The Queen Mary Hotel

In Long Beach for a business trip, and decided to stay on the QM for a night before traveling home. Rented a Deluxe King room and found it to be comfortable and spacious. Everything worked, but would not be consider it luxurious by modern luxury hotel standards. There are some modern updates like television, air conditioning, and electric outlets. The room had many of the original fixtures and fittings, including wood finishing, vanity, (non-working) original electric fan, and (non-working) taps for salt water in the bathtub. It's a testament to the build quality that an 85-year old vessel is still comfortable to stay aboard. I especially enjoyed opening and looking out the portholes in my room. I would stay again, but rent a more luxurious room such as a suite next time. While onboard, I took the time to do several daytime tours: glory days, steam and steel, and haunted encounters. All were good tours, and hotel guests get a small discount on a package of all three tours. All the tours do a reasonable job of showcasing parts of the ship that one cannot normally visit. Glory days was good, but did not visit some of the more elegant ballrooms because they were in use for private functions. Haunted encounters was good, but we could not visit inside the 1st class pool which would have been nice since it is not open to explore individually. The tour did not go through the isolation ward, another spooky part of the ship, but that can be explored individually. The steam and steel tour of the engineering spaces was excellent and seemed the most complete of the tours in terms of covering its topic. Overally, an enjoyable set of tours of the QM that were well worth the visit. Read less

We really enjoyed seeing the ship. The wood planking on the deck and all the intricate wood detail on the walls and stairways was amazing to think how fancy this must have been for its time. It looks just like you'd imagine an antique luxury cruise ship would look. I'm sure it must be used in movies! We ate at Sir Winston's and the food and service was fantastic. The best thing was a lavender martini...oh my goodness!! Read less

We were excited to see the Queen Mary, given its historic status and reputation. Unfortunately some areas rather let the visit down. The areas that you can visit are fantastic; the engine room and isolation ward being particular highlights. Unfortunately the ship has been extensively remodelled over the years, and lots of areas are lost and/or inaccessible to the ordinary visitor. It would have been great to see various classes of cabins for example, and also have access to the swimming pool and first, second and third class recreation rooms and lounges. Overall, the visit was enjoyable, but could have been improved with more areas being open to view. It’s also deeply disconcerting to see a Starbucks plonked in the centre of a “historic monument”- this seems a wholly unnecessary addition to a beautiful structure. Can’t really recommend the café either- food was expensive and average in a rather run-down setting. Read less

We booked on 3 of the tours but didn't do the ghost one. The first tour was the glory days of the liner. Our guide was so unusual but informative and funny. Fabulous experience. The 2nd was a tour of engine, boilers, structure and prop. Disappointed that a lot had been removed but seeing the prop was amazing. You are 25 feet under the water line on the tour. A spooky experience. Well worth $100 for the two of us. My only gripe is that the grand old lady of the seas needs some tlc. Read less