We were excited to be staying on the Queen Mary and it is very impressive when you arrive alongside, we passed our car to the valet service as the car park is a little far away. Check-in was very easy, the first thing you feel is that you are stepping back in time. The feeling of opulence strikes you as you look around the front desk with the various types of wood used.
We made our way to our room which was on M deck and on entering you have that feeling of how guests that cruised on the QM must have felt, the rooms remain virtually unchanged from those days.
The ship had 5 restaurants/places to eat, we did not sample Sir Winstons’ restaurant or the Chelsea Chowder House during our visit. We did visit The Promenade Cafe for lunch and sampled the club sandwiches and breakfast where we tried the eggs benedict and the eggs and bacon, the food was good and fair on the value for money scale. We visited the observation bar on two occasions, we have to say mainly for the happy hour drinks but we did try some of the various appetisers which were very nice and good value. The Midship market place is like a small Starbucks and we did purchase some takeaway sandwiches. Now things that you should be aware off, it is a little limited to casually eat onboard the ship in the evening as the promenade cafe closes at 4 pm! The midship market place closes at 6 pm so there goes the only place to buy a takeaway coffee (you can get a coffee from the observation bar) also be aware of the price of the sandwiches as a turkey one did set us back $11. You can get on the free shuttle bus from outside the ship which will take you to downtown Longbeach where there are some chain places to eat.
We booked ourselves on two guided tours of the ship, the first was the Steam & Steel tour that takes you down below decks to see the boiler rooms and other items, this is a very good tour whether you are into engineering or not. We also went on the Paranormal tour that takes you around some of the haunted areas of the ship where the stories are related by your guide, this is not a ghost hunting tour, it is just one that tells you of some of the unexplained things that have happened to the crew and guests on the ship. This is another tour that is well worth the cost.
There are plenty of other attractions that are free around the ship for you to visit.
In conclusion, do not expect a modern room, try and plan your meals, think of staying on the Queen Mary as an experience rather than just staying somewhere. It does make you think about previous guests from long ago that may have stayed in your room. As an experience it is great and well worth the cost.
