Elsewhere you will have seen that the Caronia was equipped with a very comfortable and exquisitely fitted out writing room. In common with most ships, this room would be the source of standardised writing paper and postcards. However, aboard Caronia, specially printed letter-heads were also produced for individual cruises. This page shows a selection of both of these letter-heads.
Produced in 3 sizes in both standard notepaper and in crinkly air-mail weight, this was the earliest notepaper used on board.
In later years, the Cunard White Star wording was replaced with simply Cunard Line. An example of this is seen below, where the standard paper has been overprinted with the World Cruise header.
I haven't been able to establish any issue date for either of these World Cruise letter-heads, but I'm guessing that they will have been produced in the early 1960s, when cost-cutting exercises would have been introduced. By producing generic headings like these, the same paper stock could be used on consecutive Great World cruises.
Produced in American Letter size, this was probably the most lavishly produced writing paper of all. The base of the sheet had a decorative border of simulated waves and is marked below this with Cunard Line and American Express. This suggests that it was probably produced by the latter company.
Another in American Letter size paper, used for Airmail. The crinkles in the image correctly reflect the nature of this very thin paper.
This letter-head, for the 1953 Round South America Cruise was produced in the smaller note-paper, size, as a variation to the standard Caronia stationery produced by Cunard.
Although only loosely a postal correspondence item, I've added this card because they were available for passenger use in the Writing Room.
Left:
Generic Invitation Card
Usually, invitation cards issued on behalf of the Captain, Senior Officers or Cruise Staff were pre-printed, with only a date and/or time to add. However passengers also had access to these small cards on which they could write their own personal invitations, usually to a small private cocktail party in their stateroom.
For the larger private parties, often held in the Verandah Café, an arrangement would be made with the on-board print-shop to privately print the invitations. This card stock would be used for that purpose.
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Page last updated on Thu, 27 Mar 2025
