From a frigid deck above Atlantic waters, a band plays a haunting tune.
A menu recalls one served nearly a century ago.
Some passengers wear bowler hats, many buttons, and layers of skirts...period dress for the time.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) CONNIE JEFFERS, TITANIC MEMORIAL CRUISE PASSENGER, SAYING:
"I was really surprised that the number of people we talked to and told that we were gonna go on this trip, they said, ooh, that's creepy, I wouldn't do that, and I thought I don't find it creepy at all, I love history. Both of us really just like history."
The cruise ship Azamara Journey is on course for a scene of disaster....the site off Newfoundland where the Titanic sank in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912.
One hundred years later, conditions may be eerily similar, the captain says.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) AZAMARA JOURNEY'S CAPTAIN JASON IKIADIS, SAYING:
"They're not going to be identical conditions to what they experienced 100 years ago. It's still very, very cold outside....Not quite as cold as it was but it's pretty close enough I think for most people standing on deck at 2:20 in the morning. There will be a little bit more wind, but the sea conditions hopefully will be very similar to what we have today."
The Titanic was on its maiden voyage when it struck an iceberg and began slipping into the sea.
Around 700 people were rescued but there were too few lifeboats to save the rest.
1,517 lives were lost.
Herbert Fuller Chaffee's body was never recovered. His great-granddaughter Suzanne Stroud says retracing the liner's ill-fated voyage will bring her closer to her lost relative.
SOUNDBITE) (English) SUZANNE STROUD SAYING:
"Say hello and goodbye I guess, it's a once in a lifetime thing."
The cruise ship will reach the site of Titanic's shipwreck by April 15, in time to remember the world's most famous maritime disaster...
and hear again the song many believe the band played on its way down.
Katharine Jackson, Reuters.
