Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition

Back in about 2006, when this "Titanic" exhibition was displayed at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, I bought combo tickets to see both this and "Bodies: The Exhibition."

As both had relocated to the Luxor, where I spent five days recently, I repeated my experience.

Believe me, the duplicate experience was in no way a waste of money. The only thing I really remembered from the 2006 experience was how cold the model iceberg (made of real frozen water) felt. See how important interactive exhibits are?

It's amazing how people flock to this disaster exhibition. The Titanic has such an attraction for everyone. The movies about the disaster continue to draw well, even though we know how the ending turns out. It's the human drama that grabs us. 

At the start of the self-guided tour, you can rent an audio player that will tell you about what you're seeing at specific stops along the way. Everyone is given a souvenir "Boarding Pass" granting permission to "come aboard White Star Line's R.M.S. Titanic."

On the back of the boarding pass is information about one Titanic passenger. At the end of the tour is a list of all the survivors and those who died.

My passenger was Mr. Daniel Danielson Grønnestad, 32, of Foresvik, Norway, who was traveling in 3rd Class. Daniel and his brother Bertil had immigrated to America around 1900. They were scheduled to return home to Portland, North Dakota, following their 16th visit to their parents in Norway.

Bertil felt something was wrong, and didn't get on the Titanic. Daniel got on the ship and headed off to America, to await his brother's later arrival. Daniel did not survive the Titanic's iceberg incident.

They asked us not to take photos, but I managed to sneak a couple:

First-Class Stateroom

Titanic at the Bottom of the Ocean

Please don't say anything about the pictures.