Friday, March 25, 2005 | 8:33 a.m.
It was the grandest passenger ship of its time. It offered fine dining, first-rate hospitality and decadent interiors, a mammoth hotel ripping through the sea on its maiden voyage.
But after striking an iceberg, more than half of its 2,228 passengers plunged into the freezing North Atlantic and died.
The tragedy of the dream ship and its hopeful passengers, wealthy and poor, were forever embedded in history, a heartache that would would ripple into decades of historic and fictitious tales.
The Tropicana brings the story to life with its "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition," an exhibit of nearly 300 artifacts on display in the Tropicana Pavilion.
The glassware, personal items and ship's parts are accompanied by re-creations of the ship's first- and third-class rooms. Part of the ship's hull, recovered in a 1988 expedition, shows the steel plates, rivets and portholes to first-class cabins on the Titanic's starboard side.
"Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Admission is $16.95; $15.95 for seniors ages 62 and up; $13.95 for Nevada residents; and $9.95 for children ages 4 to 11. For more information, call 739-2411.
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