RMS Queen Mary — BrandWiki

RMS Queen Mary

Overview

Queen Mary

flag	Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg Flag_of_Long_Beach,_California.png
namesake	Mary, Queen of the United Kingdom
owner	* 1936–49: Cunard-White Star Line * 1949–67: Cunard Line * 1967–present: City of Long Beach
route	Southampton to New York via Cherbourg (eastbound and westbound) Southampton to Halifax, Nova Scotia via Halifax (eastbound and westbound)
ordered	3 April 1929
builder	* John Brown & Company * Clydebank, Scotland
yard number	534
laid down	1 December 1930

RMS Queen Mary[3] is a historic retired British ocean liner that operated primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line. It is currently a hotel, museum, and convention space in Long Beach, California, United States. It is on the US National Register of Historic Places and member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[4] Built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland, she was subsequently joined by RMS Queen Elizabeth [5] in Cunard's two-ship weekly express service between Southampton, Cherbourg and New York. These "Queens" were the British response to the express superliners built by German, Italian, and French companies in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

sponsor	Queen Mary

christened	26 September 1934

maiden voyage	27 May 1936

identification	* * Radio Callsign: GBTT

in service	1936–1967

out of service	9 December 1967

registry	Liverpool

status	Laid up as a floating hotel and museum ship, Long Beach.

Construction and naming

With Weimar Germany launching SS Bremen (1928) and SS Europa (1930) into service, the United Kingdom and its shipping companies did not want to be left behind in the shipbuilding race. White Star Line, Cunard's chief British rival, began construction on the 80,000-ton Oceanic in 1928, while Cunard planned a 75,000-ton unnamed ship. Cunard's Chief Naval Architect, George Mcleod Paterson, was the principal designer.[7] Construction on the ship, then known only as "Hull Number 534",[8] began in December 1930 on the River Clyde by the John Brown & Company shipyard at Clydebank in Scotland. John Brown assisted in the design and construction of the vessel, which was his first major project in the shipyard.[9] Work halted in December 1931 due to the Great Depression and Cunard applied to the British Government for a loan to complete 534. The Government granted the loan, providing enough money to complete the unfinished ship, and also to build a running mate to provide a two ship weekly service to New York.[10]

One condition of the loan was that Cunard merge its operations with the White Star Line,[11] which was also struggling due to the depression and had cancelled construction of its Oceanic. Both lines agreed to the merger, and, on 10 May 1934, the companies created a third company, Cunard-White Star Line, to manage their newly combined fleet. Work on 534 resumed immediately with a launch scheduled for 1934. Prior to the ship's launch, the River Clyde had to be specifically deepened and widened to cope with her size, undertaken by the engineer D. Alan Stevenson.[12]

On 26 September 1934, Her Majesty Queen Mary launched Hull 534 as RMS Queen Mary. Eighteen drag chains slowed the ship down the slipway, which checked the liner's progress into the River Clyde.[13] Until her launch, the name was a closely guarded secret. Cunard intended to name the ship Victoria, in keeping with company tradition of giving its ships names ending in "ia", but when company representatives asked King George V's permission to name the ocean liner after Britain's "greatest queen", he said his wife, Mary, would be delighted.[14] Accordingly, the delegation had no other choice but to report that 534 would be called Queen Mary.[14][15] The name had already been given to the Clyde turbine steamer TS Queen Mary, so Cunard made an arrangement with its owners and this older ship was renamed Queen Mary II.[16]

Following her launch, workers began fitting out the Queen Mary. She received 24 Yarrow boilers in four boiler rooms and four Parsons turbines in two engine rooms. The boilers delivered 400 pounds per square inch (28 bar) steam at 700 °F (371 °C), which provided a maximum of 212,000 shp to four propellers, each turning at 200 RPM.[17]

Workers completed most of Queen Mary's work by March 1936 and she left Clydebank for her sea trials.[18] During those trials, she achieved a speed of 32.84 knots.[19][20] She then prepared for her maiden voyage. The 1019.4 ft LOA Queen Mary measured, potentially capturing the title of the world's largest passenger ship.[21] Her rival SS Normandie, was 1029 ft LOA, but only measured 79,280 GRT. However, before Queen Mary entered service, Normandie resumed service after her winter overhaul. During that overhaul, CGT modified Normandie to increase her size to 83,243 GRT, retaining the title of world's largest passenger ship.[22] Completion of Queen Mary ultimately took 3 1/2 years and cost 3.5 million pounds sterling,[10]

Pre-World War II

Commanded by Sir Edgar Britten, Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage from Southampton on 27 May 1936. She sailed at high speed for most of her maiden voyage to New York until heavy fog forced a reduction of speed on the final day of the crossing, arriving in New York Harbor on 1 June 1936.

Queen Mary design received criticism for being too traditional, especially when Normandie hull was revolutionary with a clipper-shaped, streamlined bow. Except for her cruiser stern, she seemed to be an enlarged version of her Cunard predecessors from the pre-First World War era. Her interior design, while mostly Art Deco, seemed restrained and conservative when compared to the ultramodern French liner. Nonetheless Queen Mary proved to be the more popular vessel than her rival, in terms of passengers carried.[14][23]

In August 1936, Queen Mary captured the Blue Riband from Normandie, with average speeds of 30.14 kn westbound and 30.63 kn eastbound. In 1937, Normandie received a new set of propellers and reclaimed the Blue Riband. However, in 1938, under the command of Robert B. Irving, Queen Mary took back the Blue Riband in both directions,[24] with average speeds of 30.99 kn westbound and 31.69 kn eastbound, records which stood until lost to SS United States in 1952.

Interior

Arthur Joseph Davis of Messrs, Mewes and Davis, and Benjamin Wistar Morris designed the Queen Mary's interior spaces.[25] The Bromsgrove Guild constructed much of the ship's interior, while H.H. Martyn & Co. built the staircases, foyers, and entrances.[26] Among the facilities available on board Queen Mary, the liner featured two indoor swimming pools, beauty salons, libraries and children's nurseries for all three classes, a music studio, a lecture hall, telephone connectivity to anywhere in the world, outdoor paddle tennis courts, and dog kennels. The largest room on board was the cabin class main dining room (grand salon), spanning three stories in height and anchored by wide columns. The ship had many air-conditioned public rooms on board. The cabin-class swimming pool facility spanned over two decks in height. This was the first ocean liner to be equipped with her own Jewish prayer room – part of a policy to show that British shipping lines avoided the antisemitism evident in Nazi Germany.[27]

The cabin class main dining room featured a large map of the transatlantic crossing, with twin tracks symbolising the winter/spring route (further south to avoid icebergs) and the summer/autumn route.

World War II

In late August 1939, Queen Mary was on a return run from New York to Southampton. The international situation led to her being escorted by the battlecruiser HMS Hood (51). She arrived safely and set out again for New York on 1 September. By the time she arrived, war had been declared and she was ordered to remain in port alongside Normandie until further notice.

In March 1940, Queen Mary and Normandie were joined in New York by Queen Mary new running mate RMS Queen Elizabeth, fresh from her secret voyage from Clydebank. The three largest liners in the world sat idle for approximately two weeks when Queen Mary left for Sydney, Australia.[14] Once there, along with several other liners, was converted into a troopship to carry Australian and New Zealand soldiers to the United Kingdom.[31]

In the conversion, the ship's hull, superstructure, and funnels were painted navy grey. As a result of her new colour, and in combination with her great speed, she became known as the "Grey Ghost". To protect against magnetic mines, a degaussing coil was fitted around the outside of the hull. Inside, stateroom furniture and decoration were removed and replaced with triple-tiered (fixed) wooden bunks, which were later replaced by "standee" (fold-up) bunks.[32]

A total of 6 mi of carpet, 220 cases of china, crystal and silver services, tapestries, and paintings were removed and stored in warehouses for the duration of the war. The woodwork in the staterooms, the cabin-class dining room, and other public areas were covered with leather.

Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were the largest and fastest troopships involved in the war, often carrying as many as 15,000 men in a single voyage, and often travelling out of convoy and without escort. The Queens' high speed and zigzag courses made it virtually impossible for U-boats to catch them, although one attempted to attack the ship. On 25 May 1944, U-853 spotted Queen Mary and submerged to attack, but the ship outran the U-boat before it could do so.[33] Because of their importance to the war effort, Adolf Hitler offered a bounty of 1 million Reichsmarks and Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross, Germany's highest military honour, to any U-boat captain that sank either ship.[34]

On 2 October 1942, Queen Mary accidentally sank one of her escort ships, slicing through the light cruiser HMS Curacoa (D41) off the Irish coast with a loss of 338 lives. Queen Mary was carrying thousands of Americans of the 29th Infantry Division[35] to join the Allied forces in Europe.[36] Due to the risk of U-boat attacks, Queen Mary was under orders not to stop under any circumstances and steamed onward with a fractured stem. Some sources claim that hours later, the convoy's lead escort, consisting of HMS Bramham (L51) and one other ship,[37] returned to rescue 99 survivors of Curacoa crew of 437, including her captain John W. Boutwood.[38][39][40] This claim is contradicted by the liner's then Staff Captain Harry Grattidge, who recorded that Queen Mary Captain, Gordon Illingsworth, immediately ordered the accompanying destroyers to look for survivors within moments of Curacoa sinking.

Later that year, from 8–14 December 1942, Queen Mary carried 10,389 soldiers and 950 crew (total 11,339).[43] During this trip, on 11 December, while 700 mi from Scotland during a gale, she was suddenly broadsided on her starboard side by a rogue wave that might have reached a height of 28 m.[44] An account of this crossing can be found in Carter's book.[45] As quoted in the book, Carter's father, Dr. Norval Carter, part of the 110th Station Hospital on board at the time, wrote in a letter that at one point Queen Mary "damned near capsized... One moment the top deck was at its usual height and then, swoom! Down, over, and forward she would pitch." It was calculated later that the ship rolled 52 degrees, and would have capsized had she rolled another three degrees.[46]

From 25 to 30 July 1943, Queen Mary carried 15,740 soldiers and 943 crew (total 16,683),[47] a standing record for the most passengers ever transported on one vessel.[48] This was only possible in summer as passengers had to sleep on deck.[49]

During the war, Queen Mary carried British Prime Minister Winston Churchill across the Atlantic three times for meetings with fellow Allied forces officials. He was listed on the passenger manifests as "Colonel Warden".[50] On one crossing in 1943, Churchill and his staff planned the Normandy Invasion and he signed the D-Day Declaration aboard.[51] Churchill later stated that the Queens, "challenged the fury of Hitlerism in the battle of the Atlantic. Without their aid, the day of final victory must unquestionably have been postponed."[52] By the war's end, Queen Mary had carried over 800,000 troops and travelled over 600,000 miles across the world's oceans.[34]

After World War II

After delivering war brides to Canada, Queen Mary made her fastest ever crossing, returning in early 1946 to Southampton in only three days, 22 hours and 42 minutes at an average speed of 31.9 kn.[53] From September 1946 to July 1947, Queen Mary was refitted for passenger service, adding air conditioning and upgrading her berth configuration to 711 first class (formerly called cabin class), 707 cabin class (formerly tourist class) and 577 tourist class (formerly third class) passengers.[54] Doris Zinkeisen retouched the mural in the Verandah Grill, which had been damaged by gunnery officers tacking charts to the poster board that covered it.[55] She reportedly painted a mouse so there would always be a mouse on the Queen Mary, a joke reference to Cunard's claim to proudly have no rodents on their ships.[55]

Following their refit, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth dominated the transatlantic passenger trade as Cunard White Star's two-ship weekly express service through the latter half of the 1940s and well into the 1950s. They proved highly profitable for Cunard (as the company was renamed on 31 December 1949).[56]

On 1 January 1949, Queen Mary ran aground off Cherbourg, France. She was refloated the next day[57] and returned to service.

In 1952, Queen Mary lost the Blue Riband she held for 14 years to the SS United States during her maiden voyage.

On 29 January 1955, she took aboard two injured crew members from the Panamanian Liberty ship SS Liberator (1943).[58] In 1958, the first commercial transatlantic flights by jet began a completely new era of competition for passenger liners. With a London–New York travel time reduced to just 7–8 hours, demand for multi-day ocean crossing dropped precipitously. On some voyages, winters especially, Queen Mary sailed into harbour with more crew than passengers, though both she and Queen Elizabeth still averaged over 1,000 passengers per crossing into the middle 1960s.[59] By 1965, the entire Cunard fleet was operating at a loss.

Hoping to continue financing Queen Elizabeth 2, which was under construction at Brown's shipyard, Cunard mortgaged the majority of the fleet. Due to a combination of age, lack of public interest, inefficiency in a new market, and the damaging after-effects of the national seamen's strike, Cunard announced that both Queens would be retired from service and sold off. Many offers for Queen Mary were submitted, and the bid of $3.45m/£1.2m from Long Beach, California surpassed the Japanese scrap merchants.[60] Queen Mary was featured in the film Assault on a Queen (1966) starring Frank Sinatra. That August, Queen Mary made her fastest eastbound passage since August 1938, crossing in 4 days, 10 hours and 6 minutes at an average speed of 29.46 knots (54.56 km/h).

Queen Mary was retired from service in 1967.[61] On 27 September 1967, Queen Mary completed her 1,001st[62] and last crossing of the North Atlantic, having carried 2,112,000 passengers over 3295355 nmi. Under the command of Captain John Treasure Jones, who had been her captain since 1965, she sailed from Southampton for the last time on 31 October with 1,093 passengers and 806 crew. After a voyage around Cape Horn, she arrived in Long Beach on 9 December.[60] Queen Elizabeth was withdrawn in 1968 and Queen Elizabeth 2 took over the transatlantic route in 1969.

Post-retirement

Queen Mary is permanently moored in Long Beach as a tourist attraction, hotel, museum and event facility.[63]

Conversion

Queen Mary, bought by Long Beach in 1967, was converted from a seafaring vessel to a floating hotel.[64] The plan included clearing almost every area of the ship below "C" deck (called "R" deck after 1950, to lessen passenger confusion, as the restaurants were located on "R" deck) to make way for Jacques Cousteau's new Living Sea Museum. This increased museum space to 400000 sqft.

It required the removal of all the boiler rooms, the forward engine room, both turbo generator rooms, the ship stabilisers and the water softening plant. The ship's empty fuel tanks were filled with local mud to keep the ship's centre of gravity and draft at the correct levels, as these critical factors had been affected by the removal of the various components and structure. Only the aft engine room and "shaft alley", at the stern of the ship, was spared. The remaining space was used for storage or office space.

One problem that arose during the conversion was a dispute between land-based and maritime unions over conversion jobs. The United States Coast Guard had the final say. Queen Mary was deemed a building, since most of her propellers had been removed and her machinery gutted. The ship was also repainted with its red water level paint at a slightly higher level than during her service years. During the conversion, the funnels were removed, as this area was needed to lift out the scrap materials from the engine and boiler rooms. Workers found that the funnels were significantly degraded, and they were replaced with replicas.

With all of the lower decks nearly gutted from R deck and down, Diners Club, the initial lessee of the ship, converted the remainder of the vessel into a hotel. In 1969, it was reported that the hotel would be operated by Sky Chefs, the catering and hospitality division of American Airlines.[65] Diners Club Queen Mary dissolved and vacated the ship in 1970 after their parent company, Diners Club International, was sold, and a change in corporate direction was mandated during the conversion process. Specialty Restaurants, a Los Angeles-based company that focused on theme-based restaurants, took over as master lessee the following year.

This second plan was based on converting most of her first- and second-class cabins on A and B decks into hotel rooms, and converting the main lounges and dining rooms into banquet spaces. On Promenade Deck, the starboard promenade was enclosed to feature an upscale restaurant and café named Lord Nelson's and Lady Hamilton's; it was themed in the fashion of early-19th century sailing ships. The famed and elegant Observation Bar was redecorated as a western-themed bar.

The smaller first-class public rooms, such as the Drawing Room, Library, Lecture Room and the Music Studio, were stripped of most of their fittings and converted to commercial use. This markedly expanded retail space on the ship. Two more shopping malls were built on the Sun Deck in separate spaces previously used for first-class cabins and engineers' quarters.

A post-war feature of the ship, the first-class cinema, was removed for kitchen space for the new Promenade Deck dining venues. The first-class lounge and smoking room were reconfigured and converted into banquet space. The second-class smoking room was subdivided into a wedding chapel and office space. On the Sun Deck, the elegant Verandah Grill was gutted and converted into a fast-food eatery, while a new upscale dining venue was created directly above it on Sports Deck, in space once used for crew quarters.

The second-class lounges were expanded to the sides of the ship and used for banqueting. On R deck, the first-class dining room was reconfigured and subdivided into two banquet venues, the Royal Salon and the Windsor Room. The second-class dining room was subdivided into kitchen storage and a crew mess hall, while the third-class dining room was initially used as storage and crew space.

Also on R deck, the first-class Victorian Turkish bath complex, the 1930s equivalent to a spa, was removed. The second-class pool was removed and its space initially used for office space, while the first-class swimming pool was open for viewing by hotel guests and visitors. Because of modern safety codes and the compromised structural soundness of the area directly below, the swimming pool could not be used for swimming after the conversion, although it was filled with water until the late 1980s. Today the pool can only be seen on guided tours and from the first class entrance on R deck. No second-class, third-class or crew cabins remain intact aboard the ship today.

Opening as a tourist destination

On 8 May 1971, Queen Mary opened her doors to tourists. Initially, only portions of the ship were open to the public as Specialty Restaurants had yet to open its dining venues and PSA had not completed work converting the ship's original First Class staterooms into the hotel. As a result, the ship was open only on weekends. On 11 December 1971, Jacques Cousteau's Museum of the Sea opened, with a quarter of the planned exhibits completed. Within the decade, Cousteau's museum closed due to low ticket sales and the deaths of many of the fish that were housed in the museum. On 2 November 1972, the PSA Hotel Queen Mary opened its initial 150 guest rooms. Two years later, with all 400 rooms finished, PSA brought in Hyatt Hotels to manage the hotel, which operated from 1974 to 1980 as the Queen Mary Hyatt Hotel.[66]

By 1980, it had become apparent that the existing system was not working.[67] The ship was losing millions each year for the city because the hotel, restaurants and museum were run by three separate concessionaires, while the city owned the vessel and operated guided tours. It was decided that a single operator with more experience in attractions was needed.[68]

Jack Wrather

1992 closure and reopening

With Disney gone, the Hotel Queen Mary closed on 30 September 1992. The owners of the Spruce Goose, the Aero Club of Southern California, sold the plane to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. The plane departed on barges on 2 October 1992. The Queen Mary was closed indefinitely on 31 December 1992.

During this period, the ship was nominated and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.[70] Also the Port of Long Beach turned over control of the vessel to the city in 1993.[71]

On 5 February 1993, RMS Foundation, Inc signed a five-year lease with the city of Long Beach to act as the operators of the property. The foundation was run by President and C.E.O. Joseph F. Prevratil, who had managed the attraction for Wrather. On 26 February 1993 the tourist attraction reopened completely, while the hotel reopened partially on 5 March with 125 rooms and the banquet facilities, with the remainder of the rooms coming online on 30 April. In 1995, RMS Foundation's lease was extended to twenty years, while the scope of the lease was reduced to operation of the ship. A new company, Queen's Seaport Development, Inc. (QSDI), was established in 1995 to control the real estate adjacent to the vessel. The dome was used extensively as a soundstage for film and television by taking advantage of the adaptable interior space that was larger than any sound stage in the Los Angeles area.[72]

2006 meeting of the two Queen Marys

On 23 February 2006, RMS Queen Mary 2 saluted her predecessor as she made a port of call in Los Angeles Harbor, while on a cruise from South Africa to Mexico.

The salute was carried out with Queen Mary replying with her one working air horn in response to Queen Mary 2 sounding her combination of two brand new horns and an original 1934 Queen Mary horn, which is on loan from the City of Long Beach.[83] Queen Mary originally had three whistles tuned to 55 Hz, a frequency chosen because it was low enough that the extremely loud sound of it would not be painful to human ears.[84]

Modern IMO regulations specify ships' horn frequencies to be in the range 70–200 Hz for vessels that are over 200 m in length.[85] Traditionally, the lower the frequency, the larger the ship. Queen Mary 2, being 1132 ft long, was given the lowest possible frequency (70 Hz) for her regulation whistles, in addition to the refurbished 55 Hz whistle on permanent loan. 55 Hz is the "A" note an octave above the lowest note of a standard piano keyboard. The air-driven Tyfon whistle can be heard at least 10 mi away.[86]

2016 lease to Urban Commons

In 2016, Urban Commons, a real estate company, bought the lease, which extended to 2082, out of default.[88] The lease obligated them to perform the ship's daily upkeep and long-term projects. Carnival Cruises took over the entire dome and made efficiency improvements under their management.[89] The operator generated funds through its events, the hotel bookings, and passenger fees from the nearby Carnival cruise terminal, which was the largest source. Taxpayer funds were not being used to maintain the ship under the lease agreement. Urban Commons had plans to extensively renovate the liner and to redevelop the adjacent 45 acres of parking with a boutique hotel, restaurants, a marina, an amphitheater, jogging trails, bike paths and possibly a huge Ferris wheel, all at a cost of up to $250 million.[90]

In May 2019, Urban Commons formed Eagle Hospitality Real Estate Trust with the goal of generating up to $566 million for the Queen Mary along with its portfolio of 12 other hotel properties that it owns or manages.[91] In December 2019, it was announced that the city was reviewing the finances of Urban Commons to determine whether the City of Long Beach had "received all revenues owed."

2017 condition

In 2017, a report on the ship's condition was issued. The report observed that, not only the hull, but also the supports for a raised exhibition area within the ship were corroding and that the ship's deteriorating condition left areas such as the engine room vulnerable to flooding.[92] Repair costs were estimated at close to $300 million. In November 2016 the City of Long Beach had put $23 million toward addressing Queen Mary's most vital repairs. John Keisler, economic and property development director for Long Beach, said: "We have a timeline in which the engineers believe they can complete those immediate projects. These are major challenges we can only address over time; it can't all be done at once." Political leaders in Scotland, birthplace of Queen Mary, called for the then UK Prime Minister Theresa May to pressure the American government to fund a full repair of the liner in 2017.[93]

In August 2019, Edward Pribonic, the engineer responsible for inspecting Queen Mary on behalf of the City of Long Beach, issued a report stating that the ship was in the worst condition he had seen in his 25 years on the job.[94] Pribonic stated that the neglect of Queen Mary had grown worse under the management of Urban Commons, and concluded that "without an immediate and very significant infusion of manpower and money, the condition of the ship will likely soon be unsalvageable." Incidents of recent neglect include the flooding of the Grand Ballroom with sewage after a pipe which was flimsily patched with duct tape burst, significant amounts of standing water in the ship's bilge, and recently applied paint on the ship's funnels already peeling because of the poor way in which it was applied.

2020 closure and reopening

The Queen Mary ceased operations in May 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As overseer for several corporations that operated the Queen Mary, Eagle Hospitality Trust filed a motion in federal bankruptcy court on 9 March 2021 to auction off its lease.[98] Court filings by the city claimed that Urban Commons' repair work was incomplete or not performed correctly and would likely have to be redone. Also, the current condition of the vessel was such that significant safety repairs needed to be performed before it could reopen to the public. In court filings, Eagle Hospitality Trust stated that the lease was their most valuable asset.[99] There were no bidders on the lease after all of Eagle's other hotel properties were sold at a bankruptcy court auction.[100] Eagle Hospitality Trust agreed to surrender its lease agreement back to the city, and Long Beach took back control in June 2021.[101] To keep the ship running, the city approved a $2 million, six-month contract with Evolution Hospitality to cover monthly utility fees, security, landscaping and other costs.[102]

Reopening and New Investments

The Queen Mary reopened for limited tours on 15 December 2022,[114] and formally reopened to the public on 1 April 2023.[115] Later in the month, the city announced that the ship and Pier H would remain with the city with the port being a partner.[116] The repairs, along with increased tourism, led the Queen Mary to earn over $3.5 million in operating profits from April – December 2023.[117][118] In 2024, the Queen Mary was inducted into the Historic Hotels of America registry for its historical significance.[119] In February 2025, the City of Long Beach approved an agreement with the Queen Mary Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the ship's preservation, allowing it to fundraise and carry out restoration projects aboard the vessel without requiring individual City Council approvals.

2026 Meeting with QM2

On February 2, 2026, Queen Mary 2 reunited with Queen Mary for the first time in 20 years for a "Royal Rendezvous" and to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Queen Mary's maiden voyage.[122] Like the 2006 event, a fireboat was present, and the two Queens exchanged a whistle salute heard throughout Long Beach.[123][124] The following day, in honour of the 20th anniversary rendezvous, Dr. Stephen Payne the designer of QM2, lectured aboard Queen Mary in an event co-organized by broadcaster and The Expert Cruise Show co-host Anthony Davis.[125]