The Queen Mary Hotel — Hotel in Long Beach

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...

An unforgettable experience for history and maritime enthusiasts. The Queen Mary is decked with three stateroom decks (pun intended), M (midship), A deck, and B deck. Only one-half of R deck (the R stands for restaurant, but it was originally named C deck) is open to visitors and includes the first-class pool and restaurant. The aft of D deck was converted to an extremely impressive free museum with an underwater view of the ship’s propeller. The museum’s 4D theater used to be the tourist-class pool that was, unfortunately, demolished. Through the museum, you may descend all the way down to the ship’s machine room. In 1967 the Queen embarked on its last cross Atlantic voyage. She was delivered to the City of Long Beach in her full glory. Unfortunately, most of the lower decks were gutted and are not accessible to visitors. The mid-section of E, F (water level), and G decks are currently used for storage, maintenance, and housekeeping, much as they were when the ship was operational. No two staterooms are alike on the Queen Mary. I was lucky to stay in an amazing art deco room with beautifully restored wood panels. The room not only had the original charm of the ship, but also the original fixtures. I absolutely loved the furniture, toilet lever, shower pipes, and tub. However, the discoloration in the bottom of the tub was a bit offsetting. The tub was not dirty, in fact the room was extremely clean, just discolored. To my surprise, the shower had excellent water pressure with plenty of hot water. The 1940s ambiance also permeates the common areas of the ship. The music alone and sense of grandeur were worth the stay. The crew onboard was extremely accommodating. I had an issue with the toilet and an engineer fixed the problem within minutes. There are plenty of food options onboard that include a breakfast buffet, seafood restaurant, coffee shop, bars, market place, and vending machines. During the daytime, you share the ship with visitors and tourists. The real magic begins after the visitors leave and you have the entire ship to yourself. It is an extremely unique and gratifying experience. Unlike posts on the web, hotel hallways are not restricted to hotel guests. Visitors and guests can access the same areas, and many areas are off limits. Consider paying for a guided tour if you want to get the full experience. I took a picture of the original diagram of the ship and compared it to the public areas today. I learned that, unfortunately, a lot of original areas, especially adjacent to the staircases in the bow and stern, are now used as storage. There are no signs or pictures that designate their original purpose. A lot of hard work and love has gone into restoring the ship, but I would have loved to see better signage, original pictures, and recreations (e.g., barber’s shop, children playroom, etc.). I would have also loved to see some more attention to detail like fixing the green and red lights in some of the service boxes outside the staterooms. Considering the lodging rates, management should really consider giving hotel guests more amenities. I loved the historic gym, but there is no reason not to give guests a modern gym. The ship has more than enough space. In addition, a hotel lounge for suite guests, VIP tour of the ship, or even a “captain’s dinner” can all improve the stay experience at the hotel and maybe even give it an additional star. In conclusion, the stay was unforgettable and I plan to visit the...

Category: Attraction. This grand ocean liner from the pre-jet-travel heyday of Atlantic crossings is now a hotel with restaurants and a bar, a museum, and party/event spaces galore. After a stay in one of the hotel staterooms, my wife reported comfortable period-style appointments, a porthole through which she enjoyed the city lights, and vestigial antique bathroom hardware conjuring TransAtlantic Days. But alas, no ghosts, which she hoped to encounter. I felt very comfortable and at home on this ship, which possibly I sailed in a prior life during the ship’s prior life. Luckily, my former self doesn’t haunt the ship, as myriad legends, stories, and sightings say many ghosts do. Topside, we strolled the well-worn but original boards imagining Ella Fitzgerald (the QM was not segregated), Spencer Tracey (accompanied by his wife, not Katherine Hepburn), Lou Costello (without Bud), and Winston Churchill (sporting a cigar) promenading the same deck decades earlier, during this Grand Dame’s many years of service as an ocean liner, Royal mail ship (RMS Queen Mary — get it?), and World War II troop transport. While enjoying fresh air toward the prow outside the much-as-it-always-was Observation Bar, I imagined Lucille Ball being lowered onto the ship from a helicopter in the famous episode of I Love Lucy (in reality, this was done by a stunt double on a Hollywood soundstage, but the movie “Being the Ricardos” was filmed onboard). Myriad salons and ballrooms — paneled and veneered in 37 rare hardwoods — evoke days when all shipboard women spoke like MGM leading ladies, all men dressed like Cary Grant, Bob Hope quipped in the First Class Smoking Lounge, and Liberace tickled the ivories for the 800+ First-Classers. The currently closed-to-the-public ornate pool, of which one can only catch a glimpse through the doors (hold your phone camera high), recalls the days when the original Tarzan swam in it. Below decks, the museum depicts life onboard during World War II, when the ship — painted gray and nicknamed The Gray Ghost — carried as many as 16,000 soldiers while dodging U-Boats lurking just below the Atlantic’s surface. Don’t miss the colossal propeller on the ship’s port side, which no longer turns but rests peacefully in a kind of eerie wishing well below the surface of the harbor. The engine room is a Steampunk playground, a maze of pipes, panels, and pumps, gauges and gangways, shafts and wheels, and massive Jules Verne turbines and mechanics. After a great guided tour and later self-touring we enjoyed cocktails in the Observation Bar, which was like stepping back in time. We didn’t dine but Sarah loved her dinner on her previous visit. Suggestion: become a Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel. YouTube’s...