Luxor's Titanic Exhibit

 

During our recent trip to Las Vegas we spent some time at the Luxor checking out its Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit. What an absolute jewel in the middle of the desert.

The Titanic exhibit begins by everyone receiving a replica Boarding Pass for an actual Titanic passenger and then you begin the journey through their Titanic story.

I was Lady Duff Gordon, a 49 year old 1st class passenger in cabin A-20 accompanied by her husband and her personal secretary. Lady Duff Gordon was a pioneer in fashion in the early 1900s and was on the Titanic because she had to tend to urgent business in New York. Apparently it was also she who coined the word chic! She boarded at Cherbourg.

The exhibit goes through the experience of passengers from 3rd class to 2nd class to 1st class. They made the hallway look like the ship's corridors. Throughout each room and section there are artifacts recovered from the ship's wreckage, like deck landing signs.

There were also serving wear, clothes, china, flooring, decor, cards, currency, glassware, etc. It was equal parts fascinating and heart-breaking. I never thought about the fact that some of the passengers were immigrating and they had all of their possessions with them.

Did you notice the quote on the wall? That was said by Lady Duff Gordon, my assigned passenger.

You wander through the artifacts and through replica rooms, including a replica grand staircase.

You then cross over a veranda set to the temperature of that fateful night.

They had a HUGE "iceberg" that you could touch to feel the absolute frigid cold of the ocean.

The next room was the most impactful for me. The "Big Piece" recovered from 2.5 miles on the bottom of the ocean floor. It is an actual portion of the ship. Although I do not have any actual connection to a ship passenger it was still a bit emotional seeing the ship remnant. It seemed so strong and yet so fragile at the same time.

I found myself wondering who looked through those portholes.

At the very end of the exhibit you can scan your boarding pass to see if your passenger was a survivor. It was a relief to find out Lady Duff Gordon did in fact survive the sinking. Unfortunately, my sister's, brother-in-law's, and husband's passenger are fell victim to the unsinkable ship.

If you are interested in history I highly recommend a trip to this exhibit. If you want to read a bit more about our Las Vegas trip I blogged about it here.