On her maiden voyage to Bombay in October and November 1935, Strathmore gained the Blue Riband for the route from the Mediterranean to India. In April 1936 she took the new Viceroy of India, the Marquess of Linlithgow, to Bombay with his wife, daughters, and personal staff, and brought home his predecessor, the Marquess of Willingdon. Later in 1936 she took a British-American climbing expedition, including Bill Tilman, Noel Odell, and Charles Snead Houston, to India for the successful first ascent of Nanda Devi. In 1938 the ship brought the Australian cricket team, including Don Bradman, to England for the 1938 Ashes series. Other notable passengers in the ship's early years included the writer W. Somerset Maugham.