Quote:
Originally Posted by Ciaran
Yes, it was. However, a successor, also called Mauretania, was constructed and continued to sail on transatlantic voyages for a number of decades. I met a number of people who sailed on the Mauretania in 1949 - they were members of the Belfast Celtic soccer team who toured the United States and Canada that summer.
A number of years ago, I obtained many of the personal artefacts of a famous European soccer star. Included amongst these artefacts were a number of itineraries, dinner menus and certificates for a number of transatlantic cruises in the 1940s and 1950s. It was interesting to note that passengers received certificates when completing some of these voyages .... It really does bring home the different era and how travelling long journeys on the seas must have been a real adventure and experience.
|
Yes, if you could afford even a second-class ticket on one of those ships, how much fun that would have been compared to being sealed in a tube and shot across by air. It would have been different than the cruise ships of today, which are giant parties on water.
But then again, maybe the passengers of the Titanic's time didn't find it "fun", especially in third class. And I would not want to live 24/7 back then. I don't know how to say what I mean very well..but just to sit on the furnishings, or have a cup of tea on the deck

. It's a lost experience.