Facilities Onboard

The Titanic contained many technologically advanced features for its day.   First-class passengers were treated to luxury and comfort. Decorations in their lounge were modelled on the Palace of Versailles in Paris and were adorned with: ornate wooden panneling, expensive furniture and other decorations. The best rooms were the parlour suites - each consisting of: a sitting room, two bedrooms and two wardrobe rooms, as well as a: private bath, lavatory and private promenade deck. They were also treated to: three electric elevators; a heated swimming pool; a gymnasium; a swimming pool; a Turkish bath; a squash court; an authentic Parisian cafe with French waiters; a sunlit veranda cafe with live palm trees; a fully equipped darkroom for amateur photographers to try their skills.    Both first and second class passengers could also use: a smoking room (for the men); a reading room (for the ladies); a library; a barber's shop with automated shampooing and drying appliances. The third-class common room had a piano in it which was considered a luxury at the time.   There was also: an infirmary, an operating room and a Marconi wireless radio station for sending and receiving passengers' telegrams. The Titanic had the ability to carry 64 lifeboats (a total capacity of over 4,000 people) but White Star Line only agreed to put twenty onboard - sixteen wooden lifeboats and four folding, 'collapsible' lifeboats.   Although this meant that she only had lifesaving capacity for 1,178 people - less than half of the 3,547 passengers and crew she was designed to carry - she surpassed lifeboat requirements at the time (based on her size) by over 17%.