Long Beach’s historic Queen Mary will partially reopen to the public — for the first time since its March 2020 closure — for one-hour, guided tours through select areas of the ship later this week, the city announced on Monday, Dec. 12.
“I am thrilled to welcome visitors back onboard the Queen Mary and share the beauty and history of this landmark with our community once again,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in the Monday announcement. “I thank our city staff for their dedication throughout the critical repairs process to ensure the ship’s safety and preservation.”
The limited tours, scheduled to begin on Thursday, Dec. 15, will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Interested parties must make a reservation online and will be required to present a photo ID to board the ship, the announcement said. Tours are expected to fill quickly.
Hosted by a historical docent, the tours will feature a walk through selected areas of the Queen Mary Promenade Deck including the Promenade Shops, Observation Bar, Queen Salon, and Royal Salon. Attendees will learn about the ship’s history — both haunted and otherwise, according to the announcement.
The remainder of the Queen Mary — including the Queen Mary Hotel — will remain off-limits to the public as Long Beach works to finish other critical repairs throughout early 2023. The Queen Mary originally closed to the public in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But by that point, the World War II-era ship had already fallen into massive disrepair under the management of its previous operators, Urban Commons, prompting the ship’s continued closure.
In June, the city approved a contract with Evolution Hospitality, LLC, to take over the Queen Mary’s operations and oversee the repairs, which included replacing the ship’s boilers, elevators and restrooms, plumbing repairs, and parking upgrades — all deemed necessary to ensure a safe reopening.
The city and Evolution estimated in June that the $2,870,500 repairs would be completed, and the ship would reopen, by October. But when that date came and went, Long Beach pushed back the re-opening date once again and allocated another $1 million from the city’s Tidelands Area Fund to pay for more repairs.
That $1 million cost, though, will be covered by revenue generated through city-issued permits that allow filming and special events on the ship even while closed.
Over the summer, Long Beach finally made progress and completed a series of structural repairs necessary to ensure the Queen Mary’s long term structural stability and safety. In late November, the city announced it had entered the final stages on critical repairs and anticipated a partial public re-opening before the end of the year.
Most recently, the city reinforced and extended the ship’s bulkheads — which prevent water from entering the vessel and largely improve the Queen Mary’s overall structural stability — and begun work on the installation of an automated bilge pump system, which is a critical safety mechanism necessary to discharge water from the ship in the event it gets inside.
“We have worked diligently to make critical repairs to help preserve the structural integrity of the ship and make it safer for our many visitors,” Department of Public Works Director Eric Lopez said in the Monday announcement.
The remainder of the repairs — which include the installation of an emergency generator, interior and exterior lighting, other safety equipment, and two boilers and heat exchangers which will allow for hot water on-board — will be completed in early 2023, according Long Beach’s Monday announcement.
Evolution Hospitality, meanwhile, will re-open and manage the day-to-day operations of the Queen Mary Hotel, its food and beverage facilities, entertainment offerings, and other ship-related events. There is no specific date for those re-openings yet, though Long Beach has repeatedly said all repairs are expected to be completed in early 2023.
“We look forward to soon reopening the historic Queen Mary Hotel,” Evolution Hospitality General Manager John Taffin said in the announcement, “and welcoming guests back to enjoy an overnight stay or experience scenic shoreline views, refreshments and dining at one of our world-class restaurants.”
More information about the upcoming Queen Mary tours is available on the city’s website at longbeach.gov/pages/city-news/queen-mary-reopening-tours/. Long Beach also recently launched a Queen Mary-specific dashboard to keep residents apprised of ongoing and completed repairs on board.