She was first and foremost a beautiful luxury liners. Where kings, queens and movie stars were known to travel in a way only the Rich and Famous was accustomed to.
Then the War came along and all her accents were removed. The rooms and halls were packed with bunks 6 high filling every inch of her. Our men in the Military called her home as they fought in World War II.
When the War ended The Queen Mary was used to bring the War Brides back to their men. The rooms were brought back to house only 4 women. The beds were made pretty by putting nice floral covers on them.
Once things settled down again The Queen Mary returned to her glory of being a Luxury Liner once again.
As she got older and no longer was able to make the trips across the ocean the City Of Long Beach in CA bought her, spent 3 Million to fix her up and turned her into a floating Hotel. This is where she remains today.
You can take a tour on her and see what it was like to step back in time. But beware! There have been many many ghost sightings on her. So if you are brave enough, come along with me and lets she what The Queen Mary has to offer us today.
There is a museum today that shows what the state rooms looked like back in her hey day.
This is what the 2nd class rooms looked like. Not much room but still comfortable. Almost what they offer on the cruise lines of today really.
They didn't have a room set up for 1st class but they did show the sitting room the 1st class cabins had. This room would be attached to the bedroom in your cabin.
We will get to see what a 1st class room looks like, later in our tour. Only it's one of the rooms you can rent now if you want to stay in the Hotel.
This would have been the 3rd class rooms. Still, not to bad in my eyes. But, you only get the one room with a sink in it. The bathrooms had to be shared down the hall. Of course 1st and 2nd class had a bathroom in the cabin.
These bunks or cots are what our service men had to sleep on. They were stacked 6 high and had to each be shared by two men. There were so many men on board that they had to sleep in shifts as there was not enough room for everyone to have a bed.
Once the war was over, the rooms were fixed up and pretty floral bedspreads were added for the War Brides.
This was one of the tables from 1st class dining. The rich and famous would be sat together to mingle with "their own kind".
In another room all together, the 2nd class people would dine at smaller tables and while the food was still wonderful it wasn't quite up to the standards of the 1st class travelers.
In a smaller room yet the 3rd class people were sat. Away from the other passengers. The food was good but really not fancy at all.
But, I have to wonder, was the dinning room in the 3rd class full of fun and laughter. While, the 1st and 2nd class was trying to impress each other with their jewels and fancy clothes and talk of money?
You will see the wheel that was really used to guide the Queen Mary through the waters to all the exotic lands.
They had the top of the line gym equipment for back then. Sure looks funny now though.
The men could get their hair cut by barbers who knew all the new styles.
Some of the actual china the lucky travelers got to eat on. I bet this set is now worth a fortune!
Check out the life rafts! Who could survive long in those? Picture yourself out in the middle of the ocean with this little raft being the only thing between you and your survival. Scary huh?
This is where all the shops were and are still full of gifts to buy now. The shop in the middle was where the men could buy clothes. There wasn't a shop for women to buy dresses, only things such as scarfs and smaller items.
No, it's not because the women didn't rate. It's because back then the women of 1st and 2nd class were women from money and therefore, would have her dresses made. No one would be caught dead in wearing a dress off the rack.
The women in 3rd class, the ones who would wear the dresses off the rack, just wouldn't have had enough money to be able to shop on board and therefore was not catered to.
The Queen Mary is also nicknamed The Ship of Woods. Everywhere you go, there is beautiful wood being used. Plus Art Deco items, like the lamp above.
The old phone booths are still there to use. Very rare back in the day the Queen Mary was in service.
Port holes are wonderful little ways to look out and see the city outside. I wish the cruise lines of today still had port holes. I know the big windows allow the view to be seen much better, but to me, there is something fun and historic about the port holes.
Queen Mary herself, launched the Ship and was honored to be the name sake of such a Formal Cruise Line. I'm sure she had no idea how the ship would be used durning the war though.
Pictures of famous people are lined on the Promenade deck.
It was almost certain if you were on board, someone who was very Rich and very Famous was on board too.
Here you get a glimpse of how long The Queen Mary is. This is really only about 1/2 as long as she is as I was about mid ship when I took this picture.
** Note, look at the orb on the deck. The little circle of light. We will read more about that later.
The deck is made from teak and right now they painstakingly refinishing it by hand. I have no idea why they wouldn't just refinish it with a machine. I guess they want to keep the integrity and do it just like it was done back when she was first made.
This is an actual room you can rent now. It was one of the 1st class cabins. Some rooms have original furniture while others have remakes. It's hard for the average person to tell them apart.
Of course you still get the perks from today. Such as, TVs.
Here is the bathroom. Look at all the knobs in the shower/bathtub. Do you know why there is 4? Well, it's because the passengers had the option of using either sea water or fresh water to bath and shower in. The sea water was thought to make ones skin nice and smooth.
As I said before. The ship is thought to be haunted. There have been 49 deaths on board the Queen Mary and hundreds more deaths that surrounded her durning the war.People claim to have seen and heard ghosts. There is even a tour you can take that takes you to a few of the spots where the ghosts have been seen and heard.
What about you? Are you brave enough to take the tour? Do you believe in ghosts? Many people do.
In fact, while touring the officer cabins a ghost showed up in my pictures!
Look! You can see someone walking right through the table. You can even see through her. YIKES! We better get out of here! I'm not sure if it's a friendly ghost or not.
Oh wait! That's not a ghost! That's my sister, Maureen. How did she do her magic so we could see through her and she could walk through furniture?
Well, these rooms are behind glass and as I was trying to take pictures, I noticed her reflections made her appear as a ghost.
Could that be what so many people see on board and then claim it's a ghost? Who knows. Some people claim that if you catch an orb in your photos it's the energy of a ghost.
Now if that is true, then go back and take a look at the picture that shows the room you can rent. In the first photo, over on the left of the photo above the bed and in the doorway, you will see I caught an orb!
Oh, I just noticed, the picture showing the teak deck also has an orb.
Were they the ghost of someone who stayed and died on the ship? I don't know. But you better believe I'll be telling people they were. After all, doesn't that sound more fun then saying I've never seen a ghost on the Queen Mary? LOL
I do have a love and a connection with the Queen Mary. When she was in New York my dad worked for Customs aboard her. To this day I still have a large spoon, fork and ladle they used in the kitchen to prepare the food.
So, I love walking the halls and looking around knowing my dad (who is no longer alive) once walked those same halls. Who knows, maybe his ghost is there wandering the halls. He didn't die on the ship but maybe he likes to go back to visit.
I hope you had fun and enjoyed the Queen Mary. If you are ever in Long Beach, stop by and pay her a visit. Who knows who you may meet there.
Hugs,
Joanne
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