Sometime in the near future, a two-person submersible will head into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. After descending 12,500 feet, it will allow passengers a unique view of the marine remnants of the RMS Titanic. This time, an ultra-wealthy Ohio man and the CEO of Triton Submarines will be on board. Story sounds a bit familiar, no?

We’re not even a year out from the OceanGate, Inc. Titan implosion. In June 2023, the Titan was carrying five passengers, including Stockton Rush, OceanGate’s founder. Shortly after launch, the outside crew lost contact with the craft. A several-day search and rescue effort yielded a debris field about 1,600 feet away from the Titanic’s resting place. Consequently, evidence led to the conclusion that all five passengers were killed instantly from extreme pressure.

Harsh criticism comes after new Titanic excursion announced

While Triton Submarines insists it will prove its submersible which is currently in the design stages, safer and more successful than OceanGate, responding sentiments from family members of the shipwreck victims are less than positive.

Shelley Binder, a descendant of Titanic survivors Leah and Phillip Aks, is sharing her thoughts on these terribly expensive excursions. In April 1912, Leah Aks was 18, and her son, Phillip, was only 10 months old when they boarded the ship. According to the New York Post, Leah separated from her child in the chaos of the legendary wreck. They miraculously reunited on the Carpathia, the ship that rescued survivors about two hours after the Titanic sank.

Of the 2,240 passengers aboard the Titanic, only about 700 survived. The majority of the people killed were poorer. As such, they ticketed in lower-class zones and looking to immigrate to the United States.

Binder had strong words for wealthy folk attempting to see the wreckage up close.

“My two relatives survived, and it’s a miracle I’m here talking to you today, but some of their families’ bodies were never recovered and this is their last resting place,” she said. “For those families…they think it’s tacky and obnoxious to go there.”

To Binder, people using the Titanic as a tourist attraction are disrespectful and wasting time and money.

“It’s horrific. And you can see the wreckage without having to physically go down there yourself,” she said. “Why don’t you just get a huge pit in your backyard and burn $250,000 and then watch the 8k footage of the wreck they recently uploaded online?”

The billionaire, real estate investor Larry Connor, and Triton Submarines CEO Patrick Lahey have yet to announce an excursion date. Research and testing should occur sometime in 2026.

Between space, Everest, and the Titanic, the ultra-wealthy will just continue to pick their poison. Up or down, sires?