CRAZE FOR CRUISES

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 14, 11 October 1932, Page 7

CRAZE FOR CRUISES

I Britain’s New Holiday r I LARGE LINERS USED An innovation in Britain this summer which is likely to establish a new holiday mode was the holiday cruise. The leading shipping companies withdrew the world’s greatest liners from their regular routes to meet the popular demand for short cruises, and at the beginning of August one of the busiest spots in Britain was Southampton, where ocean liners were picking up. passengers for cruises to Mediterranean ports and Madeira. Of those who left the shores of Britain the majority sailed in British liners for cruises to Madeira and Mediterranean ports. Such cruises captured the imagination of the nation, and set a fashion for future holidays. On one day the largest ocean liners in the world were entering or leaving Southampton at the rate of one every two hours. In every ease their accommodation was fully booked up. Fifteen liners left Southampton in 14 hours, and six of them went a cruising with 5000 passengers on board. Between 11 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. 11,000 pas- | sengers were handled at the port. I Among the liners engaged were:— . Tons. Cunard liner Berengaria 52,226 White Star liner Olympic 46,439 White Star liner Homeric .... 34,351 White Star liner Doric 16,484 Orient liner Orford 19,941 Orient liner Ormonde 14,982 Blue Star liner Arandora Star 14,694 P. and O. liner Viceroy of India 19,648 The Berengaria went to Madeira with 1300 first-class passengers, the Olympic had 750 passengers, and the Homeric 1000, while the Doric was bound for a 15 days’ cruise round the British Isles, calling at the Shetlands and the Orkneys. Both the Orford and the Ormonde sailed on Mediterranean cruises. The Channel was busier with holiday traffic than it had been for many years. About 5500 holiday-makers were bound for the Channel Islands. . The Arandora Star left Immingham. ; Lincolnshire, for Norway, and the Viceroy of India left Tilbury for the I Baltic. But while thousands left on ocean 1 cruises, tens of thousands deserted the cities and towns for that traditional ! Bank Holiday "spree” which signalises the end of summer and the approach ' of the workaday world of autumn and ’ winter. 1 To the luckiest it meant a fortnight j or three weeks by the sea. but to the , vast majority it meant the last two ( days’ break they will get foi five months. Trains, motor coaches, and motor- i cars were filled with holiday-makers, j People were quick to realise what the c mile-a-minute express trains had to offer them. Excursions that carried ' them at this speed at a cost of three miles a penny had never been seen before, and they attracted many passengers who at first felt they could not afford a holiday.