The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1948-05-13
THROUGH
HAZEL
EYES
BY Huxel Brannon
Aboard r. M. S.
Queen Elizabeth
Enroute to England


Travel purely for pleasure remains
a prewar luxury.
Today's traveller on even the de-
luxe liners like the r. M. S. Queen
Elizabeth will more than nine times
out of ten be crossing the Atlantic
for business rather than pleasure.
Businessmen and women with
children bound to join their military
husbands abroad make up the lar
gest part of the $500 or more pas
sengers now aboard the Elizabeth
enroute to England and Europe. The
capacity of the Queen is about $500
passengers and every stateroom is
filled to the limit.
The Elizabeth is a small city of
its own. There are 1,400 members of
its crew who work day and night to
keep its passengers safe, comfor-
table, and if possible, happy.
Meals are very good with a nice
variety at every meal Supplies are
bought in America for the crossing
both ways. War-starved England has
no food supplies to be Used on ocean
liners.
Travel on the snip is divided into
three classes, first, cabin, and tourist.
Minimum fares for the various
classes, one-way passage, runs from
around $3.50. for first class, $240.
cabin, to $3.50. for tourist class. The
kind of stateroom you have deter
mines the rate of the room.
The classes are separated. Top
decks belong to the first-class pas
sengers and other passengers are not
permitted to intrude unless by invi-
tation of the passengers or the ships
officers. Cabin class is below the first
class staterooms and the tourist Sec
tion is well forward in the ship.
Separate decks, lounges, smoking
rooms, Libraries, bars, swimming
pools and gymnasiums, are main
tanned for all classes with the ex-
ception of the theatres. There is one
theatre for the first class and cabin
class passengers and another for the
tourists. Food for all classes is SUBJ
stantially the same except that the
have the variety of the rest.
Clothes are very informal with the
exception that first class passen-
gers, men and women, dress for din
ner. A few in cabin class also dress
for the evening meal.
The crossing from New York to
Southampton took five days. Wea-
Their was practically perfect except
there was little sunshine. My cabin
steward said it was the most perfect
crossing he could ever remember.
The decks are unusually full of
passengers, young and old, who are
playing deck tennis, ping-pong, bad
minton and other sports. The library
also draws lot of passengers as do
the card tables. Needless to say the
bar Is patronized quite freely and
horse racing and or bingo is featured
every evening after dinner. After the
bingo dancing to the ships orches-
ira is enjoyed Dancing in cabin class
starts Immediately after the bingo
game and continues until 1890 o.
clock. Dancing in first class starts at
1890 to the music of the same Or
chestra. First class passengers, OF
course, may come down to the cabin
lounge and take part in the festivi-
ties. But the cabin class can't go
above to their dances. Tourist dane
ing is done to the tune of juke box.
Anyone planning trip to Europe
would want at least cabin class. First
class travel, costing almost twice as
much, doesn't give that much addi-
tional value.
The Queen Elizabeth, Cunard
White Star ship, is beautiful luxury
liner and the largest one afloat. Her
gross tonnage is 83,673. She is 1,031
feet long and l18 feet wide.
1t was interesting to attend the
Church of England service on Sun
day morning and surprising to see
that more people came to church
than to the bingo game. The Church
of England service was used n
which there is great deal Of re-
sponsive reading. There was no SER
mon but several hymns and several
members of the ships orchestra as
sisted in the music for the occasion.
1t was a very impressive service but
a bit formal for a Southern Baptist.
Holy mass and the Jewish services
were held almost daily.
There are two sittings at every
meal. The first sitting is at 800,
lunch at 1915, dinner at 6:15. The
second sitting is 900, 1870, and 1880
The average day on the Elizabeth
for most passengers is breakfast
walk or lounging around deck until
HOO when bouillon is served; deck
sports, bridge or movies until lunch
con. The afternoon is pretty much
the same with movies and horse
racing in the afternoon, tea served
every afternoon at 400 on deck and
in the lounges, the cocktail hour at
900, dinner, news cast by radio in
the lounge, bingo, dancing. Every
day at breakfast printed program
of the activities available for the
day is on the breakfast table. Every