The Queen Mary Long Beach California
If you are taking a trip to California and will be stopping in Long Beach then you should visit the Queen Mary which is moored there. The Queen Mary has a long history and offers a range of attractions for people to enjoy.
You can eat, drink and stay on the ship and enjoy all the comfort of this old cruise ship.
Resources
The History
The
RMS Queen Mary was first commissioned in 1930 and the first keel plate
was laid at the john Brown shipyard located in Clyde, Scotland.
However, the construction of this 1000-foot ship was put on hold between
1931 and 1934 because of the Depression.
The
construction was finally complete in 1936 and the ship's maiden voyage
started on May 27, 1936. The RMA Queen Mary was the grandest ocean liner
for 3 years and carried the rich and famous from across the world.
Some
of the notable passengers include Sir Winston Churchill, Clark Gable
and Mary Pickford. The ship was considered by the world's wealthiest as
the only civilized way to travel and help the record for the fastest
North Atlantic crossing of the time.
When
the Second World War broke out in 1939 the luxury travel of the ship
stopped and it was converted into a troopship. The ship was then called
the Grey Ghost and had the capacity increased to 5500 from 2410.
At
the end of the war, the ship had transported more than 600,000 troops
and played a significant role in almost every Allied campaign. The ship
also survived a sea collection, carried a record number of people and
took part in the D-Day invasion.
With
the ship's duty in the war over it was refurbished and resumed her more
elegant cruises in July 1947. However, by the early 1960's cruises
were falling out of fashion as air travel started to become more
affordable.
By
1963, the Queen Mary was completing occasional trips to the Bahamas,
but as the ship was older it did not offer any of the conveniences of
the more modern cruise ships such as air conditioning and pools. In
1967, the ship was withdrawn from the service and then sold to the city
of Long Beach California.
The ship was permanently docked in the city and was transformed into a luxury hotel. It is still possible to stay in the Queen Mary, but you can also try the food and drinks from many of the eating spots on the ship.
The Haunting Of The Queen Mary
Each
year thousands of visitors flock to the Queen Mary for a number of
reasons and one of them is the number of ghostly apparitions. Some
people say that the Queen Mary is one of the most haunted places in the
world with 150 known ghosts to be lurking around the ship.
The
engine room of the ship is thought to be the center of the ghostly
activity and can be accessed on ghost-hunting tours that are held each
year around Halloween.