The Queen Mary

Though with every wedding, there are always bumps in the road. However, they were always smoothed quickly by all of the staff with whom my husband and I worked. We wanted to provide an elegant and relaxed reception that had excellent food, beverage, and service, and we got it all from the catering team at the Queen Mary. I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting a unique reception venue.

The Queen Mary was the perfect place to have our wedding. We started off with a great tour of all of the ball rooms that would accommodate our guests (166 total) with Lisa. She then went over the package with us. The package was such a great value. A beautiful ballroom, catering, cake, tables, chairs, linens, a hosted cocktail hour, and huge stateroom for the night of the wedding was a huge selling point. We were then assigned our wonderful event coordinator, Breanna. She was so helpful, and went over every little detail with us to make sure we were happy. She also recommended hiring a day of coordinator, Lucas Jeanne Events, and that ended up making our day so smooth and easy. We received so many compliments of how unique and great our wedding was because we decided to host it on the Queen Mary. We have nothing negative to say about our experience with the Queen Mary at all.

Everyone that works for or is a guest aboard the Queen Mary exudes the romanticism and history of the ship. This is a lovely venue. That being said, there are still issues with front desk, hotel booking, strange events that you may not know about when booking, changes in the location of your wedding, if construction is still underway. Again though, 99% of the staff make up for it! One sales gal is very unprofessional and actually hit her with the on my then fiancé, wearing a short, tight, black dress and s

I genuinely loved this venue, it was really wonderful for us. Things I would consider when you are thinking of this venue though, it is a tourist attraction, and you have to be ok with that. It's a bit like getting married in a theme park, as far as privacy. We loved that it was like a hotel but with much more character, and has so much history you feel like you are a part of something greater than yourselves. The food and bar was fantastic, everyone praised it, the rooms are beyond unique. We and all our guest had a lovely time. Ashley, Nicole and Kacie were all super helpful, and went above an beyond to make everything as perfect as they could, given that the Special Events Department scheduled a 90's has-been bands concert right outside our outdoor ceremony location, after we had booked it. They were as upset as we were, and did everything they could to fix the problem, with less than a month to make it work. Aside from the 45 minutes our guests spent trying to get into the parking lot, the changes we made were really great and our wedding was really amazing! Once everyone was there they had a fantastic time. We've gotten more than one "Best Wedding Ever" from folks that wouldn't necessarily say that. My advice to couples, recommend your guests stay on board, all of ours that did had the most fun! Also GET A COORDINATOR!!! They suggest it, very strongly, and while Ashley did practically everything, having my day of coordinator to take care of details like getting the gifts to our suite after, setting up the escort cards, making sure the kids coloring got on the right tables, and most of all answering questions so I didn't have to, was invaluable! Most of the negative reviews I have seen for this venue were complaints about things a coordinator handles. My advice to the venue, don't book those outside events anymore. ;-)

I've been a guest for two weddings at the Queen Mary and both times, the venue was absolutely sloppy in how they provided for the Bride and Groom on their wedding day. The coordinator on both occasions was completely absent and was no where to be found when the Maid of Honor, on BOTH occasions, had discovered that they completely messed up on the table layouts- resulting in us guests sitting outside in the cold on the open deck! The waiter's also gave us attitude whenever we asked for more bread or for a plate of food when they had forgotten to give one to one of the guests. Since the coordinator was absent, numerous people tried to talk to the head waiter who just gave an attitude and rushed away. The Bride was very upset about the little details that the coordinator just forgot or ignored and seemed like she didn't care about getting right. She also wouldn't answer her cell phone so you couldn't track her down. I would say the Queen Mary and the staff is not worth any Bride's frustration. There are better places out there with way better coordinators.

I absolutely loved this venue. It captured the essence of the drama that we wanted. We wanted a vintage feel and the ship was the best location. The food was delicious during the cocktail hour and the reception. I highly recommend Kathy French to be your liaison on the ship. She did a fantastic job. If I could do it all over again, I would!

It is a beautiful, unique venue - I can say that much. And your first meetings with their team will go well. However, it is the day of that really matters, and this is where they FAILED. Once they get every dime they think they will get out of you, they cease to stop caring about making you (the customer) happy. Just a few of my numerous gripes: the person that they claimed would be there for our entire event, wasn't. There were things in the contract they took upon themselves to change without asking us. Reserved signs that were supposed to be put out, weren't, and then they lied about it. We also had some items come up missing that they couldn't have cared less about - I was actually ignored on that one. To further add insult to injury, if you do have an issue, they will not take any accountability or do anything to rectify the situation; they will just deny - ZERO accountability. If you are dead set on getting married on the Queen Mary, make sure that you save EVERY email, text, etc. for when this happens. It also probably wouldn't be a bad idea to bring an audio recorder to every meeting, either, as they will deny anything said verbally. Also, make sure you go over your contract with a fine tooth comb, because things that are promised verbally seemed to have a way of not making it on paper until you point it out. Your wedding is one of the most important events of your life and the Queen Mary claims to provide "first class treatment". If this is their idea of first class, I would hate to see their idea of coach. The only thing first class about their service is the price tag. Weddings are stressful enough without having to deal with a vendor with ZERO accountability that couldn't care less about you, the customer.

Nicole at The Queen Mary went above and beyond for us. It was truely wonderful expierence having our wedding there and we can't thank Nicole enough!

The front desk staff were nice and helpful. We were running late and checked in half an hour before the restaurant closed. The bartender would only make us one drink, we barely got food ordered. Our server was very nice, even brought us some chocolate covered strawberries to make it a bit better. Good try on his part :)I love the rustic feel. Shame we got there too late to enjoy walking about the ship.

We had our rehearsal dinner at the Chelsea Chowder House & Bar on the Queen Mary ship. The food was wonderful and the view from the restaurant was fantastic.

We had our wedding Reception here and everything was amazing. My coordinators were fabulous! Everyone was raving about the food! We could not have asked for anything more!

My husband and I spent the first night of our honeymoon at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. We were looking for a convenient spot to spend the night before boarding our cruise out of Long Beach. The Queen Mary is ideal. The ship/hotel is located right next to the cruise ship terminal... literally walking distance away. We drove up from San Diego, had dinner in Long Beach, spent the night in a "bay view" room, and boarded our cruise the next morning. Loved our experience and have tons of amazing photos from onboard the Queen Mary! My family even came up the day of our departure and spent the day exploring the Queen Mary and watching us leave on our Carnival Cruise. Highly recommend this hotel, especially if you have a cruise booked and want to spend the night nearby!! p.s. - just remember to leave lots of time to check in and board your cruise... the process was long, tedious, and frustrating.. be warned!

Dear Krystal Kiremit, Catering Manager; Ernesto, Captain of the Queens Salon; Reservations Department, The Queen Mary Spa and the Queen Mary’s staff; I want to thank each of you for the personal care you took in seeing the Asebez/Linneman wedding on April 20, 2012 was perfect; and it was! When I booked the event back in early 2010 we had a few hick-ups with the changes of Catering Manager, not once, but twice. Apparently, the saying, “The thirds a charm” is absolutely true. I cannot express the abundance of professionalism I received from Krystal Kiremit and each one of our guest received from the time we boarded the Queen Mary. Krystal made sure everything was covered from A to Z. She went out of her way to make sure the timing of the wedding went accordingly, with the exception of the Bride being late to her own wedding! All of our 180+ guests were in awe and for some; this was their first trip aboard the Queen Mary of Long Beach. Having the Captain’s Meet and Greet at the wedding reception added to the romantic feel of the room; and gave our guests the feeling of being back in time when the Queen Mary made one of its voyages. A great touch! People have asked if I would have had the Queen Mary staff do anything different and I have to say, “Not one thing.” The wedding was perfect and our guest’s expressed an absolute joy of having our event aboard the Queen Mary. After having a wonderful time they didn’t mind paying for the parking fee either. The added personal touch from room service was a complete surprise and just added to the enjoyment of our stay aboard Queen Mary. Apparently, a lot of our guests slept well in their cabins due to the comfort of the beds. My mom, a WWII War bride who boarded the Queen Mary in Southampton, England in March 1946 was a writer aboard the Queen Mary and during her voyage published a daily newsletter called, “Porthole Peepers.” (I have her originals.) She would be proud in knowing the current staff on the Queen Mary is keeping her history alive. My mom was a true patriotic woman of her country and of the RMS Queen Mary. I can only express my deepest heart-felt thank you and I know my mom’s thank you would be 10 times greater! I will definitely advertise your caring touch and utmost professionalism. Once again, thank you in making the Asebez/Linneman wedding a wonderful event. Please, share this letter with all of your staff! Sincerely, Helenne Asebez, Mother of the Bride and Daughter of WWII Warbride Asebez/Linneman Wedding, April 20, 2012

We had our reception at Sir Winston's Restaurant and Lounge aboard the Queen Mary. The venue is simply amazing...you don't need a lot of decor as the whole restaurant is already classically-themed! This has always been our favorite restaurant because of the service and the quality of the food...They have the best of everything!

Gloria Gonzalez and the rest of the 'crew' on the Queen Mary made our wedding day a perfect and memorable event. The setting was gorgeous and the service was amazing. I would highly recommend planning ANY event on this historic boat!

I have mixed feelings about the Queen Mary as a wedding venue. I am giving it 4 stars because the location was beautiful and historic, it was so much fun to have our guests stay at the ship, and my wedding turned out to be wonderful. However, there were some issues. The wedding day was great, which is partly because I hired my own day of coordinator. Their coordinators were not helpful. Prior to the wedding, we went through 3 different people. The first one was pretty good, but they were all difficult to get a hold of and work with. The planning process was difficult and stressful, and they didn't let us know when there were changes. Even the wedding package changed to include a cake, and they never told us. We only found out because we happened to do a tasting at the bakery they were now working with! Otherwise, we would have bought a cake we didn't need to buy. The wedding day itself went very well though. The catering staff is wonderful and our service at the reception was great. The staff was friendly, sweet, and attentive. Everything went smoothly, and I had a great time. So to summarize, I'm glad we went with the Queen Mary. Our guests loved it and we have some very pretty pictures. If you choose it though, be prepared for some frustration and poor service prior to your wedding day and hiring your own day of coordinator is a MUST with this location. I have no idea how the day would have gone without that.

Our November 5th wedding was amazing!! We cannot recommend this venue highly enough. Gloria, our catering sales manager, was on top of all the coordinating, and showed real professionalism in overseeing the entire event. We shared the ship with a Marine Corps Ball and a Quincienera, along with the various other daily functions, and at no time did we feel second place. The setup was stress free, thanks to the experience exuded by the entire staff. Our ceremony was beautiful. The verses selected were eloquently dictated by the ships captain and the Gazebo setting with the harbor at sunset proved to be the perfect backdrop to the perfect moments. The food was great as well. We indulged in a variety of the appetizers to be served during the cocktail hour and our guests raved at the spread and service. The entree portion of the service was processed efficiently and the quality and consistency was first rate. The dessert bar was outstanding. The reception was held in the Queen's salon and the look of the room was elegant and classic. From start to finish, we can't express the satisfaction and appreciation we have for the staff at the Queen Mary. We would highly recommend it to anybody. It made the most important day of our lives also the most perfect!!

A wonderful place to experience your big day.

We had a fantastic time at our wedding aboard the Queen Mary! The staff was amazing! During the recpetion, the staff made sure my husband and I has a sample of all the appetizers, served us warm food and kept us on time with cake cutting etc. They did all this in a very respectful/appropriate way! We had the ceremony in the Wedding Chapel and it was beautiful! The ships captain preformed the ceremony and he included a few surprises which made the ceremony all the more special! The captain was so charming and sweet! All together, the location was fantastic and although a little expensive well worth it! The food was amazing, the atmosphere was romantic and, most important, our guest had a fantastic time! Had a wonderful day with great memories!

We didn't really seriously consider the Queen Mary as a venue, but we did go there after the wedding for a mini honeymoon. The buffet was GREAT.

We booked the Queen Mary for our November 2010 wedding ceremony and reception. We had an outside ceremony and our reception was held in the Royal Salon. The venue is absolutly breath taking. Everything was perfect and exactly where it was supposed to be. Their service during the reception was outstanding. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Julie was our coordinator. She was helpful with the whole process. I would totally recommend the Queen Mary if you are looking for an elegant and beautiful venue site! Plus, many of our guests were really excited about being onboard for the wedding.

We had the royal salon with the adjacent king's view room for the reception. there was more than enough space for our 170+ guests and there were wonderful ocean views. the staff on the day of the wedding was helpful and quick and our coordinator on the ship was wonderful in every way. i could not recommend a better site!;there was nothing negative about our site. really!