So there was clearly a culture that if we're going to work hard, then we'll play harder! The only time we'd get any proper sleep
anyway was between 2pm and 6pm, and if we were lucky, during the corresponding hours of the morning. From that, you'll
gather that being allocated an afternoon tea watch was not popular!
The gay guys were adored by the passengers! A feature of Caronia for them was that some found her almost as cheap to
populate as it was to rent an apartment on Fifth Avenue,
New York. The Great World Cruise was nothing but a wealthy person's floating country-club with many travellers
returning year after year.
Lavish Passenger Parties
These “resident” travellers would cheerfully “adopt” their room stewards, some of whom had also
made Caronia their home for many years. With this massive “US$ power” behind them, some lived almost like
tin gods. They were definitely a force to be reckoned with! Not all of them were gay, but many probably were.
I'll allude to this a bit more elsewhere, but there's only one place that the term “Oliver's Court” came
from. There was plenty of competition between passengers on who could throw the most lavish party. On the face of it,
they were all arranged through the Purser's office.
Go On - Indulge Yourself!
Pursers may have been involved in preparing the bill afterwards but the real driving force behind these affairs were
nearly always gay guys who were given carte-blanche to indulge their wildest fantasies and with no expense spared!
The parties were invariably themed, so guess who'd be consulted on what to wear? The stewards would even suggest which
were the most fun passengers to place on the guest list. All told, vying for the best theme would be as much
twixt the stewards as between the passengers themselves.
Main Lounge decorated for a Sayonara Ball
18 April 1960.
Click on picture for larger version
[Photo Ref: RWA008 © Robin Almond]
More Dressing Up?
Forget the crew, the Cruise Staff aboard also provided plenty of “dressing-up” opportunities for the
passengers at various themed balls. If anyone was a bit doubtful about what to wear, well, who was on hand to advise?
Let's see…
Given the very wide boundaries, hours and hours, often of spare time, would be spent decorating suites, staterooms or
even public rooms, and guess who'd be unofficial judges advising the host or hostess about whom to award the prizes to?
Oh, and it wasn't the Purser's or Chief Steward's departments who assigned stewards to serve drinks and canapés
at these affairs either. Be in no doubt, the ship would have been a much duller place without the wild imaginations and
sheer flair of these guys!
at Funchal