The dining saloon seated 330; it was panelled in a neo-Georgian style, finished throughout in ivory white, with the doors and architraves in polished mahogany.

On 18 January 1924 the two ships began running the fortnightly service between Tilbury and Sydney via Colombo and Melbourne.

In November 1923 Maloja was caught in a dockworkers' strike in Australia and after a delayed departure was forced to abandon 6,000 tons of cargo left on the dockside.

In March 1933 Maloja ran aground in Adelaide but was re-floated without sustaining significant damage.

On 11 September 1939 Maloja was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an armed merchant cruiser in Bombay, India.

On 13 March 1940 Maloja intercepted a ship southeast of Iceland in position 63.00N, 10.20W, which claimed to be the Japanese vessel Taki Maru.

Maloja's captain suspected otherwise, but he was unable to send a boarding party due to the adverse weather conditions.

The Maloja anchored off Algiers early on 6 December but disembarkation there was cancelled and the vessel proceeded eastwards towards Bône, arriving at 11:00 hours the next day.

[2] On 15 January 1947 Maloja was returned to P&O and was berthed at the Royal Albert Dock in London for full civilian reconditioning, by R & H Green & Silley Weir.