What a lovely weekend stay on the RMS Queen Mary (hotel). We stayed in a first class cabin with two beds and a LOT of floor space and two portholes. Cabin # A136. The cabin was very clean, as was the bathroom. It is important to remember that the rooms are the original wooden-walled cabins (staterooms in US English) made for the ship in 1936. So there is not a lot of modern soundproofing. That said the guests are polite and generally quiet. The RMS Queen Mary has a lot of decorative wood, some of which is now extinct. Guests of the hotel can freely roam the ship and can visit the museum parts without any extra charge. There is no pool, but there is an exercise room. I first stayed on board in 1981, and have visited about once a decade. This was the best stay yet! The ship now boasts a compliment of officers in full Cunard uniforms who meet and greet and talk about the ship. They also pose for a lot of photos with guests. Many guests are staying on the ship hotel while they wait for their Carnival cruise to depart from the cruise ship centre behind the Queen Mary. While there we also greatly enjoyed the Sunday Brunch held in the first class main salon. Be aware that the hotel charges a "resort" fee AND a parking fee per night of stay. This can add up to 33% to your bill.

I'm a cruiser so stepping on board from the ramp brought back memories. My son was staying there so the visit and walking tour was free. I visited his room and it was larger than an inner cabin on some of the cruise ships I've been on. We did the walking tour which is free also. The photographs of past movie celebrities brought back old memories of movies I saw as a kid. You can visit several decks that allow you to see the shoreline places, hidden oil rigs, and ships from a distance. There is one place where models of shops are displayed in glass cases. Some have cutouts showing how they used coal to run the engines. Speaking of engines, my favorite part of the ship is the engine room. We just happened to go down there as a docent was telling all about it. This ship is well maintained with only a couple of places where old things might be replaced. There's also a free movie available.

We are reading some reviews of the Queen Mary and feel that they are very unfair. We booked two nights as our first stop from the UK on a fly drive through California We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The hotel pricing was very reasonable and value for money. The beds were large clean and comfortable. People need to realise this is 90 year old ship undergoing renovations, Its not going to be perfectly plastic. The food was lovely and staff polite and helpful. We unexpectedly bumped into the hotel manager outside the swimming pool area and we’re given a free personal tour including locked areas. He disappeared as quickly as he arrived and to this day we’re not sure if he was for real or a ghost! If you love your history and want a unique clean value for money hotel we would thoroughly recommend. In addition the water taxi from the ship across the bay was a bit choppy but shout out to the brilliant captain who kept us safe And entertained. Bargain price too!