The Queen Mary Hotel

First it should be noted that this fine old ship is now being used primarily as a hotel, and the needs of the hotel come first. It was a great ship, the height of glamour in its days when it was the fastest ocean liner in the world. However it is now decidedly rough round the edges. We did all three tours in early February, the first was the 'ghost' tour, which was given by a young man who desperately tried to make something interesting out of not very much. The one item he glossed over very quickly was the incident in the war when due to an error of navigational judgement the Queen Mary rammed the destroyer HMS Curacao slicing it in two and resulting in the deaths of over 320 sailors. The second tour was of the engine rooms and although the tour guide was exceptionally good, he was faced with doing a tour of the bottom of the ship saying 'this is where boiler number x was. this is where engine number x was. It was near the end of the tour before he was able to show us an engine, propeller shaft and the one remaining propeller. Everything else had to be ripped out when the ship was laid up in Long Beach, to ensure it could never be used again as a ship. The third tour was the 'Glamour Days' tour. The young man although word perfect on his script, really didn't know how to engage with his audience. Someone more experienced could have made this tour far more interesting instead it was an embarrassment for him and us. So overall the 'self guided tour', which we didn't do, would probably have been a better idea. The ship is definitely worth seeing because of its historical significance, but I'm sorry to say that overall it was something of a disappointment. Read less

stayed here while waiting to board a Carnival Cruise. This is an old ship in need of more renovation. The price was reasonable considering the area but you get what you py for. One night I had no hot water. The room temperature was either freezing or warm. The wall paper n the room was peeling. There was one outlet in the room with a power cube. There was no wifi in the room as you are down in the ship. It was convenient to go to the area for the cruise but it would have been just as easy to stay at a nicer place and take a cab over. The main bar area had excellent service. This was good but this former fine looking bar had four or five of the eats at the bar that were torn and in need of repair. The directions for getting around on the ship were not very good. There were a few elevators out of service that would have made getting around easier. the on board gym did look modern and clean Read less

I walked through the Queen Mary independently and did not take one of the tours. It was still totally worth it. So much history on display with good signage especially in the infirmary. My favorite part were the short films called Voices of Queen Mary. Wonderful!! I also enjoyed the information shared by the gentlemen in the navigation room about the methods of communication. The beauty of the ship has been maintained so it is easy to imagine its grandeur as an ocean liner. Read less

Great ship, great tours, great gift shop, great history. Loved the artifacts from the film "The Darkest Hour". They nailed the war rooms as we've seen the real ones in London so well done. The 4-D film is a bit silly, not really even 3-D so the only effect is you get a bit wet and a poke in the back. Other than that it was a solid 7 hours of fun and I wish we'd had a bit more time so I could have stayed for dinner. Read less