: The Titanic is often referred to as having
: perished on its "maiden" voyage-- which, of course, was the only
: one it got.
The difference, as stated (somewhere) in the original post, is that the Titanic was intended to have MORE than one voyage, and was sunk on its first (and last) transatlantic journey. The Marathon, on the other hand, is (will be?) a colony ship, and therefore is only planned to have one trip. In order for the Marathon to have a maiden voyage, it would need to have more than one planned destination.
For the record, I never really viewed Tau Ceti as being the Marathon's final destination; it seems that if the ship had already served its purpose it would land on the planet and be scrapped for raw materials, or at the very least be voided of its inhabitants. If the Bobs were all traveling to Tau Ceti, they wouldn't just stay on the ship when they arrived.