story and photos by Kayte Deioma

Long Beach ‘s most familiar attraction is also a great rainy day destination. The RMS Queen Mary, the former luxury ocean liner and WWII military transport, is now a Hotel, museum and constantly evolving attraction. The Queen can keep you occupied indoors for a couple days, and you still may not have time to discover all her secrets. Guides expert in the illustrious lady’s bipolar past can introduce you to both of her historic personalities. Others will expose the skeletons in her closets, boilers and guest rooms.

If you only have a couple hours, skip the guide and start with the self-guided walking tour of the ship. The walking tour takes you through exhibit areas not visited by any of the guided tours. These exhibits include original furnishings from the ship’s dual lives as a cruise ship and a military transport. General Admission includes the self-guided tour map and the Ghosts and Legends of the Queen Mary special effects show. If it’s raining, bring your umbrella. You’ll want to step outside for a few minutes on the upper decks.

The walking tour starts with an orientation video, then takes you through the engine room and up the escalators to the Promenade and Sun Decks. If your timing is right, you can catch a lifeboat drill by Roy Sorge or one of the other ship’s officers at Lifeboat Station 23 on the starboard (right) side of the ship. You can imagine being on the Titanic as you watch the lifeboat being lowered. Drill times are posted daily and are more likely to occur weekends and in summer.

Up on the Sports Deck, the self-guided tour continues to the ship’s Communications Center and the Wireless Room, where you might catch members of a local amateur radio station on the air. Toward the bow of the ship you can visit an exhibit of the original officers’ quarters, and the Bridge and Wheelhouse. Alas, you can’t stand at the helm or any of the dozen roped-off controls. But you can get closer to the charts and maybe a ghost or two next door in the Chart Room.

Down one level, soldiers sleeping, playing, sick and at-arms populate the WWII exhibit along the port side. Along starboard is a historic exhibit of the cruise ship hospital, barber shop, and gymnasium – all looking more torturous than you might expect on a luxury cruise. There is also a charming nursery, where the sound of children playing could be your imagination or a paranormal encounter.

If you find yourself in need of refreshment at this juncture, the Sun Deck Deli is next door. It’s in the process of getting a facelift, so construction noise may mar the experience.

Your tour continues back down to the Promenade Deck where you can peek into the Observation Bar or stop for a beverage if it is after noon. Then head out to the bow area (with your umbrella, if necessary). Little kids and big kids can climb around on the giant machinery used to dock the ship and check out the 40mm anti-aircraft gun.

Back inside, you can visit the Passenger Information counter where helpful Ship’s Officers can give directions and recommendations, make restaurant reservations and sign you up for guided tours.

The Promenade Deck houses the main shopping area on the ship. Warm gleaming wood-paneled walls curve around a newsstand, oriental gifts and souvenir shops. Several eating establishments including the Starboard Bakery (featuring Starbucks coffee if you’re dying for a caffeine fix), the Promenade Café, Chelsea Restaurant (dinner only) and California Shakes are also on Promenade Deck. The Promenade Gallery with original artwork from the Queen Mary is also on this level

At this point your self-guided tour map directs you to the Ghosts and Legends Show. If you decide to skip the Show, take the hotel elevator down to Deck B and make a U turn to the right down the corridor to the bow (front) of the ship where you will find the Carpathia room. Cut through the Carpathia room to reach the Treasures of the Queen Mary Archive exhibit. Documents, sea-faring paraphernalia, tableware and other artifacts fill glass cases. In the re-creation of a first class stateroom, an evening gown and tux are laid out on the bed ready to step into for a first-class evening of dining and dancing aboard the Queen.

Ghosts and Legends of the Queen Mary

Retrace your steps and take the escalator or elevator down and out to street level and turn right where a stairway leads up to the entrance of the Ghosts and Legends of the Queen Mary special effects show. Beware! Loud noises and flashing lights may scare small children. Shows take 30 minutes and start every hour at quarter past.

On the day of my visit, a half dozen eight to ten-year-old boys are along on the tour. They had been scared off the previous hour at the point where the big scary door opens and you can see light and smoke behind the door. That is to say, the entrance itself scared them off. But they are back. They huddle together, arms over each others’ shoulders as our guide leads the way through the sinister door.

A second guide comes along to escort anyone who wants to turn back tothe nearest exit. One of the boys who has apparently experienced the show before is encouraging the others. “It’s not scary. It’s not real. It’s like Universal Studios.” And in fact, once inside, they seem to take the exploding boiler, haunted swimming pool and leaking hull in stride. Just the right amount of scary to thrill a nine-year-old.

If you haven’t already visited the Treasures of the Queen Mary Archive exhibit, you can follow the signs at the end of the Ghosts and Legends show down the stairs one level to Deck B.

If you have more time, sign up to take one of the other guided tours of the ship. A variety of tours offer different perspectives on the ship’s history and on the neighboring Russian submarine Scorpion. You can buy a variety of package tickets with your attraction entrance fee at the outside ticket booth. If you happen to be staying or eating on the ship, or if you want to add something that was not included in your ticket package, you can purchase individual tour tickets at Passenger Information on the Promenade Deck.

story and photos by Kayte Deioma

The Behind the Scenes tour gives a good historical overview of the Queen Mary. It also introduces you to the original art and craftsmanship built into all the public areas of the ship. I have some time, so I decide to start with this one.

Tour guide Joe Goff meets us at Passenger Information on the Promenade Deck and gives an introduction. He tells us about the ship’s construction and launch and its maiden voyage in May 1936 from South Hampton, England to New York, with a stop in Cherbourg, France. From 1940 to 1944, the ship was drafted into service as a troop ship. After the war she was refurbished and set back into use as a luxury ocean liner in 1947. She was retired in 1967 and sold to the City of Long Beach, where she arrived in December after crossing the Atlantic 1001 times. After being remodeled as a hotel and exhibit, the ship opened up to the public in her current location in 1971 .

In the Promenade Gallery, our guide introduces us to Kenneth Shoesmith’s painting,Madonna of the Atlantic, which used to hang in the first class sitting room. The small Gallery exhibits a diverse collection of artwork, custom furnishings, fabrics, Art Deco ornamentation, silver service, down to the Stuart Crystal stemware used in the first class dining room.

The tour proceeds through the Promenade shopping area, past the Bakery, which used to be the first class children’s playroom and into the Observation Bar and Cocktail Lounge which gives a view out to the bow of the ship. According to Joe, the Observation Bar was closed during rough weather “because the bow of the ship was known to plunge below the water line.” In the Observation Bar, the bar itself is along the bulkhead. Alfred R. Thomson’s mural, The Royal Jubilee Week is on the wall above. A highly sculpted ornamental balustrade by Austen Compton Roberts runs throughout the entire bar. The Observation Bar is a popular movie location, recently seen in The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio.

We explore the Queens Salon, weaving between stacked chairs awaiting the next banquet event. This was formerly the First Class Main Lounge, where passengers would listen to music and socialize. Three decks high, sunlight comes into the Salon from the Sports Deck above, reflecting off the three different kinds of “beautiful woods” that panel the ceiling, walls and pillars. The artwork has a musical theme to reflect the room’s intended purpose, with etchings around the mirrors and Maurice Lambert’s reliefs entitledSymphony over the doorway and main stage. On the forward wall, a carved gesso panel tinted silver and gold by Alfred J. Oakley and Gilbert Bayes entitled Unicorns in Battle, is the second largest piece of artwork on the ship. In the evenings, the rug would be rolled up exposing the oak parquet floors and the First Class Lounge became a ballroom.

The mirrors have a thin layer of peach tinted glass over them for the benefit of passengers feeling seasick and looking green. “Only in first class” Joe explains, “could you look in the mirror, see a healthier tan complexion, and hopefully feel just a little bit better.”

Our tour moves on to the Royal Salon, the first class men’s only smoking lounge. The walls are paneled with English pollard oak, also known as tiger oak because of patterns in the wood that resemble a giant tiger’s face.

Then up the stairs to the Sun Deck and into the Veranda Grill, which was the most exclusive restaurant on board. Reservations had to be made at the time the cruise was booked. First class passengers could only eat one meal in the Veranda Grill per cruise…unless, of course, you were the Duke and Duchess of Windsor who ate here every night when they were on board. In the evening it would become the Starlight Roof Nightclub. The murals and entire room design were created by stage designer and artist, Doris Zinkheisen.

Next Joe takes us down into the passenger accommodations to visit a first class premier suite with a bedroom, two bathrooms, a large sitting area, maid’s quarters and luggage storage. In the bathroom, in addition to four knobs on the tub faucet, two for salt water and two for fresh water, red and green call buttons on the tub could call a men’s or lady’s bath steward to scrub your back or hand you your towel from the heated towel rack.

The last stop on the Behind the Scenes Tour is the first class swimming pool which had separate pool hours for men and women. While first class passengers enjoyed their afternoon tea, third class passengers had one hour to use the pool. “Afterwards the pool was drained, scrubbed down and refilled with warm saltwater,” Joe tells us. The second class passengers had their own pool which is no longer on the ship.

From here we have to decide if we want to proceed immediately to the WWII Tour or take a break for lunch and then take the Haunted Encounters tour. The WWII Tour takes place mostly outside, not optimal for a rainy day. We opt to grab a sandwich at the Sun Deck Deli before getting a more “close-up and personal” tour of the haunted halls than the special effects of the Ghosts and Legends Show.

story and photos by Kayte Deioma

We meet our guide, Yolanda Muńoz, near the entrance to the Engine Room. Along on the tour are Deborah and Joey Lane of Arizona Paranormal Investigations and their 14-year-old son Jordan. They have their Queen Mary Passports handy, ready to participate in the Ghost Sighting Scavenger Hunt. They have already seen an unusual orb appearing in their digital images shot near the engine room.

The tour starts with a film introduction in a small theatre that used to be the second class swimming pool. We get our first introduction to the ghost of a little girl who seems to have the run of the ship and beyond. She has been heard and seen in this area. As we leave the theatre, Yolanda tells us it’s best to stay silent to experience the atmosphere of each location.

We head down a stairway to an area known as Shaft Alley. Yolanda tells us of a young sailor who was found crushed by one of the water-tight doors after a fog alarm prompted all doors to the boilers and engine rooms to be closed. “Rumor has it…” she says “that the sailor was playing chicken to see how many times he could jump through the door before it closed. He made it six and a half times…” she concludes, with a ghoulish lilt to her voice. The specter of a bearded young man in coveralls has been seen in various parts of the ship and heard whistling through the boiler rooms.

We are led through an exhibit hall that used to be a boiler room. Apparently when the ship was purchased, part of the agreement was that it had to be dismantled so that it could no longer travel under its own power. The boilers where taken apart and removed through the smoke stacks. Now there’s a dance floor where there used to be a boiler. An apparition of a little blond girl in a bonnet has appeared to various workers here.

The little girl has also appeared in boiler rooms 1 and 2, which are used for the Ghosts and Legends Show. Joey Lane of Arizona Paranormal Investigations, who normally has no fear of heights, experiences a sudden inability to look down crossing the wide platform over the boiler rooms.

We are back in the first class swimming pool. The pool is a popular hang-out for spirits. The little girl, a young woman in a tennis skirt and a woman in a bridal gown have all been spotted here as well as miscellaneous other paranormal phenomena. I finally learn why the pool is not in use. Even without resident ghosts, the 12 foot depth of the pool is too deep for California State Code.

Yolanda leads us in groups of four to the changing room area adjacent to the pool. There is reported to be a vortex here, “a whirlpool of energy circulating in a spiral motion, which allows the spirit to enter and leave this dimension.” We extend our hands over the spot to see if we can feel it…an electric tingle, a breeze from nowhere.

Next stop is Room B340, one of the staterooms that became part of the hotel. It is no longer used as a hotel room because too many visitors and cleaning crew complained of disturbances in the room. Lights and water faucets go on by themselves. Bedding flies around on its own. Knocking is heard in the middle of the night. Although this room is no longer available to hotel guests, other haunted rooms and suites can still be reserved by the paranormally curious.

After the tour, three of the visitors discuss whether the child they heard laughing in the hall on R Deck was real or not. The rest of us didn’t hear anything. Yolanda doesn’t think anyone would have been in the area besides us.

“In certain areas I felt electricity going through my skin,” reports Deborah Lane, one of our paranormal investigators from Arizona. “Other areas felt very thick,” she adds. “It’s definitely haunted.”

Theoretically, our Haunted Encounters ticket also entitles us to a visit to the Paranormal Research Center located on A Deck in the bow (front) of the ship near the exit from the Ghosts and Legends Show. We follow a maze of signs to a pair of plain brown doors which are firmly locked.