In April 1925 Homeric received a distress signal from the Japanese freighter Raifuku Maru which was listing dangerously in heavy seas and taking on water. Homeric and another ship, King Alexander, sped to Raifuku Maru‍ '​s position, but the rough seas prevented her from getting closer. Homeric‍ '​s crew and passengers watched helplessly as the Japanese freighter sank with all thirty eight of her crew. This incident became controversial after several passengers accused Homeric‍ '​s crew of not making enough effort to rescue the crew of the stricken ship. The Japanese government even accused the Homeric‍ '​s crew of racism. Although these accusations were strenuously denied.

Built with the steerage trade in mind, Homeric had a huge portion of her accommodations devoted to immigrants, and when the United States curtailed the flow of foreign settlers in the mid-1920s the Homeric was particularly hard hit. Her transatlantic crossings began to lose money as early as 1926, and the ship was sent on cruises around the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Even though the liner had only been in service since 1922, by 1927 she was seriously showing her age. Launched in 1913, her hull and inner workings were nearing twenty years old. Cracks had been discovered in her hull and superstructure, as well as the thrust blocks in the engine rooms, but like her fleet-mates, the Homeric plied on, sailing at reduced speed and avoiding the worst of the North Atlantic’s squalls. In 1928, White Star formally announced the thousand-foot-long Oceanic, meant to replace the aging Olympic and Homeric on the express service. However, the new Oceanic was never to be, as White Star was unable to secure the financing for such a ship, and instead built two smaller motorliners, Britannic and Georgic. Once the Georgic entered service, Homeric became surplus on the Atlantic and she was sent cruising full-time. On 1 June 1932, she departed New York on her final transatlantic crossing. Her career on the Atlantic was indeed short-lived, as she only provided transatlantic service for ten years.

Cruising from British ports to the Mediterranean, the Homeric was one of the first liners to be used exclusively as a cruise ship, She handled this position brilliantly, and soon was well established in the cruising industry. Although the Homeric never succumbed to any great disaster, she was involved in one minor incident while at anchor off Tenerife on 28 September 1932. Cia Transmediterrania’s small Isla de Tenerifefailed to steer while circling the Homeric, slamming into the side of the ship near the bow. Luckily, the larger ship was not badly damaged and her cruise continued.

As White Star’s financial situation worsened in the early 1930s, the Homeric’s future became increasingly grim. With the company’s funds nearly depleted, and thmerge of White Star and their rival Cunard, Homeric’sdays were numbered. In 1934, the two companies merged, and the Homeric was declared surplus again, slated to be sold to the breakers upon completion of the merger. All, of course, was contingent on the success of 534, the ship that would later be known as the Queen Mary. In July 1935, the Homeric participated in King George V's Silver Jubilee fleet review, a prestigious honor, but only two months later, the Homeric was laid up, never to see any sort of use again. Homeric was sold for £74,000 for scrap to Thomas W Ward LTD, on 26th February 1936, by 1938 Homeric was gone.

Despite her scrapping, many of her interior furnishings survive to this day. The former Rex Cinema in Stonehouse, Scotland preserves much of the Homeric's grand interior to this day. Although the building is not generally open to the public as it is now used at a storage facility on some occasions visitors are allowed in by the owners. It was recently featured on episode 2, series 9 of the BBC program Timeshift about the Golden Age of Liners