The Golden Age of Cruising: How it was in the 1930s to 60s!

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Ritzy Travel Guide

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The Golden Age of Cruising: How it was in the 1930s to 60s!


Welcome aboard a time machine… a journey back in time, delving into the opulent and glamorous world of cruising, and ocean liners, during the period spanning the 1920s to the 1960s. Join us as we unveil the allure of this bygone era, exploring what it was truly like to travel on an a ocean liner, and then later on as a cruise ship, during the…

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22 Comments

  1. Yes, please focus on flying.i can remember my first train̈. Trips as a newly. Adopted 7 year old kid 🎉🎉😅😅 what magic and luxury. . Ive never forgotten it. And flying TWA, BRANIFF, OZARK, FRONTIER during. College years. Trains on the Feather River canyon, Great Northern to Fargo, Southern Pacific t L.A., yhe COAST STARLIGHT TO San Francisco , ….Central pacific that stopped for hours in RENO So people could gamble for a few hours so people could gamble 😅😅😅😅spending hours playing fish and cribbage in the club car. With a Shirley Temple in front of me What fun in the dome. Diners. Roses and pink linens on the dining tables. My mother and i dressed. Up. Including gloves and hat to go to dinner. I was 7!!🎉🎉🎉😅😅

  2. Very interesting to watch this from an old timer and ex Navigating Officer in the British Merchant Navy ( when they had one!)
    I tend to think of the era before transatlantic flights took over, as those belonging to Ocean Liners ( specifically built for the North Atlantic crossings.)
    In the mid to late 60’s, those ships that were still managing to make a profit, turned to adding “cruising” to their itinerary by doing 7-10 day cruises to the Med, or similar to attract a different clientele in the ‘off season’ when passengers didn’t really want to encounter icebergs!
    Eventually, as airline travel became affordable to the ‘middle classes’ , this ‘cruising model’ took over from transatlantic crossings.
    The construction of this new breed of ships prioritized ‘fun, sun, and all you can eat ‘ but these ships were ill suited to the North Atlantic , but calmer waters, as in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.
    Although cruising has become immensely popular it’s a shame that whereas 30 years ago everything aboard was ‘inclusive’, now you are charged exorbitant additional charges to your bill on every opportunity available.
    But to those who enjoy it, go for it!
    From an ex Navigating Officer on Canadian Pacific’s “Empress of Canada” 1969 before she was purchased by Carnival to become their first ship the TS Mardi Gras.

  3. Up until a few years ago I worked on an old style cruise ship. It had under 700 passengers. The decor was what you would have expected from a classic cruise ship. Unfortunately, over the years the class of passenger dropped dramatically. Passengers became incredibly entitled, demanding and verbally and physically threatening to staff. I would have expected better from customers who were looking for a better class of holiday. For some reason, there was rarely problems with younger customers, it was always older ones causing the problems. One security guard had a theory. 'I their families, they are the King or Queen and always get their way. It's fine in a family. But when you are acting like the King or Que, along with dozens of others with the same mindset, it becomes a huge issue for the crew'. He wasn't wrong. Despite this, I met some lovely people who are lifelong friends.

  4. My father worked for Matson Navigation, one of the main shipping lines that services Hawaii. When I was 7 our family took the S.S. Lurline to San Francisco from Honolulu. It was a seminal event in my life for reasons that are well illustrated in this video. I was especially impressed with the dining room: white tablecloths…and all that silverware! I'd never seen a cocktail fork before or the ice bowl for the shrimp cocktail. My mother kept all the menus that I still have. It was the first time I had seen French and culinary terms: Lyonnaise, sauté, Bourguignon, camembert… After all these years, I still remember Mr. Lee our waiter, and the room steward, Pedro.
    In later life, I became a restauranteur and a French teacher. All because of those wonderful four days it took to cross the Pacific Ocean. I recently purchased a book about Matson's passenger lines. In it is a picture of the dining room and the very table that we sat at for every meal. I can still hear the hand chime that a staff member would ring in the hallway to announce the start of mealtime.