Among the many mementos of my late grandmother that I’ve kept is her recollection, which she wrote in a letter to me, of a voyage she took with her parents when she was only eight years old. I think you’ll enjoy comparing her experience to that of today’s world of cruising.
"As a young girl, I sailed from New York on a 144-day world cruise aboard the Cunard Liner, Franconia, in 1928. Cunard was the first company to offer ocean cruising, and it launched the Franconia in the early ‘20s expressly for that purpose. The Franconia introduced trend-setting arrangements such as one class of accommodations, cabins with private bathrooms and everything on the ship painted white. The cargo holds were converted to what were called Pompeiian baths—a forerunner of today's spa. There was also a squash court and a gymnasium.
Our itinerary included ports that are familiar today, but in those days, more like the other side of the moon. I recall the Dutch colony of Batavia—now Jakarta, Indonesia. Rio had no buildings taller than three floors. And we weren’t allowed to disembark at Peking (Beijing) because a revolution was going on.
When the Franconia did call at one of the voyage's 33 ports, the locals treated her visit as the big social event of the year—Batavia's Harmonie Club got up a ball using the ship's orchestra; all passengers became honorary members in Singapore's exclusive Raffles Club and at Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the Mount Lavinia Club offered everyone bathing privileges in waters that they assured us were shark proof.
I’ve kept many mementos from that trip, one of them a brochure advertising the cruise. It shows the fares starting at $2,750!
Naturally, I remained interested in The Franconia and tried to keep track of her service throughout the years following our cruise. I know that she served as the accommodations for Winston Churchill's staff at the 1945 Yalta meetings that decided the fate of Europe after the end of World War II. Not too long after that, in 1956, she was taken out of service."
Do you have any stories or mementos of travel in the years when it was much different than it is today? If so, please share them with us.
Paula "Steamer Trunk" Gifford