Photo courtesy Destinations Magazine

Historic Tour: The Queen Mary 

This year's historic tour is to the Queen Mary. This  British luxurious passenger ship, a part of the Cunard line, made 1,001 crossings between England and New York from 1936 to 1967. Today it is permanently docked in Long Beach and serves as a floating museum and hotel.

We'll transport attendees to the ship for the tour circa 1 p.m. after the Donna Allen Luncheon. 

Attendees’ tour tickets ($24.50) will include a just-for-AJHA tour of the Queen Mary. You can grab a cocktail at the art deco bar at the bow of the ship and stroll with our tour guide through an hour-long “Glory Days” historical tour with a focus on journalism history  blended with the ship's Hollywood tour.

After you have this overview, you might head out on your own self-guided tour or hop on the “Steam & Steel” tour that takes you well below deck through the communication and engineering systems that made the Queen Mary the world’s fastest and most technologically advanced ocean liner at the time. Or, for those of you interested in the paranormal, the “Haunted Encounters” tour provides a non-scary introduction into the ghostly legends of this storied ship. Both additional tours are one hour each with an discounted additional ticket rate that is easy to purchase on site after the first tour with our tour guide’s assistance, highly recommended.

There are exhibits around the ship, including giant cutaway ship models of the Cunard Line’s famous fleet, World War II anti-aircraft weaponry used to carry nearly a million troops throughout the war, the isolation ward for ill passengers, the commodore’s office, captain’s quarters and radio room as well as souvenir shopping. There is also an hour-long film about the Queen Mary’s role during World War II that runs continuously in the ship’s theater.

At the end of the afternoon, attendees can choose to enjoy drinks and bar bites in the art deco observation bar and take in the views of Long Beach across the water (open until 11:30 p.m.).

The Promenade Café also has great views and is open until 9 p.m. Reservations are recommended. 

The Chelsea Chowder House and Bar is a bit more elegant and open until 10 p.m. Reservations required.

There’s also a Midship Marketplace coffee shop with light snacks open until 8 p.m.

The Queen Mary is 1.8 miles from the conference hotel, and local hosts are working on a variety of easy shuttle options to get everyone back to the Hilton whenever you choose to go, whether it’s at 5 p.m. or midnight. We can neither confirm nor deny the rumors of a speakeasy on board.

More details to come. For now, check out: https://www.queenmary.com