The Travel Event of a Decade!
1951 started with Caronia embarking for her First Round the World Cruise, the first of only two westward circumnavigations that she ever did. This was also to be the first of only three occasions when she traversed both the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal in one cruise. According to the ports to be called at in the itinerary, the brochure cover was definitely not wrong when it called the cruise “The Outstanding Travel Event of a Decade!”
This was clearly the way to travel! A mere one hundred and eleven days ensconced in one of the most luxurious ships afloat. Over 32,000 miles of travel to thirty ports in five continents in both hemispheres. The best suite for two would have cost you a princely sum of $30,000, but even in the cheapest cabin you could still travel in First Class luxury for about 12 cents a mile!
This would be the first year when another Caronia tradition would be started. The North Cape cruise was soon to become an institution in its own right, with several passengers booking this cruise year upon year. For this and the next sixteen years, this would be the one cruise that would take place almost without interruption. Whilst world events would occasionally drastically alter a planned itinerary on other cruises, Caronia on the North Cape Cruise only meant that the month was July.
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Virtual World Cruise of 1951
