Cocktail Bar Lists

One of the main revenue earners on board ship was the proceeds from the bars where a whole selection of beers, wines, spirits, cigars and cigarettes was offered, all at duty-free prices. This page provides a comparison between two of these lists. They were printed to a standard design across all ships of the Cunard fleet, although the lists appear to have been individually priced for each ship.

Below are two lists, all those on the left come from the Caronia in 1953; those on the right from the Queen Elizabeth in 1964. The Caronia Cruise list has pricing in US Dollars whereas for the Queen Elizabeth, they appear in pre-decimal GB Pounds.

In 1964 the value of the US Dollar was about 6 shillings and 8 pence, making a dime worth about 8 pence. Bear in mind that there were 12 pennies to the shilling, so 2/- would be about 30 cents.