Welcome to the June 2023 construction update of the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.
First, this update is going to be all about the work currently happening on the ship this month,
but I can’t cover everything, you should start with the February Update and work
your way forward. I have a link to it in the description below.
You have to go back and watch previous updates to get the full scope of everything
that is being done. I have a HUGE update for you today, and I’d like to thank my
good friend from the LMG Vids YouTube channel, for shooting the footage you are about to see.
I am Alex, and this is the Alex the Historian YouTube channel. I fell in love with the RMS
Queen Mary during my last visit in January of 2020, prior to its closure for the pandemic.
I have since produced a lot of informative and historical content on the design, function,
and history of the ship, and along the way, I’ve befriended many historians and insiders
who are either directly or indirectly associated with the ship, and this is how I present the
most accurate information I possibly can to the community of Queen Mary fans who would otherwise
be left in the dark about the information regarding the ship and its current condition.
Now onto Queen Mary news. If you purchased an annual membership
to the Queen Mary, the hotel is currently working on the finishing touches to the membership card,
so for now, if you go to the ship, be prepared to show some form of proof of purchase such as
an account statement from Paypal or the financial institution where you paid for
the membership. And yes, your annual membership is currently active and will expire in a year.
Just outside the ship, the lifeboat on the dock has had its paint support frames removed,
and it sports a fresh coat of paint to help prevent further deterioration until it can be
properly restored. The other two lifeboats remain on the ship awaiting their restoration as well.
Since the April update, the hotel boilers have been installed on the dock, they supply hot water
and steam to the ship’s kitchens and hotel rooms. The steam itself is fed into the ship through the
steel pipe, while the water is pumped through the various umbilical hoses connected to the ship.
The emergency power generator has also been installed towards the stern of the ship on
the shore, and can feed emergency power to the ship in the event of an outage. There is enough
power not only to keep the safety lights and exit signs illuminated, but also enough
power to fully operate the brand-new bilge pumps in the unlikely event of a major leak.
In the elevator lobby, just outside the ship, videos play on loop, not only discussing the
ship’s history and heritage, but also a video showing some of the behind-the-scenes work that
has been completed. It shows the removal of the lifeboats to relieve strain on the structure of
the ship, it shows the work done to raise the height of the watertight bulkheads a few feet,
and it shows one of the platforms installed for the 11 new automatic bilge pumps.
Onboard the ship, the teak wood deck just outside the Observation Bar is original to the
ship and is part of the exterior promenade. As you can see the wood has been restored.
Also, last time I mentioned that the awful plexiglass wind breakers were removed and that
this portion of the promenade is being restored to its original appearance, well this continues
with the work to reinstall the teak railing. All new planks of teak are currently being fitted into
place, and afterward they will be planed down to match the shape and dimensions of the other
handrails around the ship. In addition, the double doors installed in the 1970’s have been replaced
with more stylish doors. It has been over 30 years since this area has looked this nice.
Over in Queen Mary’s Main Hall the linoleum floors that were installed in mid 1990s have
been completely removed, over the years they have bubbled and warped and become uneven, not
to mention they looked almost permanently filthy. The new floors aren’t just overlayed, the workers
actually went through the effort to smooth out the base flooring before laying the new linoleum.
This linoleum pattern is designed to match the floors that were installed in 1947 to replace
the original Art Deco design from 1936. I will admit it’s not a 100% perfect match,
but it is incredibly close, and the kind of detail put into Queen Mary’s flooring in the
Main Hall is something you don’t see much of these days, particularly with linoleum.
This wasn’t just a pattern that was printed and then glued down, each color of the stripes and
patterns had to be custom inlaid by hand to match the style as it looked some 70-plus years ago.
You can also see that the various planters in the Main Hall have been filled with flora,
as they were designed for, and it lends some much needed color to the area.
After reviewing lots of footage aboard the ship it seems that much of the chrome and
brass handrails aboard the ship have been properly cleaned and shined, the handrails
haven’t looked this nice in decades. Going aft on the promenade,
you’ll find that the entirety of the portside promenade has been reopened,
but the stern is not currently accessible. And as mentioned in the last update, the teak wood planks
of the promenade are original to the ship, and have been restored to how they appeared in 1936.
The second class forward staircase has had its carpeting repaired or replaced,
this is a welcome sight as when I was last here, the carpeting was badly torn and frayed
and barely held together with duct tape. Work on the ceiling lights is ongoing as
maintenance workers are fashioning replacement parts for the dilapidated art deco fittings.
The first-class smoking room, which is currently called the Royal Salon,
is looking better than ever, the light fixtures have been repaired, and the wall paneling in the
room has been deep cleaned and re-polished. The dance floor in the center of the room is
not original to the ship, but it too has been restored because it was in poor condition.
I can’t promise this beautiful room will be available for you to explore on your next visit,
but I can say that it’s looking wonderful. Work continues on rust abatement projects
on the Forecastle deck at the bow of the ship, but the third class open deck at the
base of the forward mast is open to explore. The rare and exotic wood paneling has been
sanded and re-varnished in areas of the ship that needed it most.
The corridors just aft of the Observation Bar are one of the places you can go to see the brilliant
natural wood grain this ship displays. Remember, the ship isn’t paneled in just any old wood,
several of the species displayed aboard the ship have since gone extinct over the last 8 decades.
The first-class travel bureau on Main Deck has recently been restored, before,
it was quite dusty, some lights had gone out, and the arrangement of the
furnishings was somewhat sparse. They have recently dug out a few more artifacts from
storage to properly decorate the space. One of my favorite features of this room
is the incredible quilted maple wood veneers that adorn the wall paneling.
On the midship stairwell, also considered Queen Mary’s grand staircase, the old decorative planter
alcoves on each landing have new flora and the lights inside the alcoves have been repaired.
And speaking of lights, I mentioned in the last update that all the creepy green-tinted
fluorescent lights have been slowly replaced with warm white LED’s that more closely imitate the
warm incandescent light the ship used to have. Well, there are still areas of the ship where
fluorescent bulbs remain, but more and more, they are being replaced. It’s little touches like these
that help bring out the beauty of the ship and take away that dark creepy factor that made a lot
of people feel uneasy. Queen Mary was a happy ship when she was in service, people adored this ship,
she is grand and beautiful and deserves to look her best and not be relegated to the eerie haunted
house that her marketing tactics have reputed. The first-class Main Lounge on Promenade Deck
has recently been cleaned and polished and many of the light fixtures have been repaired, but more
work is still to come on this grand space. The Observation Bar on Promenade Deck has
received more restoration work, first and foremost the flat-screen tv’s that
were once installed to give this room more of a sports-bar vibe,
have been removed in order to return the room to its original purpose, a classy cocktail lounge.
The paneling on the walls has been cleaned and polished, the chrome railings and decorative
grills have been cleaned and polished. The room is still furnished temporarily with
chairs from Sir Winston’s restaurant, but in the coming months, custom furniture and
new carpets designed to be historically accurate will be fitted into the room.
Up on Sun Deck, the aging lifeboat davits and the top superstructure have been properly repainted,
this is significant because it had all been neglected by previous operators.
Chipping paint is much more than just unsightly, on a ship, metal that is exposed to the elements
can eventually spell trouble. Sun Deck is not ready for people to explore yet, but it may reopen
in a month or so, possibly the Stern area as well. The aft funnel on Queen Mary is said to be
undergoing a complete strip down and repaint sometime in late summer or early autumn. And
like I said in the last update, don’t expect the funnels to be painted the original Cunard orange,
they are painted closer to the type of red seen on modern Cunard ships
because it doesn’t fade as easily and can go several years before needing to be repainted.
Down below decks at the stern, the aft engine room is now available to explore
at your leisure. You can see all the upgraded lighting effects I mentioned in the last update,
and the propeller shaft alleys are open for you to explore as well. And just like the engine room,
the shaft alleys are more brightly lit than they were before. However, the defunct escalators that
used to bring you up to the steering gear room are blocked off, and if you want to
see the steering gear room you have to return the way you came, back up to the lobby above.
Back outside the Queen Mary, two of the four London telephone booths that arrived aboard the
ship in 1967 have been vandalized, the original glass is broken and there is tagging all over the
insides. While the two booths located near the ship are doing fine, these two were previously
placed here a few decades ago, at what is now the abandoned London Town section of the property,
and as with most abandoned things, they get destroyed by heartless miscreants.
Hopefully, these two vintage booths will be moved back near the ship and restored.
On a final note, in the previous update, I mentioned that the City of Long Beach was in talks
with the Port of Long Beach about letting them take over responsibility for the ship since the
Port has deeper pockets. As it turned out, that’s not going to happen, but there’s no time to sulk,
there are plenty of things to do around the ship. The City of Long Beach has stood firm to
their dedication to repairing and refurbishing the ship so it is once again a gleaming jewel.
And the City of Long Beach is still formulating plans on the construction
of a nearby dry dock large enough to fit the Queen Mary whenever her hull needs some TLC.
The ship’s hull is in remarkably good condition despite its 93 years of age. The ship’s double
hull was emptied and inspected section by section last year and early this year, and unsurprisingly,
there is no major damage or corrosion to speak of. The ship is as watertight as she ever was,
and we can thank the foresight of the installation of a Sacrificial Cathodic
Anode System in the 1970’s, for preventing seawater from eating away at the hull.
Not only that but the breakwater wall that surrounds the ship is designed to keep the
water in the lagoon calm so that there is minimal corrosion to the wind-water line of the ship…and
sure enough there is little to no corrosion to speak of at the wind-water line.
The Queen can safely wait a few more years for the new dry dock to be constructed.
As my friend was filming the ship for me, he found many places that smelled like fresh paint,
much of the hotel rooms that aren’t yet available are undergoing a refresh to prepare
them for use. And many of the closed exhibits and public spaces aboard the ship are currently
undergoing various stages of restoration or repair. There’s a lot of busy work going on
aboard the ship and we can expect the repair work to continue through the next few years.
Now let me clear up some confusion about a few things:
People ask me all the time why they don’t just permanently put the ship on land. There’s a good
reason for that, Earthquakes. The ship was not built to withstand the sharp shaking and
vibration that happens during an earthquake. She is entirely held together with rivets and
the last thing you want is for earthquakes to be stretching all those rivets loose over the years.
Another reason they don’t put her on land is that she would be the largest ship to ever be
permanently put on land and she’s not designed for that. She is not exactly a solid object. She is a
very massive honey-comb structure with a skin of steel plates…but when you get to dimensions
as large as the Queen Mary, you can’t prevent her from sagging in all the wrong places. She
needs to float in water in order to maintain her shape. Obviously, the ship was built to withstand
being in dry dock for a few months at a time…but a few months is very different from half a century.
People also ask why don’t they just build a concrete wall around the ship so her lagoon
could become a dry dock whenever they need it. And the lagoon could be filled with fresh water.
Well that is an okay idea, but why build a dry dock designed for one ship,
when you could build one that could earn tons of money every year servicing multiple ships
besides the Queen Mary? It’s just a better idea to build a separate dry dock. With a periodic
overhaul and a functioning Sacrificial Anode System, the seawater really won’t be an issue.
The Queen Mary is actually floating in the harbor, and she CAN be moved to a
nearby dry dock if necessary. All they have to do is remove a rear section of
the rock wall behind her and tow her out in the reverse order that she was installed.
And lastly, people always ask, when is Queen Mary’s swimming pool going to reopen.
The thing is that the swimming pool is a very low priority right now. There are other projects
around the ship directly related to the safety and longevity of the ship, such as what's going to be
an extremely expensive project of rebuilding the promenade side-shell and reinforcing the davits,
and building replica lifeboats to be put back on the davits. That project is just one of
many that take precedence over something like the restoration of the swimming pool.
While the ship could definitely benefit from having a pool open to hotel guests, the original
pool on R deck is not the right choice for that. Hotel pools in this day and age need to
be built to very specific standards, including ADA standards. If you tried to upgrade the original
swimming pool to meet those standards, you’d be destroying everything about the pool room
that makes it historic and beautiful. We should be advocating for the preservation of the pool room,
and for the construction of a new pool and swimming area on the dock.
Long Beach and Evolution Hospitality, if you’re listening, and I know sometimes you
are…I know you’re looking for ways that the ship could be more profitable without doing
something extremely expensive and invasive. I have three suggestions based on a single concept,
the concept is maintaining the Queen Mary as an ocean liner experience, rather than just an
ocean liner exhibit. The experience should allow guests to come to the ship and have
the option of pretending they are a passenger and you can do this with just three changes:
One, always keep the First Class Main Lounge and the First Class Smoking room
on Promenade Deck open for visitors to walk in and relax. These rooms should be furnished with
period-appropriate furnishings and be used as lounge areas for visitors. This will go a
long way in creating an atmosphere and vibe. Particularly if there is regularly scheduled
daily Afternoon Tea and period-appropriate live entertainment available in the Main Lounge,
and whenever there’s no live entertainment there should be period music playing.
The Smoking Room could be used as a comfortable waiting lobby for guided tours or as an exhibit
with Queen Mary artifacts and artwork on display, or both. The reason these public spaces
should always remain open is because this is what people have come to see. They came for an ocean
liner, not a maze of locked doors and dead-end halls. The tours can teach visitors about the
details, but at least let the entire Promenade Deck be the busy central hub aboard the ship.
Two, offer weekend and weekday experience packages. This is where visitors and hotel
guests can pay a flat fee which includes the price of admission, a tour, a meal, or multiple meals
and scheduled entertainment. This will encourage people to spend a whole day or multiple days
aboard the ship, getting a well-rounded passenger experience. People want to escape the world of
today and experience something they can’t get anywhere else. The Queen Mary is perfect for
that role, because you can almost forget you live in the 21st century when you’re aboard the ship.
And three, marketing. Not just commercials and advertisements, but really take advantage of the
abundance of social media influencers. Choose respectable and popular influencers who enjoy
engineering, art, travel, exploration, ships and dressing in vintage clothing, because these are
the people who would love the Queen Mary. Invite them to the ship to film their videos and take
their photos. Lour them in with free admission, meal vouchers, and discounted rooms. The right
influencers will drum up excitement about the ship and that will help to promote it. Just,
don’t choose personalities that will vandalize the ship or make light of its history. Heck, I’ll even
recommend some to you! There are plenty of them. Long Beach, you have the tools for Queen Mary’s
success right now, and that’s the exciting part about all of this. The Queen Mary is
much more than a haunted house, there are so many fascinating things about the ship, and
like a vase of flowers, all it takes is for you to arrange it a certain way, and then it’s perfect.
And if you want to hear more of my ideas, feel free to reach out.
Alright everyone, that does it for this update, I’d like to thank the community, the City of Long
Beach, and Evolution Hospitality for all the work that has gone into restoring this grand old lady.
She is on the brink of a new renaissance, a new age, and her future is looking very
bright indeed. I’ll see you all the next time there is big news to share. Be sure to like and
subscribe to the channel for more videos about the history of the Queen Mary, and the age of steam.