Floating on Troubled Waters
March 18, 2005
Elegant, regal, luxurious, colossal...all words used to the describe the legendary Queen Mary when she made her official debut in Southampton, England in May of 1936. Commissioned by Cunard Cruise Lines and built at the famed Southampton Dry Dock, now known as the King George V Graving Dock, the Queen Mary is still one of the most famous ships in the world. As the grandest and most opulent ship ever conceived of at the time, the Queen Mary served a successful, proud, and magnificent tenure. Sailing the high seas for more than 30 years, she was even responsible for transporting troops during World War II. Now, nearly 40 years after making her last official voyage, the future of this nautical legend is becoming exceedingly blurred and unclear.
Nearly twice the size of fellow Cunard/White Star Line ship Titanic, the Queen Mary made over 1000 successful Atlantic crossings, carrying a ritzy clientele and a number of well-known celebrities and dignitaries from Bob Hope to Winston Churchill, and helped to set the original standard for cruising as we know it today. Weighing in at an impressive 81, 237 tons, the Queen Mary's size and grandeur was incomparable in her day. At just over 1000 feet long, she could carry close to 2000 passengers at one time, along with nearly 1200 officers and crew members. After her 1,001 transatlantic voyage, the Queen Mary was retired from commercial service on September 19, 1967. On December 11, 1967, the Queen Mary was officially removed from the British registry, and ownership of the vessel was transferred over to the city of Long Beach, California, where she has been floating ever since as a world-class hotel, museum, and tourist attraction.
As a stately reminder of our naval history and seafaring past, the Queen Mary has remained docked on the water at Long Beach for that last 38 years. Now a dispute between the city that owns and loves this famed ocean liner, and the the company in charge of leasing and operating her, has put the future of this treasured piece of cruising history into a great wave of uncertainty.
It all started when the city of Long Beach, and the California company that leases the Queen Mary and is in charge of operating the ship on a day to day basis, Queen's Seaport Development Inc., got involved in a heated rent dispute. The city, which actually owns the ship, had threatened to terminate the company's 66-year operating lease if it did not repay what city officials said were inappropriate rent credits taken for upgrades to the ship and developing the surrounding area. As a result of the disagreement and the nearly $3.4 million it owed the city of Long Beach , Queen's Seaport Development, Inc. was forced to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy, which it did on Tuesday, March 15, 2005 in Los Angeles. It is not certain at this point whether or not Queen's Seaport Development will be able to recover financially, or what the city plans to do with the Queen Mary as a result of the proceedings.
The Queen Mary currently features a unique and luxurious hotel, conference center, and museum, that includes 365 hotel staterooms, numerous world-famous restaurants and fine dining options, a wedding chapel, and 16 Art Deco reception salons that cater to private celebrations from birthday parties and wedding receptions, to corporate gatherings and lavish galas. City officials had hoped to make the ship the epicenter of an extravagant new seaside tourist development for the Los Angeles area, but plans and proposed attractions have never materialized due to lack of funding and corporate commitment, and the ship has since been struggling to produce any kind of profit.
For more information on the Queen Mary II and the efforts being made to save her, you can visit the official web-site of the Queen Mary, www.QueenMary.com.
Brian ReitterBook your cruise online
