Southern Cross was an innovative design for the Shaw Savill & Albion line to take emigrants from Europe to Australia and New Zealand. The ship had no cargo holds apart from spaces for passenger luggage and the engineering spaces were aft along with the funnel. The ship had modern air-condition cabins but only the first-class cabins were en-suite. The colour scheme of light grey hull and pale green upper-works was also new. When aircraft took over the passenger trade in the 1970s the ship entered the cruise market but this was not immediately successful because of the limited number of cabins with bathrooms and her then owners (Elder Dempster) sold her to Greek owners who re-fitted the ship for the European cruise market and later the US Caribbean market where she continued until the 21st century. The model represents Southern Cross during her days as a passenger liner.