While being there for a moment in your nice clean outfit might be fun for a while, did you ever think about the reality of life back then and how different it was from today?

What are some of the aspects of life on an early 20th century liner that might get old quickly?

Rotterdam 4 (1908)
The first 2 stacker of HAL and the first with a glass enclosed promonade deck. Interesting how it would be a/b a liner frome the early 1900s

Statendam 3 (1929)
This ship is the last of the period ships and a would loved to see here inside.

Ill d' France.
The godmother of liner interior design after the period interiors.

Dempo and Baloeran.
Those sister ships of Royal Rotterdam Lloyd where one of the most beautifful decorated colonial ships ever to sail. Shame that there carreers where so short.

Nieuw Amsterdam 2
Darling of the Dutch would loved to sail this unique ship.

Those are 6 of many ships that i would loved to sail.

Not only i want to sail in first would like to experians all classes a/b ships in those days. Would feel how it is to share 1 bathroom with other people and to lavisch in al luxury in first.

So Joe you see that i want to excperians al classes a/b those legends. So to excperian to my self how it was. The good things and the bad things.

[ 06-18-2004: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]

Lack of stabilizers would not be fun. Closet cabins undecorated, having to share with 3 others, and making an appointment to take a bath is not my idea of fun.

Fate would have it, all the beautiful 1st class spaces on the class divided ships would be out of my financial reach.

The best voyage in our lives. Everything was perfect, ship, food, service, ambiance...there's that word again.

I think the thing I would miss the most is air conditioning, especially during the hot months.

I've been on ships where the power has gone dead for a few hours, and it doesn't take long for the entire ship to turn into a giant oven. I can only imagine things got pretty warm when the ships went on cruises to the tropics, and also during the Summer months even on the Atlantic. Of course way back when people didn't really know the difference, so I guess it didn't matter much? I know the NORMANDIE had her First Class dining room air conditioned, which I think may have been a first onboard a ship? In any case, I wonder how well it worked? You don't read too much about it.

Nothing like getting dressed in a tux every night, only to be roasting away. Not very comfortable.

Ernie

[ 06-18-2004: Message edited by: eroller ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by eroller:
I think the thing I would miss the most is air conditioning, especially during the hot months.

---

Don't America's have a problem with the availability of ice, too?

Sharing a toilet would be a problem for me (and even more so for those who followed me) but at least the seat would always be warm!

I would have liked to have sailed on the Titanic – to Queenstown, with more film in my Camera than Father Brown had. I would then have lived very comfortably of the proceeds. A Queen Mary crossing is also on my ‘wish’ list, assuming that I could ever get onboard another ship after my Titanic lucky escape.

I like to believe that the experience in first class on any of the great Ocean Liners would be so much more luxurious that it is today. There would be no lining up at buffets with plastic trays – no fighting for seats. You could sit on deck in a steamer chair and tea would be poured from a silver teapot by a steward. Hopefully the fellow passengers and staff would all be more polite and courteous than they are today.

One could decide the layout of one's cabin & have the cabin boys shift the furniture around. One could choose the colours of the carpets & curtains.

There would be no Maritime Lectures; history not yet made & no glossy ship books to browse through.

No security checks, no threat of terrorism [outside war years], sometimes many days in port coaling up. I could live with most, but not the lack of a/c. One becomes accustomed to being able to cool off. Not so bad maybe if one has never known it.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

Don't America's have a problem with the availability of ice, too?

---

Yes, we do like our ice. I'm certainly guilty of that. In fact I like my glass completely full of ice before anything is poured in ... none of this one cube business.

When I work my flights to Europe the question I get most tired of asking every person is "ice or no ice", over and over again. I have noticed more and more Europeans seem to like ice, much more so then ten years ago when I started. On US domestic flights the question is not even asked. We automatically fill the glass with ice then pour.

Even so, I could live without ice. The a/c is much more important to me.

Ernie

[ 06-18-2004: Message edited by: eroller ]

Joking aside - in the British Empire 'Ice' was considered a risk as the water was probably from the tap and could still contain Malaria. This could explain why older Brits may not like ice in their drinks?

When McDonalds first came to the U.K, every time somebody purchased 'French Fries' they asked for Vinegar. (We traditionally have vinegar with our fish and chips).

McDonald's started doing the Sachets of vinegar, but made it kind of hard to get hold of them. I think they may have even withdrawn them now?

It matters not; because people have given up asking – they have re-educated out taste buds. We still have lots of Malt Vinigar with Fish & Chips, though.

quote:

---

Joking aside - in the British Empire 'Ice' was considered a risk as the water was probably from the tap and could still contain Malaria. This could explain why older Brits may not like ice in their drinks?

---

You can only get Malaria from mosquitoes, or blood transfer...not from the water.

quote:

---

Originally posted by eroller:

...Nothing like getting dressed in a tux every night, only to be roasting away. Not very comfortable.

---

Ah, that's kinda what I was looking for. A few years ago I had a similar conversation with a maritime historian who said that the olfactory experience would be quite a shock to many of us.

For example, in the early 20th century bathing habits were not quite the same. Tooth care also left much to be desired. He said that the reality of dining in an un-airconditioned room full of people who may not have bathed or brushed their teeth in days and were probably wearing heavy wool clothing night after night might prove to be...how should we say, a bit smelly.

Anyone here able to provide a first-hand account

The dining experience would indeed be interesting...no diet coke! Probably no ice in drinks. No preservatives like we have today so foods may taste slightly different...more gritty, heavy.

Salt water baths in the staterooms would be an option not seen today.

Locks on the doors between classes??? In my experience on cruise ships, the doors everywhere are unlocked...now days however, there are security code locks on doors to sensative areas like engine room.

Reading those wonderful texts by Desirod's Grandfather, I cannot but think how we have changed, also mentally. People think and act differently.

We all would be sick also, I honestly think the food wouldn't agree with us, as surely hygienic standards, from farm to plate have changed a lot, hygiene has also been mentioned, A/C, security, smells, but also air quality, smoking, social behaviour etc etc

First class on any ship is and has always been better than the others.

I have always been fascinated by those chapters in Walter Lord's A night to Remember about the Carpathia. A normal voyage in the Belle Epoque on board such a ship, or Mauretania or one of the pre 1914 four stackers, preferably in first class of course, but second class is the most interesting, as surely the least known. I don't think I would liek to travel steerage, but in those days it wasn't a question of liking of course.

In the twenties first class and tourist on board Ile-de-France, and in the thirties first class on board Normandie, and Nieuw Amsterdam (and perhaps Bremen or Europa)

In the fifties on board Queen Elizabeth, and in the sixties France or Michelangelo.

I am however too sure I couldn't even afford third class on such express liners.

However, interestingly, I once adjusted a Titanic steerage fare (which I think was about the same for other ships of the same size and class of her time, 12,5 GBP = 312,5 Belgian Francs in money of 1912), and with some information about cost of living and the value of money and inflation, the single absolutely most cheapest ticket on QE2 is roughly the same price, some 1000EUR. The price of ocean travel has stayed the same over the century !! (all though comfort and speed has gone up, so you could even say, travelling M-class in QE2 or even D-QM2 is cheaper than titanic - steerage...)

quote:

---

Originally posted by Johan:
We all would be sick also, I honestly think the food wouldn't agree with us, as surely hygienic standards, from farm to plate have changed a lot, hygiene has also been mentioned, A/C, security, smells, but also air quality, smoking, social behaviour etc etc

---

Not much difference with nowadays cruising with all the Viruses spread each year on many cruise ships. I would rather have an upset stomach because of the food then have a virus and not being able to eat anything at all. Strange actually you never read about massive virus out brakes on yesteryears ocean liners while you would expect that hygiene’s was less important or known back then.