The Queen Mary is in desperate need of an overhaul. The "self guided" tour begins with dusty museum-like displays in an ambiguous space in the rear of the ship and meanders with little in the way of clear signage from deck to deck. You get to see a mock-up of typical guest rooms, but you don't actually get to see any real guest rooms. The Ghosts and Legends tour provides access to some interesting spaces -- the swimming pool, boiler room and engine room. But dim lighting, recorded screams and voices, and a mist of water hardly deliver on the frightening experience touted on the signage. Bring comfortable walking shoes; not a single one of the many escalators was working, so touring the QM can be like an hour on the stairmaster. The Queen Mary could be great -- it's an awesome and historic ship. But as it gathers dust today, it's definitely not worth the price of admission.
more