The Queen Mary

Since her retirement from service in 1967 this beautiful ship has been permanently docked in Long Beach and is now a hotel and museum. It has had little success in being the tourist attraction Long Beach was hoping she would be. And from 1980 through 1993 Howard Hughes’s airplane, the “Spruce Goose” was housed on display near by in the dome you see in the picture.

There are many myths and stories around the Queen Mary, including those of ghosts that haunt below decks. But much of the area where crew and engine rooms were have been changed to accommodate the addition of the museum. Today the hotel rooms range from $125 to near $700 per night. I have not stayed here myself but a close friend did and would never do it again.

I had an exceptional experience touring the queen mary, a once decadent cruise liner that had its maiden voyage in 1936, and was later used to transport troops in WWII in 1939-1949. Queen Mary was larger than Titanic and had a passenger capacity of approx. 2000. Imagine our surpise when we read that in 1943 it carried 15,740 troops plus 943 crew members. (great shortage of life boats!) The ship is permanently docked in long beach. it is now a hotel, boasting restaurants, observation bar, clubs, and a self guided tour museum above the promenade decks. we spent hours walking through exhibits of the state rooms, gymnasiums, infirmaries, captain's quarters, steward's room, kitchens, and the bunks where soldiers later shared 16 to a room. what an amazing journey!

This is not only a destination for the tourist and history buff, but also a hotel with restaurants and lots of entertainment!  the one thing i did not get to do, is go on the ghost tour, which i know i will have to return for in the future.