When my husband and I arrived, we were given cards with the names of people who were either passengers or crew members on the Titanic. The cards contained the person's name, occupation, and country. For us, the cards we were given were surprising. The gentleman on my husband's card was from England and my husband has English ancestors. The lady on my card was from Ireland and I have Irish ancestors. The occupations they held were occupations that we could have seen ourselves having had we been alive at that time. We could relate to these people and this made the experience more than just an exhibit.
Our tour guide was very much in character, irish accent and all, and he did not step out of character until the end of the tour. We traveled from room to room looking at artifacts and newspaper articles. At one point we were in a room that was a replica of the Promenade Deck, very cold and dark, and the tour guide had the men stand on one side of the room and the women and children on the other side of the room, near the ship railing. He stated that if we had been on that side of the ship, all of the men would have perished because on that side, it was understood that only women and children were to be placed in life boats. On the other side of the ship, it was understood that women and children were to go first, so the men were not being excluded. That was a somber moment!
In one of the last rooms, our tour guide asked for volunteers to hold their hands to a block of ice for several seconds in order to feel what the water temperature was at the time the Titanic went down. I volunteered and managed to hold my hand to the block of ice for the entire length of time (the guide counted down the seconds) and my hand was numb for a bit afterwards. The fact that anyone survived is truly amazing.
At the end of the tour, our tour guide, no longer in character because his character did not survive, took us in to a room with the names of the passengers and crew and told us to look for our names (on the cards) and see if we survived. Much to our surprise, we both survived.
We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and the respect that our tour guide demonstrated for the passengers and crew of the Titanic.