Tourist Third Cabin

brochure

A brochure for Cunard's Tourist Third Cabin to Europe. This dates from around 1928 (based on images of menus with a 1928 date), and the text emphasizes that Tourist Third Cabin is full of young and adventurous people-- "very affluent parents are continually being shocked because one of their sons has preferred to cross, at least one way, Tourist Third"-- but that it is not just for students: "a Cunard steward remains a Cunard steward, anywhere on board ship... the Cunard table is always a gentleman's table." At this time, the United States was cutting back on immigration, so Cunard was moving away from steerage and reenvisioning third class as a budget option for a growing middle class with a desire to travel. The photographs show comfortable but simple cabins, dining rooms, public rooms and decks, and a section in the center highlights menus for breakfast, luncheon, dinner and farewell dinners. The emphasis on youth and fun is reflected in the lively and colorful cover, which shows young people in fashionable clothes dancing on a deck, under swinging orange lanterns.