Thread: The original Queen Mary

While looking for Los Angeles attractions for my pre-cruise stay I learned what happened to the first Queen Mary. That discovery - she is permanently docked at Long Beach - was shocking. What was the logic in docking her on the west coast if she crossed the Atlantic Ocean? Why was she pulled out of service for cruises in the ocean? You would think if something was really wrong with it, that problem was fixed during a drydock so she could stay in the Cunard line. But I can't complain because I would love to eat and sleep on a retired cruise ship.

Since she was built in the 30's, it would cost a tremendous amount of money to upgrade her to today's standards. She was old, and had reached the end of her expected life.

As to why she's on the West Coast, perhaps Long Beach gave the best deal to Cunard.

She is a great tourist attraction. Well worth seeing to compare to current ships.

Originally Posted by freakcruiser

Since she was built in the 30's, it would cost a tremendous amount of money to upgrade her to today's standards. She was old, and had reached the end of her expected life.

As to why she's on the West Coast, perhaps Long Beach gave the best deal to Cunard.

There is not much more to add to what has already been said. The other reason was that the demand for transatlantic crossings dropped in the 1960 with the arrival of jet aircraft. RMS Queen Mary was just too big and to expensive to run so Cunard had no choice but to retire her.

If you think the end for RMS Queen Mary was bad, it's a lovely retirement compaired to RMS Queen Elizabeth, which sank in Hong Kong Harbour after catching fire (or being set on fire).

One day, I will visit RMS Queen Mary and spend a night on board

What is RMS?

Royal Mail Ship.

It is well worth the experience of staying on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. To have a hotel room that was once a stateroom on a famous ocean going liner is fantastic. Wondering who has stayed in that stateroom in the past.


I had a slideshow of our Queen Mary experience on a third party site, it has gone bankrupt and the photos have gone. I will take you on a tour of the hotel (ship), starting with our hotel room (stateroom)

Your stateroom was reached from an annex of the main corridor. The shopping area where many expensive goods were sold.

Please note this the first class area.

Some more views of the interior and exterior. You can see glimpses of the old and new, with Carnival Paradise visible at her Long Beach berth.

More later!

Norman , that was great. When you stayed onboard what else was there to do ?