Staying at Hotel Queen Mary before cruise

[Nanaimobound]

My take was a little different. I thought she showed lots of signs of age, but I didn't think the Queen Mary was dirty or unkempt at all. Maybe they had made a lot of improvements since 2007. Here are my impressions from our stay last July...

 

PRE-CRUISE: My DH and I had been on a wonderful week-long tour of California before the cruise, visiting Napa, Monterey, and driving the Pacific Coast Highway before arriving in Long Beach on Saturday, July 11th. We chose to spend our night in Long Beach aboard the Queen Mary. If you are at all interested in ships and history, I highly recommend the Queen! We were in A-113, which was a First Class stateroom back in the day. I found it fascinating to wander around the ship and imagine what life was like on an ocean liner 70 years ago. When they converted the cabins to hotel rooms they left many of the old fixtures and fittings in place, even though they’re no longer functional. A few things I thought were really neat were the hot and cold saltwater faucets in the bathroom, the old wall-mounted fan, and the working portholes.

 

The Queen Mary was quite crowded during the day while the non-hotel-guest tourists were aboard, but roaming around the ship at night we largely had the place to ourselves. I thought it was fascinating to peek into the officer’s cabins, stand on the bridge, and stroll down the wide teak promenade deck. Sadly along with the nostalgia you can see signs of the ship falling into disrepair. Even though she’s not sailing any more she sits in salt water and is showing a fair amount of rust and peeling paint. Still, if you squint and block out the nearby modern neon signs, you can almost imagine yourself in a different era, on a different kind of voyage than those we take on modern cruise ships. Close your eyes and smell…the Queen Mary kind of smells like Grandma’s attic…that’s how you know you’re on a ship from a different time.

 

Part of staying on a vessel as old as the Queen Mary is accepting that there are things that are old and creaky and worn and just don’t work as well as we’re accustomed to in 2009. Like the air conditioning. I woke up sweating about 5:15 on Sunday morning. I blame it on the A/C, but the truth is it was probably equal parts excitement, poor air conditioning, and I’m 49 and I wake up hot at home too…and my A/C system is brand new and works just fine! I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I decided to grab my camera and my book and go find myself a cozy corner on deck to drink coffee and watch the sunrise. Lesson #2…coffee isn’t available as early in the morning as it is in modern hotels. As a matter of fact, the earliest a cup of coffee was available was 6:30, and even then I was told there were no to-go cups in that particular restaurant. I think the waiter saw the look of desperation on my face and took pity on me, because I was finally able to get a much needed infusion of caffeine at about 6:40.

 

Now for the BEST part about staying on the Queen Mary the night before a Long Beach cruise…I decided to walk all the way aft and see if I could see the Splendor on the horizon. Rats! Nothing there. Then I looked to the right, and what do I see but a ship – my ship – RIGHT THERE! Woo hoo! I got to watch her turn (and I took oodles of pictures) and dock before I went inside to take a shower and get ready to board the ship. I thought it was interesting that there was literally nobody out there watching the ship arrive but me & DH who came out around 7:00. My sister who was staying at the Hilton texted me that she could see the ship…I texted back that we were on the aft deck watching the Splendor dock…she texted back that I must be wearing a red t-shirt (she was right). Maybe people in that part of the country sleep better than me or don’t get excited the night before they get on a ship. I just thought it was odd that there was a cruise ship docking and we seemed to be the only ones who were interested!

 

We are booked on the Splendor next May, and I just loved your little story

on the Queen Mary!

 

i think it is really neat that you had that special moment all to yourself watching the new ship come into port, from the old Ocean liner.

I love history, and would love to have that experience.

We have a large family group going on this next Splendor cruise, so the Queen isn't in the budget for us, but thanks for a great story!

[DENIE]

:)Thanks for the information everyone. This is great. We are looking forward to our stay (and cruise!)

[mali06]

Five years ago we sailed the Pride to Mexico and spent the night before aboard the Queen Mary. It was lovely! When we arrived, someone was playing the piano in the lobby and they greeted us with glasses of champagne. We went to our cabins and then proceeded to have lunch at the Promenade Cafe. Had an excellent Shrimp Quesadilla. Then we decided to take the self-guided tour of the ship. Wow! A lot of history and interesting things to see. On our tour we stopped at the ice cream parlor for milkshakes and shopped at the little souvenir store and bought a vintage look travel log and they also gave us free vintage look Queen Mary stickers because we said we were scrapbookers. After our tour, we dressed for dinner and took a taxi to a famous and delicious restaurant across the harbor from the Queen Mary called Parker's Lighthouse Restaurant. We sat outside under heaters and with a gorgeous view of the Queen Mary all lit up. The food was fabulous . . . had crab cakes, garlic mashed potatoes and creme brulee. Returned to the Queen Mary and had drinks in the Art Deco Bar before heading off to bed. We really felt like we had stepped back in time. As far as the cabins went, we had booked a real deal early online and they wound up putting us in inside cabins which had the original bathrooms (cool) and otherwise looked like a standard hotel room (not so cool) BUT then our travel mates had a problem with the mechanics in the bathroom so they were moved to an outside cabin that was still in its original look. It was so cool! We spent some quality time visiting in that cabin and only slept in ours. It was fine but next time I would call and reserve an original outside cabin! Hang the cost! It was gorgeous! The next day we registered early for our cruise right at the Queen Mary and then proceeded to Brunch in the Grand Salon on the Queen Mary. The Brunch was to die for, the service was impeccable, and the room was amazing! It included mimosas and champagne, music by a harpist, and so many food stations you didn't know what to have first. This is defninitely something everyone should do if they still have it. About 11:30AM DH and our friend Harvey took our luggage over to the ship via a courtesy shuttle while the ladies checked out and then we all walked back over to the ship to board. Stood outside in a very fast moving line for those who had prechecked in and we were onboard in no time. This was a wonderful way to start our trip and we would definitely do it again. Would love to see what the refurbishment will look like.

[jimbo5544]

My take was a little different. I thought she showed lots of signs of age, but I didn't think the Queen Mary was dirty or unkempt at all. Maybe they had made a lot of improvements since 2007. Here are my impressions from our stay last July...

 

PRE-CRUISE: My DH and I had been on a wonderful week-long tour of California before the cruise, visiting Napa, Monterey, and driving the Pacific Coast Highway before arriving in Long Beach on Saturday, July 11th. We chose to spend our night in Long Beach aboard the Queen Mary. If you are at all interested in ships and history, I highly recommend the Queen! We were in A-113, which was a First Class stateroom back in the day. I found it fascinating to wander around the ship and imagine what life was like on an ocean liner 70 years ago. When they converted the cabins to hotel rooms they left many of the old fixtures and fittings in place, even though they’re no longer functional. A few things I thought were really neat were the hot and cold saltwater faucets in the bathroom, the old wall-mounted fan, and the working portholes.

 

The Queen Mary was quite crowded during the day while the non-hotel-guest tourists were aboard, but roaming around the ship at night we largely had the place to ourselves. I thought it was fascinating to peek into the officer’s cabins, stand on the bridge, and stroll down the wide teak promenade deck. Sadly along with the nostalgia you can see signs of the ship falling into disrepair. Even though she’s not sailing any more she sits in salt water and is showing a fair amount of rust and peeling paint. Still, if you squint and block out the nearby modern neon signs, you can almost imagine yourself in a different era, on a different kind of voyage than those we take on modern cruise ships. Close your eyes and smell…the Queen Mary kind of smells like Grandma’s attic…that’s how you know you’re on a ship from a different time.

 

Part of staying on a vessel as old as the Queen Mary is accepting that there are things that are old and creaky and worn and just don’t work as well as we’re accustomed to in 2009. Like the air conditioning. I woke up sweating about 5:15 on Sunday morning. I blame it on the A/C, but the truth is it was probably equal parts excitement, poor air conditioning, and I’m 49 and I wake up hot at home too…and my A/C system is brand new and works just fine! I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I decided to grab my camera and my book and go find myself a cozy corner on deck to drink coffee and watch the sunrise. Lesson #2…coffee isn’t available as early in the morning as it is in modern hotels. As a matter of fact, the earliest a cup of coffee was available was 6:30, and even then I was told there were no to-go cups in that particular restaurant. I think the waiter saw the look of desperation on my face and took pity on me, because I was finally able to get a much needed infusion of caffeine at about 6:40.

 

Now for the BEST part about staying on the Queen Mary the night before a Long Beach cruise…I decided to walk all the way aft and see if I could see the Splendor on the horizon. Rats! Nothing there. Then I looked to the right, and what do I see but a ship – my ship – RIGHT THERE! Woo hoo! I got to watch her turn (and I took oodles of pictures) and dock before I went inside to take a shower and get ready to board the ship. I thought it was interesting that there was literally nobody out there watching the ship arrive but me & DH who came out around 7:00. My sister who was staying at the Hilton texted me that she could see the ship…I texted back that we were on the aft deck watching the Splendor dock…she texted back that I must be wearing a red t-shirt (she was right). Maybe people in that part of the country sleep better than me or don’t get excited the night before they get on a ship. I just thought it was odd that there was a cruise ship docking and we seemed to be the only ones who were interested!

We had a group on the Splendor a couple of weeks after Cindy's sailing and we stayed on the QM and loved her. Totally agree with her assessment.