USA 7-Day California Ultimate Guide | Queen Mary Long Beach | Exploring California’s Legendary Ocean Liner – Travel guides for couples; romantic escapes, city breaks + worldwide adventures

VERDICT: We gave 4 out of 5 tickets and here’s why!

This guide forms part of our complete USA Travel Guide, featuring scenic road trips, iconic destinations, practical travel advice and honest first-hand travel experiences from across the United States.

This article is part of our 7-Day Southern California Road Trip: Ultimate Guide. Over seven days, we explored San Diego and Los Angeles, from the USS Midway Museum, Coronado Beach, La Jolla and the Gaslamp Quarter to the Queen Mary in Long Beach. We rode the San Diego Trolley, watched a rooftop movie and even crossed into Mexico for the day. This series brings together our complete itinerary, personal experiences and practical visitor advice. Read the complete seven-day guide here.

Remarkable Art Deco interiors, wartime history and haunting stories aboard a maritime icon.

Sometimes on our travels we find the best things just by chance… one of those things was realizing the Queen Mary Long Beach (the famous historic ocean liner) was docked directly down the beach from our hotel in Long Beach, California!

This 1930s British ocean liner has been turned into a hotel, museum, and event spot. You can actually sleep in the original cabins… although some are haunted! The Art Deco interiors are wow, the ocean views are incredible, there’s even a spa.

You should go through the self-guided museum where you’ll see the engine room, the bridge, first-class dining rooms, and learn about WWII history.

Three of the Queen Mary’s Most Unusual Facts

She carried 16,683 people on one voyage.
During a 1943 wartime crossing, the Queen Mary transported 16,683 passengers and crew—still recognized as the greatest number ever carried aboard one vessel.
She once nearly capsized.
While transporting troops in December 1942, the ship was struck by an estimated 28-metre rogue wave and reportedly rolled about 52 degrees before righting herself.
She had to be permanently enclosed in Long Beach.
After arriving in 1967, an artificial lagoon and surrounding shoreline were created to accommodate and permanently display the enormous liner.

There’s a Haunted Ship Tour: Night tours of the “most haunted” areas. There’s a Behind the Scenes Tour: Which tours the engine room + secret passages + crew quarters. You can take the Ship Walk: where you’ll learn about the ship’s 30+ years as a transatlantic liner. Dine at Chelsea Chowder House & Bar, the Promenade Café, Observation Bar or the Royal Sunday Brunch. You can enjoy fine dining in the original first-class dining room. A Sunday Champagne Brunch would be amazing here!

As for weddings, concerts, festivals – they host a lot here.

If this is more your thing – there’s even Ghost & Paranormal Events around Halloween.

History of the Queen Mary: She was built in 1934, and sailed between the United States and the United Kingdom in 1936. The Queen Mary is basically a floating time capsule + legend, her nickname, “The Grey Ghost” during WWII because she was painted grey for camouflage

Converted to a troopship in 1940, she carried over 810,000 soldiers and sailed 600,000 miles. If you can imagine, the Queen Mary once, in 1943, carried 16,683 troops (including crew) in a single voyage, still a world record for most people on one ship.

Unbelievably, she could outrun German U-boats, leading to Churchill calling her “the most important ship in the war”.

Ship Stats
Length: 1,019 ft long, almost 4 football fields
Weight: 80,774 tons
Capacity: 2,139 passengers + 1,101 crew in her luxury days

Famous passengers included such;
Hollywood royalty as Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Hope, Judy Garland, and Clark Gable. Famous world leaders that sailed the Queen Mary, were of course, Winston Churchill and President Truman. Queen Elizabeth II visited the ship as Princess Elizabeth in 1936.

As the #1 Most Haunted ship in America, the most famous ghosts are “The Lady in White” in the ballroom, a sailor in the engine room, and kids in the pool area.

She’s been in films like The Poseidon Adventure, S.O.S. Titanic, Ghost Adventures, and Captain Ron. The ship has been associated with numerous onboard deaths and decades of reported paranormal activity, so ghost tours are huge for this reason.

In Long Beach, where the Queen Mary has been docked permanently since 1967, it took 2 years and 2,000 truckloads of dirt to build the harbor around her.
She’s now on the US National Register of Historic Places & is bigger than the White House and Washington Monument combined.

What’s amazing to this day, the wood paneling in first class is real oak, mahogany, and maple, all original! You can also still see the original Art Deco elevators and ballroom chandeliers.

► Visitor Information

Address:
1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach, California 90802

General admission:
As of August 2026, general admission is US$45 for adults and US$40 for children. It includes access to more than 23 exhibits and a 30–45-minute introductory Embarkation Tour, subject to availability.

Operating hours:
General admission is currently available daily from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. An off-hours admission option is offered between 6:30–10:00 a.m. and 8:00–10:00 p.m. for US$15. Hours, exhibits and tours can change during private events, so visitors should check before travelling.

How long should visitors allow?
Allow at least three hours for the major exhibits and public areas. Four to five hours is more comfortable if you add a guided tour or meal.

Parking:
Paid parking is available beside the ship. Event-day prices and validation policies can vary.

Accessibility:
Many principal public areas are accessible, but this remains a historic 1930s ship with narrow passages, thresholds and areas reached by stairs. Visitors with mobility concerns should confirm accessibility for their chosen tour.

Photography:
The exterior decks, Art Deco public rooms, bridge areas and Long Beach skyline provide the best photographs. Some guided or paranormal experiences may restrict photography.

Best visitor tip:
Arrive near opening time, explore the historical exhibits first and leave the exterior decks until the afternoon, when the light over Long Beach Harbour is often better.

Royalty Connected to the Queen Mary

The best-documented royal passengers include:

Edward, Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII
Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor
Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother, reportedly returning from a North American tour in 1954

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor travelled aboard several times and regularly occupied Suite M58, now known as the Windsor Suite.

Royal visitors, not necessarily passengers

The following members of the Royal Family boarded the ship during its 1936 royal visit:

Queen Mary, the ship’s namesake
King Edward VIII
The Duke of York, later King George VI
The Duchess of York, later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II
The Duke and Duchess of Kent
The Duchess of Gloucester

Current visitor information and tickets are available through the official Queen Mary website.

► Top Five Nearby Restaurants

Chelsea Chowder House & Bar – Queen Mary
Seafood, steaks and chowders served aboard the ship.
Promenade Café – Queen Mary
Casual all-day dining with American dishes and harbour views.
Fuego – Hotel Maya
Latin-inspired waterfront dining with one of the best exterior views of the Queen Mary.
Parkers’ Lighthouse – Shoreline Village
A popular waterfront restaurant specializing in seafood and views across Rainbow Harbor.
Queensview Steakhouse – Parkers’ Lighthouse
An upscale steak and seafood restaurant with panoramic harbour views.

Reservations are advisable for Chelsea, Fuego, Parkers’ Lighthouse and Queensview, particularly on weekends.

► Top Five Nearest Places to Visit

Harry Bridges Memorial Park
A waterfront green space beside the Queen Mary with excellent views of the ship and Long Beach skyline.
Shoreline Aquatic Park and Lions Lighthouse
A scenic waterfront area with walking paths, harbour views and one of Long Beach’s recognizable landmarks.
Aquarium of the Pacific
A major Southern California aquarium featuring more than 12,000 animals across over 100 exhibits.
Shoreline Village
A colourful waterfront collection of shops, casual restaurants and harbour activities.
The Pike Outlets and Rainbow Harbor
A waterfront entertainment district featuring restaurants, shopping, harbour cruises and the Long Beach Ferris wheel.

The attractions across the harbour appear extremely close to the ship, but reaching them by road takes longer than the view suggests.

Planning Your Trip?

Before you go, don’t forget to book the essentials:

With every trip, we offer feedback to travel companies along with honest views for you, the reader. We rate adventures on a scale of one to five tickets, judged on quality, service, memorability, and price. A perfect ‘Ticket Rating’ of a five-ticket score means the experience was flawless and we’d eagerly return. Your desire to go back is the ultimate measure of a trip’s worth. Exclusive to My Return Ticket.

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