Interior of the passenger liner 'Empress of Asia' (1913) showing the First Class Gymnasium, inside a deckhouse on the Top of Houses. The horse and camel riding machines are shown in detail. In the background is a balustrade around the stairs down to the Promenade Deck.

Passenger liners were expected to be equipped with all the luxuries of a hotel or a club, and swimming pools and gymnasiums soon became regular and indispensable fixtures.