Cruising – Shriners Style

As I’ve written about in previous posts, my grandparents, Sig and Loraine (Gunzendorfer) Levy loved to cruise on the SS Lurline to Hawaii.  You can read my recent post HERE.  I’ve now found many photos and dinner menus from their adventures and it has helped me piece together information about their cruises.

I think the cruise they took in 1949 was with the Shriners.  What makes me think this?  How about these photos?



The back of the photo tells me that this lovely couple is Jesse and Betty Newton.  Looks to me like they might just be arriving in Honolulu – I remember when visitors were greeted with leis at the airport or as they left the ship.  I can almost smell them from this photo!  While I have things from several different visits, I’ve learned that Jesse passed away in 1953 so this photo is, most likely, from their 1949 cruise.  Jesse and Betty on the left, Sig and Loraine on the right.

From the website www.tehranshriners.org I learned about the formation of this new organization in Fresno.

At its annual meeting in Atlantic City on June 10, 1948,  the Imperial Council,  Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine granted dispensation to the Fresno Shrine Club to activate and organize a Shrine Temple. A year later, a Shrine Temple was situated in Fresno. It was given the name Tehran which was an appropriate choice as it generally interpreted as “a warm place at the foot of a mountain.”

Maybe this cruise was celebrating the formation of the new club?

And some other photos of the Shriners.



The best thing about Sig and Loraine being short is that they were almost always in the front!

Here they are peeking out from behind the ferns.



Wonder where Sig was hiding for this photo?



All dressed up for dinner.  I love how the men were all wearing tuxes!

This must have been another night when Sig left his hat in the room.  I love how elegant they look.



I think their destination might have been The Royal Hawaiian Hotel.  I know my grandparents always stayed there when they visited and since these photos were in with the rest, I’m guessing that was the destination for the Shriners.



And from the restaurant on the patio.  What a different time it was then – now people would be dressed in their swim suits and looking at their phones instead of enjoying the beautiful view.

Now this menu is from a different trip but I thought it would be fun to include another menu to see if the food choices were more in line with something I’d like to eat.  I’m happy to say that’s the case.

What a beautiful cover!  Can you imagine having this souvenir at your table every night?



This particular dinner in 1958 was Hawaiian Night Dinner and the menu looks pretty good.



I was particularly interested in the wine list as we love to collect (and drink) wine.  I don’t remember my grandparents drinking wine but, of course, they’ve been gone so long now my memory has faded.  I wonder what they selected?



Just for fun I thought it would be fun to see if the wine was available today so I looked up the 1949 Chateau D’Yquem.  The price range is from $1250 to $3500!  I sure hope they picked that one and that they enjoyed it.

Thanks for sailing along with my grandparents on the SS Lurline.