Tours Of The Titanic Could Resume In 2018

If you've ever had a desire to live out the opening scene of Titanic, you might get your chance sooner rather than later. Tours of the Titanic shipwreck 12,000 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean may resume in 2018, so you can dive down to check out its watery grave for yourself — provided you're not fazed by deep water, deadly icebergs, or the possibility of running (swimming?) across a ghostly passenger or two. Oh, and there's the chance you'll have to fork over your life savings for the trip, because the tours are astronomically expensive.

According to the Huffington Post, two tour companies have announced plans to begin offering submersible dives to the scene of the RMS Titanic's shipwreck for the first time since 2012. Bluefish, a luxury "personal concierge service," offers a 13-day trip from St. Johns, Newfoundland, to visit the wreck aboard a Mir deep submergence vehicle. On its website, the Titanic tour is listed at $59,680 per diver, which is about how much a tour cost in 2012. Believe it or not, that's actually the cheaper option.

The other company to begin offering tours is Blue Marble Private, a London-based travel company. According to its website, the Titanic expedition lasts eight days, taking nine divers at a time to visit the site of the wreck. "Guided by a crew of experts, you will glide over the ship’s deck with a glimpse of where the famous grand staircase was once set, capturing a view that very few have seen, or ever will," reads the tour's description.

The voyage includes three potential days of diving, with each dive lasting about three hours. So how much does it cost to gaze upon the ship that drowned more than 1,500 passengers? According to CNN, Blue Marble Private's tour costs $105,129 per person — apparently, after adjusting for inflation, this is the same price as a first-class ticket on the Titanic's maiden (and only) voyage.

Built over the course of about two years, the RMS Titanic was intended to be one of the largest, most luxurious ships of her time. The ship began its first voyage from Southampton, England, to New York on April 10, 1912, but it famously never reached its destination. Four days into the journey, the ship skidded by an iceberg, which tore into its hull far below the waterline. After a disastrously disorganized evacuation several hours later, only 705 of the Titanic's 2,228 passengers survived.

Today, the remains of the ship rest on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, where they're being slowly eaten away by extremophilic bacteria. So if you want to dive down to inspect the wreckage for yourself, next year might be the time. Just keep in mind that tours are already filling up, so you'll need to start selling your belongings and/or soul as soon as possible to afford a reservation.