Establishing an Enviable Reputation
For her time, Caronia was quite a sensation. Built to such luxury standards so soon after WWII, she was mostly the brainchild of the prescient and forceful Cunard Chairman, Sir Percy Bates. Sadly, he passed away before Caronia even took to the water. He had a willing partner in Cunard's Marine Architect, George McLeod Paterson.
Whilst she was clearly able to “do the cattle run” of transatlantic crossings, this was by no means her main intended purpose. Very soon in her career, Caronia would establish herself as the most luxurious cruise ship in the World; the first ever liner to be purpose built for this dual rôle.
Her trademark livery of four shades of green, designed to enhance her squat and yacht-like appearance would remain unique until around 1962, when the RMS Mauretania suddenly appeared in “Cunard Cruising Green.” For some reason this livery did not really suit the Mauretania, so it wasn't greeted with much enthusiasm.
The only other Cunard ships to carry the Cruising Green livery were the RMS Carmania and RMS Franconia from the mid-1960s, after conversion away from their previous careers.
[Photo: © Peter Stevens - World Cruise 1966]
Along with the Queen Mary, Britannic and the Mauretania, Caronia soon developed and carried well that elusive yet perceptible “je ne sais quoi”. These days it would probably be known as the X factor.
Strangely, Cunard's Queen Elizabeth was never in this league, always being seen as “The Big Ship”, with a bit of an attitude to match. Simply being the company's flag-ship apparently necessitated this; it wasn't unique to the Cunard fleet.
The Mauretania, in her proper black and white livery, had developed a well established following and occasionally shared cruise programmes with Caronia. So, barely six weeks into revenue service and Caronia was beginning to make a name for herself in cruising circles, although it would be a little while before she would really start to gather the “big bucks” as a major dollar earner.
looking toward starboard side from a table on port side.
[Photo: © Peter Stevens - World Cruise 1966]
To give you an idea of Caronia's exclusivity, as a passenger you could only buy your on-board accommodation for an entire cruise, regardless of its duration - like up to 111 days! Oh, and you were required to pay in US dollars, and in full, up to 3 months before the departure date!
The same situation applied to the shore-tour programmes, though places could often be bought during a cruise if there were any unsold vacancies.
Nevertheless, within a fairly short while Caronia would establish a very loyal following by officers, crew and passengers.
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