanic Belfast: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Touted as "the world's largest Titanic visitor experience," Belfast's brand-new 150,000-square-foot venue focuses not just on the ship's sinking but on its construction, launch, and rediscovery. The ultramodern exhibition space houses perfect replicas of the Titanic's iconic Grand Staircase and her staterooms, plus a ride that uses moving cars and special effects to re-create the historic Belfast shipyard where she launched a century ago.

Titanic Experience Cobh: Cobh, Ireland

Anchored in the original offices of the White Star Line, Titanic Experience Cobh uses technology to remember the 123 passengers who boarded the ship from this Irish seaport town (the Titanic's final port of call before crossing the Atlantic). Holographic images and touch-screen technology will excite modern visitors, but the most chilling sight is the still-standing pier from which the last unlucky passengers departed.

Merseyside Maritime Museum: Liverpool, England

Liverpool's ports never saw the Titanic, but the ship's sinking dealt a major blow to the city: Many of the crew, including White Star Line chairman J. Bruce Ismay, chief officers and engineers, and musicians, called Liverpool home. In addition to its permanent Titanic gallery, the Merseyside Maritime Museum memorializes Liverpool's close connections to the tragedy with special exhibits on the ship's many Liverpudlian personalities.

The Titanic Museum: Springfield, Massachusetts

Housed in the Springfield suburb of Indian Orchard, this quirky independent museum is really a repository of fascinating flotsam and jetsam from Titanic passengers and crew. The wide-ranging artifacts include Mrs. Astor's lifejacket, postcards written onboard, a square of first-class carpet, and even a breadboard.

'Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition': Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas may be an entertainment hot spot, but that doesn't mean visitors should forgo a history lesson or two. Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, docked permanently at the Luxor Hotel and Casino, offers an educational alternative to magic shows and penny slots. See hundreds of artifacts gathered from the Titanic's wreck, including a 15-ton piece of her starboard hull.

'Titanic' Memorial Cruise: Atlantic Ocean

It may be too late to book the Titanic-themed memorial cruises on Azamara Journey or Fred. Olsen's Balmoral, both of which set sail in early April, but you still have an opportunity to retrace the transatlantic steps of the ill-fated ship. The luxury ocean liner Queen Mary 2 features a frequent Southampton/New York crossing that allows you to visit memorials and museums at either end of your trip.

Titanic: 12,450 Feet Below: Mystic, Connecticut

The Mystic Aquarium may be known for its beluga-whale habitat and other aquatic displays, but the Titanic: 12,450 Feet Below exhibit also calls the museum home. The space features an engine room full of hands-on exhibits for curious kids and a massive glowing iceberg. Add to the maritime experience by calling on the famous Mystic Seaport, where you can watch a working preservation shipyard in action.

Titanic Museum: Branson, Missouri, And Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

Tourist boomtown Branson offers a Titanic museum for the landlocked with historical, if hammy, attractions that include a pair of puppy mascots to honor the ship's canine companions, an interactive coal-shoveling game, and climbable lifeboats. A similar space in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, offers equally family-friendly exhibits, including a “Tot-Titanic” play area where your seafaring toddler can imagine steering a ship. Both museums honored the Titanic centennial on April 10 by escorting 1.5 million rose petals to the site of the shipwreck.

Titanic Centenary Expedition: Atlantic Ocean

Book an ocean voyage like no other—to nearly two-and-a-half miles below the surface of the frigid north Atlantic. Specialist tour operator Deep Ocean Expeditions is offering a deep-sea dive to the site of the Titanic wreck, where you can view everything from the ship's famous rusticle-crusted bow to passengers' abandoned suitcases. The catch? A dive will run you about $60,000. If that heart-stopping sum is a bit out of your budget, the IMAX film Ghosts of the Abyss will take you there—without you plumbing the depths of your wallet.

The port city of Halifax has an indelible connection to the Titanic. In the days after the disaster, Halifax offered search-and-recovery services and buried 150 of the ship's victims in its cemeteries. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic honors this grim legacy with thoughtful exhibits on the recovery effort and displays of Titanic "wreckwood," or fragments of the ship that rescue crews carved into commemorative objets d'art.

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