A Question of Luxury?
Travel on the Caronia was indeed luxurious. The opportunity to load fresh vegetables, fish and local delicacies was taken at most ports of call, even just a few hours before the end of a voyage! It seems incredible doesn't it?
Proof is revealed by the Luncheon Menu for 26th May on the short hop home to Southampton from Le Havre. Having left there at around 10am, the fish dishes in the 1st class Balmoral Restaurant were fresh Havre Sole Meuniére and Havre Turbot Hollandaise.
A False Claim Maybe?
I read somewhere that there was doubt over a claim that Caronia was more luxurious than either of the two Cunard Queens. Let there be no doubt! Caronia was more luxurious, simply because of the extra time that could be devoted to each passenger by her high crew to passenger ratio, usually hovering at around 1:1 or better!
On cruises there was a kind of intimate country-club atmosphere aboard, and with several passengers coming back year after year, or even cruise after cruise, the camaraderie was tangible. With the Caronia being viewed as a “plum” job for crew members, there were many who sailed in her year after year too. With that enviable population stability, she was known as a “happy ship”.
No Demarcation
All the other ships in the Cunard fleet were built more or less for exclusive use of each of the classes they catered for. However, aboard Caronia the accommodation was arranged so that when cruising the whole ship was First Class with no enforced demarcations.
[Left:]
An artist impression of the Caronia as a tipped-in image inside the 1st Class passenger list for the transatlantic
crossing of 19 May 1949
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the two Queens weren't luxurious - they were! However, this was limited to parts of their accommodation. Unlike the “Green Goddess”, not every First Class stateroom had its own “en suite” bath or shower!
Aboard the Caronia, because she was deployed for cruising as a one-class ship, the comfort and luxury was almost uniform across the vessel. The mass of highly polished veneers and art-deco styling, even in little-used areas, provided a post-war splendour that was unequalled for her time. The “Green Goddess” was both a very bold experiment, and a trend-setter in equal measure.
