According to Ian Stewart's "The Ships that Serve New Zealand Vol.1 (1964), the CERAMIC had her hull painted white, along with the GOTHIC, in preparation for the Royal Tour of 1953. The GOTHIC got the job because of more suitable scheduling for conversion.
Originally supplied with accommodation for 84 passengers.
She had geared turbines with a design speed of 17.25 knots. GOTHIC and CERAMIC cost £1.5 million each.
Entered service - 10/1948

Thanks Tony

My long time friend Keith Wood and I have started scanning our joint collection, this is what we had to put up with, Keith was at school and had saved up for a 110 Instamatic like myself at the time, his composition was spot on but the 110 size, one of the greatest cons ,never resulted in a sharp result, Oh to have had digital !

Chris, great photograph. In fact very nice series of images today.