Titanic The Instagram Liner of the Time – While the tragedy of the Titanic is what dominates our understanding of it, we should not underestimate its luxury. The marketing for the ship’s maiden voyage focused in on the exceptional levels of luxury available to first-class travellers and it was definitely the kind of ship that would dominate Instagram feeds and look spectacular when snapped for a photograph.

The Titanic was the largest moveable man-made object of its time. It took over two years to complete and was finished to the highest standards. Over 3000 men worked on its construction and its cost in equivalent value today is over £100,000,000. Many elements of the ship were completed to the highest levels of luxury and let’s look more closely at some of the most elegant elements of the doomed ship.

Titanic The Instagram Liner of the Time

Pioneering Innovation

The Titanic was equipped with many never-seen-before features and luxuries. Onboard there was a swimming pool, squash courts, a gym, and Turkish baths. These high-end luxury features made the ship even more appealing and attracted even more high-class customers.

The onboard gym was on the boat deck and featured all the essentials anyone would expect, with the unusual and highly modern additions of a mechanical horse and a mechanical camel. The Turkish baths were male-only and exclusively for first-class male passengers. They included a steam room, private toilet, and a separate shampooing room. Ornate features included a freshwater drinking fountain crafted from marble and elegant ornate tiles and lounge chairs for passengers to relax.

Iconic Staircase

The grand staircase of the Titanic is one of the most snappable elements of the whole ship. Exceptionally ornate and the height of luxury, no form of travel had ever featured such an opulent staircase. Constructed from exquisite, polished oak, the staircase sat between a domed window, creating the illusion of natural light at all times of the day. The centre piece of the staircase features an ornately carved panel with a clock and there were also modern elevators available for first-class travellers to descend for dining. James Cameron, director of the 1997 film Titanic, painstakingly replicated the original staircase, working from original plans of the design.

First-Class Travel

First-class travellers on the Titanic had ample room to explore and enjoy, outside their private quarters. The public spaces to explore included a dining saloon, restaurant, lounge, reading and writing room, men’s smoking room, Verandah cafes and palm courts. Wealthy individuals tended to purchase a parlour suite while families would book several first-class cabins adjacent to each other and open the connecting doors to create a suite of their own.

The Verandah café and palm courts were designed with the gentle English countryside in mind. Wicker furniture, potted plants, trelliswork and large open windows created a homely atmosphere and first-class children particularly spent a lot of time in the café area.

First-class passengers could also relax in the opulent lounge. The lounge was situated on the Promenade deck and considered a place for conversation and quiet socialisation. It was modelled on the Palace of Versailles and featured rich oak-panelling on the walls. Alcoves around the lounge allowed for a little privacy.

The reading and writing room was designed exclusively for first-class women passengers. Painted white with elegant furnishings, it was the perfect place for women to relax and unwind amongst their fellow passengers. A huge bow window afforded brilliant views of the Promenade Deck and a woodfire to ensure all passengers were kept toasty warm.

For first-class men there was the dedicated smoking-room. Positioned towards the back of the Promenade Deck, the first-class smoking room was panelled in rich mahogany carved in the classical Georgian style. The panels featured opulent mother of pearl inlay and the central fireplace featured a painting by Norman Wilkinson, entitled “Approach to the New World”.

Exquisite Dining in Elegant Surroundings

First-class diners on the Titanic were surrounded by the same opulence as in their other spaces on the ship. The beautifully furnished dining room was 114 feet long and as wide as the ship’s full size. 532 passengers could be seated at once and the room was decorated in the Jacobean style. This was the largest dining room ever seen on a ship and the designers went into painstaking detail to create a beautiful and extravagant space for passengers to dine. The designers were based on Hatton Hall and similarly elegant country mansions in Hampshire and all furniture was crafted from solid oak, essential for delivering the ultimate in luxury.

For an extra cost and even more luxury, passengers could book to dine in restaurateur Luigi Gatti’s intimate à la carte restaurant known on board as the “Ritz”. Menus from the Titanic have been widely shared and the vast array of gourmet food available included everything from canapes and oysters to consommé soups and poached fish. Meals contained several courses with many different types of meat and accompaniments to choose from. Gatti’s menu on the ship’s final fateful night had eleven separate courses, concluding with Waldorf pudding, peaches in Chartreuse jelly, chocolate and vanilla éclairs, French ice cream, assorted fresh fruit and cheeses.

There were many other dining options in the cafes and lounges around the liner, but none quite as luxurious and opulent as offered in Gatti’s restaurant.

Relaxing in your Private Quarters

The Titanic had 39 private suites, spread across the Bridge Deck and the Shelter Deck. Each suite had bedrooms with private toilet facilities and up to five individual rooms for private enjoyment. The rooms included one or more bedrooms, one or two wardrobe rooms and a private bathroom. There are also 350 standard cabins for first-class travellers, complete with single beds and comfort for private relaxation.

Luxury on Every Level

The Titanic was marketed as the height of luxury, and it certainly delivered on all points. Passengers travelling first class wanted for nothing and experienced sights and sounds akin to what they would expect in the finest restaurants and hotels in London. The Titanic was supposed to set a precedent for what luxury travel could be like, it’s just a shame it all ended so tragically.