Advance Planning Schedules
With every piece of ephemera that I've collected one aspect that has never been very clear is how long in advance various cruises were planned. Very few documents have an actual publication date, so finding one with a date has been very useful.
It looks like the planning for Caronia's great world cruises was a two year rolling programme . This despite the possibilities of having to make changes due to changing political circumstances in various parts of the World. There seems a be a recurring theme with these changes, the continent of Africa gave the cruise planners the greatest headaches.
Flyer for the 1963
Great World Cruise
Flyer
for 1963 Gt. World Cruise
Image: Braun Bros. Collection
In 1961 the Great World Cruise had to be replanned quite drastically because of tensions in South Africa, so the usual calls to Cape Town and Durban had to be removed. The westbound circumnavigation of 1963 seems to have been changed as early as 21 March, 1961 as the text of the flyer seen left shows.
The flyer is clearly addressed to travel agents in the USA and indicates that the Great World Cruise brochure image that features on the 1963 Year Index is in fact a revised edition. So the search is now on for the original to try and establish which port or ports were omitted in the revision.
One further comment about this cruise, not only is the westward transit unusual, unlike past world cruises, the only port in the Southern Hemisphere in 1963 is Bali in Indonesia.
16 February 1963
Spoof
programme
Oh Goodness, What Did You Miss?
Aboard the RMS Caronia, Saturday 16 February 1963 did not exist! You see, the ship sailed Westbound across the International Date Line and everyone aboard missed it. Just to show how much you were outdone, as a bit of fun, the printer's shop was kind enough to provide everyone with a spoof daily programme , for the missed day.
If you can contribute any information, do please get in touch…
