Saturday April 4th - Sunday April 5th, 2026. Queen Anne, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Neil Wylie
- Feb 8
- 5 min read
We’ve had a wonderful weekend in the LA area meeting up with our children and two of our grandchildren who drove down from Santa Rosa and Sacramento. While we were really looking forward to seeing our family after being away for 3 months, we also had an ulterior motive for their visit – it gave us the opportunity to offload many of the clothes we didn’t need for the rest of our trip, including winter coats and boots.
The Queen Anne docked in the city of San Pedro, part of the port of Los Angeles, early on Saturday morning. We’ve been to San Pedro many times in the past, in fact it was here that we first experienced cruising; back in the 90s we would go on 3 or 4 day cruises down to Mexico on a ship called the Monarch of the Seas. There is not a lot to note about San Pedro, it’s a bit rough with most places having barred windows – so our family are staying aboard the old Cunard Queen Mary liner which has been permanently docked in the nearby town of Long Beach since 1967.
The Queen Mary was launched on the river Clyde in Glasgow in 1936 and so this year is her 90th anniversary. The ship has a long and storied past, making 1001 transatlantic crossings, holding the record for the fastest crossing for 14 years at just under 4 days and carrying over 16,000 troops during World War 2 (still a record today). Much of the original interior of the ship was removed in attempts, mostly hideous, to utilize the ship for various tourist activities over the years. But over the last few years much work has been done to restore the ship to some of her former, magnificent Art Deco, glory. We stayed on the Queen Mary in 2023, with our grandson, and enjoyed it tremendously; from the many ghost stories (including one about Winston Churchill) to the original fittings in the stateroom and the exquisite Observation Bar. The original air intake vents have been left in the staterooms, these include a “directable” funnel made from Bakelite, an early forerunner to plastic and much used in Art Deco interiors. I was also surprised to find the original faucets in the bathroom, actually more like industrial style valves – these provided both hot and cold fresh or sea water, sadly no longer in operation.
On Saturday morning, after meeting up with our family, we managed to get on a tour of the lower parts of the Queen Mary; only the aft engine room and "shaft alley", at the stern of the ship, was spared during the original transformation and this was the focus of the tour. The tour guide was very well informed and passed on all the pertinent facts as we made our way down to the very bowels of the ship. We heard about steam generation in the gigantic boilers and how the turbines were operated to turn the incredibly long shaft connected to the propeller at the stern. Early after relocating to Long Beach a huge box was constructed on the outside of the ship around the one remaining propeller, and during the tour we actually got to pass through the hull and into the external box – allowing us to look down on the large, submerged propeller.
Later in the afternoon we all met up in the Observation Bar, setting up camp with three tables in the center of the area. The cocktails flowed, the small plates were delicious and we all had a great family “catch up” – this bar is one of my favorite places on the ship, looking at old photos it is very apparent that they have done an excellent restoration job – it’s hard to believe that at one point after arriving in Long Beach this bar had an horrendous “western theme”. The end of the first day was capped off with a dinner in the Chelsea Chowder House restaurant on board the Queen Mary. A great family gathering but the food reviews were mixed: steaks great, fish and chips not so much.
On Sunday (Easter Sunday) we once again went over to the Queen Mary to visit our family and enjoy breakfast in the Promenade Café; our youngest daughter and grandson had left early to enjoy a day in Universal Studios Theme Park so our group was reduced by two. The food reviews from our little group were again mixed; the basic breakfast was good, but the bagels were like car tires. I took the opportunity to appreciate how good the service is on the Queen Anne.
The Queen Mary is docked on a small island at the mouth of the Los Angeles River and directly across from the city of Long Beach. Several bridges and roadways connect the island to Long Beach and in the afternoon, we took a short drive over to the Shoreline Village area where a series of docks and peninsulas create a small yacht harbor and wooden walkways lead through a mix of tourist shops and restaurants. The sun was out and a gentle breeze was blowing, the perfect weather for a short walk. Sandra sought out her favorite shop, known from previous visits, that sold Turkish jewelry, lamps and, most importantly, Turkish Delight – the real kind. Walking through the shopping area there is a thin strip of land that forms the southern edge of the river and, right across the water, sat the Queen Mary; this spot offers the best place to get photos of the old ship and to contrast her with the gigantic Carnival ship docked nearby. On the way back through the shopping area, Sandra just happened to find a store that sold Turkish baklava – one of her favorite pastries.
Having said our goodbyes we took an Uber back to the Queen Anne in order to get ready for the afternoon sail away. Sandra had purchased a bell boy hat while on the Queen Mary and could not resist posing with a real Queen Anne bell boy as we reboarded the ship – it made for a great photo opportunity. The highlight of the sail away was the great views we got of the battleship USS Iowa, which was docked close to the cruise terminal, the ship is now set up as a museum and permanently docked in this location.
What a fabulous weekend we’ve had, great to see the kids and grandkids in a fantastic location and so grateful that they took the time to drive down from Santa Rosa and Sacramento to meet us.
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