Canadian Pacific’s 1928-29 world cruise was the longest to date, and it is especially long as described in this booklet, which was aimed at residents of Great Britain. For them, the cruise would be a trip around the world plus two trips across the Atlantic.

Click image to view and download a 60.7-MB PDF of this booklet from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.

They would begin on November 14 on the Empress of Australia‘s last trans-Atlantic voyage of the season from Southampton to Quebec. They would then spend three days at the Chateau Frontenac while the Australia was being refitted and revictualed before re-embarking for a short trip to New York.

American travelers would get on the ship on New York City, departing on December 1. For them, the cruise would be 136 days — two days longer than in 1927-28 — before returning to New York, and the fares they paid were presumably slightly higher (due to the longer cruise) than those from the previous year. British members would spend a couple of days in New York before returning to Southampton on April 26, thus enjoying — or enduring — a total of 164 days, of which 97 would be at sea and 67 in ports (including 9 days in Quebec and New York).

This 114-page booklet is the only item from the 1928-29 world cruise in the Chung collection. It says that the base price for the 164-day cruise was £427 — about US$36,000 today — though the cost could rise to as high as £2,635 each for two people in a three-room suite, which is roughly US$450,000 for the suite in today’s money.

The deck list shows that cruise managers opened about 25 more rooms on deck F, the lowest (and lowest-priced) deck that was open for occupancy, than had been available the previous year. So even though the 1927-28 cruise was only 75 percent occupied, they were ready for a few more travelers.