Aquitania Down the Years, 2nd Class

In 1914, aft on C-deck Aquitania’s second class entrance was surrounded by staterooms for second class passengers. (The Shipbuilder, 1914/Author’s Collection.)

By the time this deckplan was issued in 1938, a number of changes had been made. Rather than use the expansive deckhouse for passenger staterooms, they had been removed and new public areas substituted. In 1929, Cunard had installed new public rooms to try and attract tourist third class passengers, and the new smoke room was one of the improvements in this area of the ship. Subsequently, the second class designation was removed entirely and tourist class replaced both second and tourist third cabin classes. From 1936, her first class accommodation was termed ‘cabin class’ by the North Atlantic Passenger Conference, and passenger numbers rose as she recovered from the depression in the late 1930s. It is also interesting to note that the staterooms between the two staircases, around the well above the original second class dining saloon, had been enlarged by this time. The deckplan’s colour-coding helped passengers understand each stateroom’s facilities: red designated double bedrooms; green designated single rooms; blue designated ‘rooms with upper and lower berths’ and the dull pink designated ‘rooms with three berths’. Brighter pink designated public rooms. (Author’s Collection.)

When Aquitania entered service, the spacious second class dining saloon, second class gymnasium, third class entrance and third class promenade were situated aft on D-deck. (The Shipbuilder, 1914/Author’s Collection.)

Twenty-four years later, a central area of the original dining saloon had been converted into a cinema and theatre, and was labelled a ‘theatre and concert hall’ in this deckplan. This alteration had been made during Aquitania’s 1932-33 refit. Another change was the removal of the original second class gymnasium, and the addition of a new winter garden for tourist third class passengers (added during the 1929 refit). Following the abolition of second class, which was renamed tourist, the winter garden was available for all tourist class passengers. (Author’s Collection.)