AQUITANIA TOURIST THIRD CABIN 1929

By the late 1920s, the decline of the immigrant traffic and the rise of tourist third cabin led to many changes for the express liners. When Aquitania emerged from a refit at the beginning of 1929, one of the key changes was a number of new public rooms for this class. Cunard had reason to be pleased that they had made the investment, for Aquitania continued to attract tourist third cabin passengers after the onset of the depression in 1930. Second class became a thing of the past when the original second class areas were merged with the tourist third cabin accommodation into a single tourist class, during the 1932-33 refit. As passenger numbers began to rise again, this recovery was most keenly felt in third and tourist class. (The new tourist third cabin public rooms of 1929 were subsequently made available for third class passengers.) This brochure’s text proclaimed:

In one section of the ship the accommodation has been completely remodelled, providing no less than four new public rooms, new staterooms and promenade space for the new class known as tourist third cabin…

The new smoking room, which is situated on C deck, is decorated to represent a half-timbered room with oak beams. The floors are treated with a flagstone design of ruboleum, and the furniture consists of tub and easy chairs, covered in stretched hide, and a number of old-fashioned Windsor wheel-back chairs reminiscent of an old farm house. The dining saloon, which is on D-deck, is large enough to accommodate 200 people at a single sitting, small tables to set four or six persons being provided. Brown, yellow and green are the colours employed in the bright semi-modern cretonnes of the tourist third cabin lounge, which has a large number of comfortable easy chairs with attractive loose covers, as well as brightly-coloured wicker chairs in orange and green. The new staterooms look very inviting with their gleaming white enamelled walls, red Wilton rugs, and up-to-date electric light fittings of the latest shell pattern…

Please see the slideshow below for further images and details:

Cunard were proud of Aquitania - from her size, to her new tourist third cabin accommodation. Oddly, she is described as a ‘geared turbine’ liner: an error that was also repeated on a Mauretania plan in the late 1920s. (Author’s collection)

« ‹ of 10 › »

‘The new [tourist third cabin] staterooms look very inviting with their gleaming white enamelled walls, red Wilton rugs, and up-to-date electric light fittings of the latest shell pattern. New ruboleum has been laid throughout the new tourist third [class] accommodation…’