Explore RMS Queen Mary’s rich history
Moored Cunard ocean liner offers trip back in time as a hotel and museum
It had taken me the better part of a day to get to Long Beach, Calif. There was the flight from Canada to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), then the trial to navigate LAX’s ancient baggage system. Then my shuttle van refused to show up. The heat was getting to me, and I wanted nothing more than to check into my hotel and drop my things.
My hotel, in this case, wasn’t any ordinary hotel. It was the RMS Queen Mary (queenmary. com), the former Cunard ocean liner launched in 1936 that has been permanently moored in Long Beach since its arrival in December 1967.
Now 82 years old, the Queen Mary is one of the last remaining examples of the golden era of transatlantic crossings left in the world, open as both a hotel and a museum.
Truthfully, I never intended to write about my stay. My one day and one night aboard this venerable Cunarder was supposed to be a vacation for myself. But the second I saw the RMS Queen Mary, glistening in the amber glow of the setting sun, I was entranced.
Checking in to this hotel is a lot like boarding a cruise ship — because, really, that’s what you’re doing. An elevator takes you up to a series of gantries that deposit you onto the A-Deck reception foyer, which would have been the Cabin (First) Class reception area when the ship was in service.
First observations: the hotel is busy — very busy. People aren’t just here to check in; they are also here to go on tours of the stately ocean liner which. I was checking in just after 6 p.m., which was also the start of the nightly Ghost Tour. Like most old things with any sort of history, the RMS Queen Mary is supposedly haunted.
I feel quite conflicted about these ghost tours. To me, they cheapen the rich history of this gorgeous ship, which played an important role in the Second World War carrying the likes of Winston Churchill and thousands of troops and war brides across the Atlantic. Today, people come onboard because they hope they’ll see an apparition in the former Cabin Class swimming pool, which admittedly does look like a decent setting for a Stephen King novel.
On the other hand, without these day tours, the costs of maintaining this ship would be unmanageable. The RMS Queen Mary was in the midst of a massive refit project when I visited in late July — with workers repainting the hull and funnel, making improvements to the teak decking and, I understand, a lot of subtle improvements behind the scenes.
This is good. On the surface, the problems are apparent: there is old and frayed carpeting in many of the ship’s stately staircases. Corridors have wall panelling of varying quality once you leave the former Cabin Class section. And the harsh fluorescent lighting installed during the hotel conversion casts an odd blue glow and leaves other sections dramatically under-lit.
Still, staying onboard is a wonderful experience on the whole. If you book a room, make sure it is one of the Deluxe Staterooms, Mini- Suites or Full Suites, as these all have much of their original decor still intact. My room on A-Deck had gorgeous wood panelling, a cosy seating area, porthole windows that opened, and remnants of the ship’s past life as an ocean liner, including taps (non-functioning now) for salt or fresh water in the bathtub.
I found onboard service to be excellent. No one knew me or that I write this column, yet when I had an issue with the air conditioning in my assigned B-Deck stateroom, I was quickly and efficiently moved to a new room on A-Deck.
After dinner in the Chelsea Chowder House, I finished my evening by enjoying a drink in the forward Observation Bar; a crescent-shaped Art Deco room where you can almost feel the sway of the Atlantic and hear the clink of glasses as the ship plowed through the ocean.
I wandered back down the long, wood-panelled corridors, to my room on A-Deck. I never did see a ghost. Instead, I found something better: a real-life time machine.
Happy cruising.
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