The Queen Mary — Attraction in Long Beach

We enjoyed our stay here, but I’m not sure we would recommend it to others.

The ship looks magnificent. She is a beauty. We were impressed with the ample parking but not the additional parking fee. There are many handicap stalls and a row or two of EV charging stations. Staff at the front were helpful at directing us to where we needed to go for check in, but the website isn’t very user friendly.

I booked a “harbor view deluxe stateroom with king size bed.” Our room was smaller than expected, looks dated and cheap, and nothing like the advertised rooms. I know the website said they could not guarantee a state room like what is pictured on their website but I expected something close to it. I felt ripped off. It was great to get a feel of what the room could have looked like in its prime, but at the same time, you’ll need to use your imagination be sure it’s been remodeled and renovated in all the wrong ways. It is nice that they left some original furniture but you can’t really use much of it.

In our room, half of the lightbulbs were burned out. The shower head reached only halfway up my back - you basically have to sit down or kneel on the tub floor to wash your hair. There is one outlet in our room.

The walls are thin and you do hear a lot, especially if a tour is walking by or a neighbor is drunk. We could hear our neighbors talking but couldn’t make out what they were saying. One neighbor was having an argument into his phone, but he stopped when we pounded on the wall, and I think he realized we could hear it all.

Our windows did open and that was a HUGE bonus, because they let in cooler air during the night and the noise from outside (light traffic, city noise, and birds) was dim enough to not be bothersome, and blocked out some of the noise from people walking and talking in the halls or in their rooms. It also offered some better views of Long Beach, and a different perspective as someone who might be crossing the Atlantic.

Part of our experience was trying to imagine what it would have been like 60-85 years ago when the ship was in its prime - when it was beautifully decorated and people could only dream to set foot on this majestic creation. There are exhibits throughout the ship to learn and explore, but it’s also quite faded, and doors are shut to keep the public out.

We did take a guided tour of the ship and got into many areas that aren’t open to the public, which I think is an absolute travesty. What’s worse is I had a friend go on the same ship tour but saw different parts of the ship. These areas are not open to the public, and for $70 a pop, they are banking off of these tours. I would have loved to have gotten a glimpse at more of the ballrooms, event halls, the old wedding chapel, the engine rooms, and war rooms - but those are 3-4 separate tours - again, at $70 each. The areas we saw on the tour were beautiful and elegant. This is what I came to see; I just didn’t expect to have to dish out another $150 for both of us - on top of the hotel fee. There should be a discount for those whom are staying on board.

There’s not a lot to do on the ship. Many of the shops are not open all day, nor is the bar, nor are the restaurants. There is a restaurant on the Promenade deck, and a small coffee shop as well (with grab and go snack options), but I felt there really should be more options. It is touted that Wednesday thru Sunday there are events or singers or karaoke, and the top dinner restaurant is “open” as well, but we also heard it was closed for renovations and we didn’t get to see for ourselves.

So is it worth it? Unless you have a boat load of money to dish out (pun intended), I would say no. Take a guided tour but there’s no need to stay here overnight - I would have just asked housekeeping or the front desk to preview a room to see what they looked like. After your tour, you can walk around the ship, eat in the restaurant or have a drink at the bar, so really the majority of the things you can do if you were...

I stayed overnight at the beginning of this month, and it was a fantastic experience. This is a thorough review. The hotel management and employees were so nice and welcoming, the room was thoroughly clean and spotless, the beds were made perfectly to hotel standard (I used to work for Hilton Hotels as a maintenance technician when I was younger, I know a high standard that a decent room must present). The room had beautiful veneered wall paneling from the 1930s, I'm not talking about cheap 1970s office room fake wood paneling, I'm talking about real Art Deco era quality wood. The original desk and dressers were amazing, and there was plenty of cabinet space to store my luggage. The vintage bathroom, which had it's original fittings, wash basin, original toilet, and beautiful "cracked-ice style" Formica walls, was so clean and spotless and well maintained, that it almost looked brand new, but there was no mistaking that it was authentically vintage. Though my room was nearby a small lobby with soft music playing all night, I didn't even hear the music in my cabin, and the room was very silent throughout the night.

The food in all the restaurants was wonderful. I want to specifically highlight the flatbread pizzas in the Observation Bar, they were artisan-style, and very delicious. Also I rarely treat myself to alcohol but in the Observation Bar I couldn't help but order my favorite drink, a whiskey sour. That was the best whiskey sour I ever had, I'm not exaggerating.

An interesting thing to note is as I was wandering the corridors and public spaces, I saw custodians polishing the wood paneling, mopping floors, and shining brass. There was a small army of maintenance techs wandering the ship and performing various repairs and paint touch ups. The ship is very well cared for, and you can see that the employees take pride in what they do.

If you stay on the Queen Mary you need to keep a few things in mind: 1) You're staying aboard a ship -not a building, which was built in the early 1930s, do not expect a modern hotel room. In fact, I stayed overnight BECAUSE I didn't want a modern hotel room experience. My room had an HD TV, but I didn't even use it, I was happy to experience the ship as it was meant to be. There are one or two pairs of electrical outlets per room, neither have USB outlets. Again, the ship is vintage.

2. The whole ship is built in Art Deco style. If you're not a fan of Art Deco, this may not be the place for you. I however, love it and appreciate the craftsmanship of the era. The wood paneling on the ship is made of some of the rarest and most luxurious woods the world has ever known, some of the species are now extinct.

3. The ship was a steam-powered vessel, the noise of the engines would create a dull hum that sang it's passengers to sleep. The engines no longer function, so any noise that would otherwise bleed through the walls, is now apparent. That being said, I heard no noise at all, but if you're worried about noise, bring some earplugs, they're cheap.

4. The rooms are decently priced when you consider that this isn't a motel, it's a hotel, and your room includes free admission aboard the ship. And consider that maintaining a historic ocean liner made of steel, and sitting in salt water...is not cheap at all. The price you're paying helps to preserve the vessel and it's history. All that being said, the price of the room is pretty decent.

5. The hotel doesn't have a pool you can use, but there are beautiful beaches right across the harbor, take a shuttle or an Uber over to them! The drive is 5 minutes away.

I stayed aboard the Queen Mary to experience what it was like to forget the modern world and step back in time to the glamorous Art Deco age, and the ship delivered that experience beautifully. I think if you allow yourself to relax and enjoy the experience,...

My husband and I stayed here recently for two nights. The staff were very friendly, helpful, and professional. The Haunted Encounters tour we took was very well done and enjoyable. The ship itself is very cool and my husband and I spent time exploring both days we were there. It feels like going back in time to the 1930s. There are many exhibits throughout the ship with tons of historical information. You can even go down into the engine room, which was a highlight.

The room we stayed in was much smaller than expected, definitely smaller than depicted on the website. However, it appeared very clean, had a view of the harbor and city, and a comfortable bed. The bathroom was a decent size considering the size of the room. A bit of warning though - the showerhead (at least in our room) was very low and not adjustable. I'm a short person (just over 5") and the shower stream hit me right at my chin. For my husband who is much taller the shower hit him mid-chest. We managed, but this might be a problem for some people.

We would've been fine with the size of the room and everything else but unfortunately, I can't give our stay at the Queen Mary a positive review for one big reason. Our room was freezing cold. We could feel the cold air blasting from a vent in the ceiling and it was not an adjustable vent. It can't have been more than 45° in the room, it felt like winter. We both wore long sleeved shirts with jackets the whole time we were in the room (except in bed) and even then we were still shivering. My husband is not someone who gets cold easily either. When we checked in, the desk staff told us the rooms did not have individual climate control, but that if we were uncomfortable we could call the front desk and they would see what they could do. Also, the updated reservation emailed to us after check-in stated the following: "Individual Climate Control: Due to the historic nature of the ship, individual climate control is not available in all rooms. However, our team is dedicated to providing a comfortable environment for your stay and will be readily available to assist with any temperature adjustment requests." This implies that adjustments can be made by staff. But when I called that first day and told the front desk we were miserably freezing, she just kind of laughed and said, "Sorry, it's an old ship, there's nothing we can do." Then she said there was an extra blanket in the cupboard and they could bring more. That doesn't help when we're not in bed. We can't just walk around wrapped in blankets the whole time when moving around the room. She was the only person I talked to who wasn't helpful. By the time we realized how cold the room was that first day, it was far too late to cancel our reservation for that night or the next night, much less find and pay for another room last minute. So we basically just had to deal with it. We couldn't relax at all, it was freezing in the room the whole time, not just at night. It feels like they gave us the crappiest room. It definitely was not worth the price we paid, these rooms are expensive with a lot of extra fees added. You also have to pay $32/night to park there (even though the parking lot was huge and was half empty the whole time we were there).

For that reason, I can only recommend going to the Queen Mary as a museum, or for the restaurants and other events. The ship itself is worth exploring. But I can't recommend staying there as a hotel guest, unless you really enjoy freezing cold temperatures. I'm giving two stars for the museum aspect and the tour. By the way our tour guide was Stella and she did...