1949 West Indies Sunshine Cruise

25 February Farewell Dinner Menu

To make this series representative of the meal menus on board Caronia, this one comes from her first ever cruise. This is the earliest of Caronia's menus when in revenue service held in my archive.

This is also possibly one of the rarest covers because, for farewell dinners, the “Auld Lang Syne” cover was soon substituted with the more commonly used Caronia portrait cover, complete with a loose-leaf insert held in by a blue ribbon.

Farewell Dinners were always very formal affairs on board Caronia. Very often, the Chef and a select few from the galley would don their best “whites” and actually come into the restaurant.

Although not apparent for this particular meal, there would often be a buffet set up and a whole side of beef specially roasted. This was brought into the restaurant placed on a huge trolley, built of oak and fitted with a silver domed lid.

This monster was heated from below with charcoal embers, and it would be the Chef who would carve straight from the bone of the roasted carcase. Always a very impressive sight!