Life For The Second Class

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Re the gym though - assume that was counted as a designated area for 1st and 2nd?<<

It wasn't. As Bob indicated, the 2cnd class was given an opportunity to look over the public rooms in the 1st cabin, perhaps with an eye towards getting some to upgrade for the voyage or consider doing so for the next. There's nothing like getting the ship to advertise herself by showing off the premium accomadations.

 

[Eloise Aston]

Thanks for clearing it up about the gym; that had me confused for a while.

I think I read somewhere that someone managed to upgrade herself from 2nd to 1st at very little extra cost because the ship was fairly empty. I now can't remember where I read it though, and don't know if it's true or not. Made me laugh because I thought of all those hints about 'how to get an upgrade' on planes - seems it might have been going on for a while!

 

[Lester Mitcham]

Eloise,

You are probably thinking of Mrs Cassebeer. In The Night Lives On, Walter Lord wrote that "she boarded as a Second Class passenger, ....... Knowing, that expensive cabins often went begging in the off-season ..........."
Not true. She was always booked to sail 1st Class. According to the Contract Ticket List she was a 1st Class passenger and paid the minimum 1st Class fare from Paris, £27 14s 5d. That was twice as much as a 2nd Class fare. She was also by her own account https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/cassebeer_account.html in a room on D-deck, which were not "the most expensive rooms".

On the other hand Alfred Nourney travelling as the Baron von Drachstedt did upgrade from 2nd Class to 1st Class.

 

[Eloise Aston]

Ah, that explains it! I couldn't check because I don't own TNLO, but think several of the things I've read somewhere and remembered are from there. Thanks for clearing it up.

>>Alfred Nourney travelling as the Baron von Drachstedt<<

That sounds like an intriguing story...