On 6 January 1900, "Etruria" left Liverpool, and one week later she arrived in New York. On the 13th engineers were inspecting the ship, and on examination of the propeller shaft, they found cracks that were not there when the ship left Liverpool. Her running mate had suffered a failure of her propeller shaft at sea in 1893, and to avoid the same fate "Etruria" was confined to her pier until a replacement shaft was shipped over from Britain. After this was done, and the new shaft had been fitted in New York, she departed on 17 February for the homeward bound service. In 1900 "Etruria" remained on the North Atlantic service whilst "Umbria" was requisitioned to carry troops to and from South Africa during the Boer War. By July 1900 both sisters were back on the North Atlantic service.