Answer: The first class tickets ranged enormously in price, from $150 (about $1700 today) for a simple berth, up to $4350 ($50,000) for one of the two Parlour suites. Second class tickets were $60 (around $700) and third class passengers paid between $15 and $40 ($170 - £460).
Tailkinker
Answer: Not a passenger, no. There was, however, a 23-year-old Irish crewmember named Joseph Dawson who died in the tragedy. His body was recovered and is buried in Nova Scotia. According to James Cameron, he was not aware of this until after the script was finished.
TailkinkerQuestion: What does SQD Mean?
Answer: Its not SQD, it's CQD. This used to be the distress signal sent out by ships before SOS became commonplace, and it stems for the French pronunciation of CQ, the same as how they pronounce "sécurité". The D either means disaster or distress.
Friso94Answer: It was CQD. It stands for "come quickly, distress" or "come quickly danger!"
CQ does not mean "come quickly." CQ meant all telegraph stations to be on alert. Later they added D to stand for Distress. CQD means "all stations: distress."
Bishop73Question: Do Rose and Cal ever sleep together? I've heard that they don't, but in one scene Cal says something like, "There's nothing I won't deny you if you don't deny me tonight," and we don't see how she responds. And in the scene where Cal blows up at her at breakfast, he says "You're my wife in practice if not yet in name, so you will honor me." That's pretty suggestive.
KristaChosen answer: When he says at breakfast "wife in practice" he's saying that yes, they indeed sleep together which is also why she isn't hesitant about sleeping with Jack so quickly. She obviously was not a virgin.
Jeanne PerrottaQuestion: Rose's mother says "The purpose of university is to find a suitable husband. Rose has already done that." Does this mean that, at the time, young women would attend college primarily to socialize?
Answer: Not really "socialize" as we would now define it...they would go to upper-class colleges to meet upper-class gentlemen suitable for marriage, but it would all be carefully orchestrated. The women wouldn't have a great deal of say in the matter.
Question: What song is playing when Jack walks into the Grand Staircase area around 54 and a half minutes into the movie?
jvozChosen answer: "The Blue Danube Waltz" by Johann Strauss II.
Michael AlbertQuestion: How far could the rudder panel on the Titanic actually turn? Could it turn 90 degrees, or 45, or something in the middle? I'm wondering, because this could have made a difference.
Friso94Chosen answer: The Titanic's rudder was capable of turning to about sixty degrees off the centreline, reaching that position in about six seconds from straight.
TailkinkerQuestion: During the dinner scene Jack throws something at Cal, and then later on in the scene Cal throws it back. What were they throwing?
elkidChosen answer: A box of matches. At 1:03:10, Cal is seen putting a cigarette in his mouth and then patting his coat pockets looking for a match to light it with.
Jeff SwansonQuestion: Over the course of the film we learn all the middle portion of Rose's life, but how did she get through life without any paperwork such as a birth certificate? Getting married, driving/flying, all need documentation the "renamed" version of herself wouldn't have.
dizzydAnswer: Record keeping at the turn of the 20th century was still incomplete and inaccurate. Many people were born without a birth certificate being issued. Tens of thousands of immigrants entering the country often lacked those types of papers, and many had their surnames changed when they arrived. It was also much easier to get alternate documentation to prove one's identity or, in certain situations, may not have required proof, as it does now.
raywestAnswer: It was just a succinct, aspirational and poetic way of saying, "I will go wherever you take me, as long as we're together, an it's anywhere away from my hopelessly bleak and loveless existence." It's one of a few references they make to being together, wherever they go (with apologies to "Gypsy"). They sing the ditty "Up We Go." They say, "you jump, I jump." It also provides kind of an interesting foreshadowing and counterpoint to where they end up, souls knit, spending eternity together at the bottom of the sea. Obviously, it isn't literal.
Michael AlbertQuestion: At the end of the movie, when the crew member yells something and waves a green light, what is he saying? Not the scene where he's looking for survivors, the scene right before they reach the Carpathian.
Answer: Using my amateur lip-reading skills, it appears as though he is saying "Come on, put your backs into it, men. We've been saved! Row!"
David HAnswer: There were many different "models". There were many miniatures, CG models and the full scale model down in Rosarita Beach, Mexico. The full scale model was disassembled by crew. Many other "regular folk" who knew about it, went to Mexico to grab what was left. Occasionally, various pieces come up for auction on EBAY.
Lynette CarringtonQuestion: Why did the guy in the engine room turn that big wheel before throwing the engines into reverse?
Answer: In order to reverse the engines, they have to be completely stopped first. So first they shut the dampers so that the engines slow and turn the wheel to release pent up steam. Then they go into reverse.
LorgSkyegonQuestion: How would Rose have been able to get in and out of her yellow dress that she wears while she and Jack are walking on the deck? I've looked and can't see any where to rationally put an opening for her to get out of the dress?
CuriousKid1Question: Is the footage right at the beginning of the film (black and caramel-ish colour) real footage of the ship from 1912 or just made to look like real footage from 1912?
Answer: Its part of the filming that's made to look older. If you notice later on you will see the same footage in black and white, but mirrored.
pierppAnswer: The necklace is called "The heart of the Ocean." While in the middle of the ocean, Rose had her heart captured by Jack Dawson. Rose returned the diamond to the ocean in the exact place where her heart was taken by Jack. As she says at one point, "A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets"
SsiscoolQuestion: Would everyone have been saved if the lifeboats had been filled to capacity properly? Mr Andrews yells at one of the officers about the boats not being full and how they were tested with the weight of 70 men, so won't buckle under the weight of only 15 or 20 people. So since women and children don't weigh as much as men would, if they had filled the boats properly, would everyone have been saved in the actual tragedy?
Answer: Not everyone, no. Even with all the boats at full capacity they still couldn't hold all of them. It had 20 lifeboats in total that could carry a maximum of 1178 people, at full capacity. The ship was carrying 2208 people (passengers and crew). Even if you would cram as much people in them, you still couldn't fit them all in and there will be risk of sinking. The 2 major problems were that they measured lifeboat capacity in cubic meters rather than number of people, if the ship was in full lifeboat capacity (64 instead of only 20) it could take everybody twice over. Secondly it wasn't considered necessary according to the safety regulations to have more lifeboats because of the tonnage of the ship, regulations that maxed ships at 10,000 tons (whilst the Titanic was over 46,000 tons). Eventually only 710 people were saved, because of incompetent evacuation procedures and panic. Almost all first and second class women and children were saved, third class and crew were not so lucky.
lionheadAnswer: There were not enough life boats for all passengers, and it was because it was never believed everyone needed to be in them at once during an emergency. While it's true that cruise lines didn't want too many boats blocking passengers' view, their intended use was to ferry passengers in turn from a stricken vessel to a rescue ship. After the disaster, new maritime regulations were enacted, including enough lifeboats for all passengers.
raywestAnswer: In a word, no. More lives would have been saved, but as an earlier scene points out (and accurately reflects what happened in real life), there was only enough lifeboat capacity for roughly half the people onboard, even if they were filled to capacity.
Answer: No, contrary to what movies lead us to believe now, it was highly inappropriate for intercourse before marriage until about after World War I.