7 Scariest Things While Staying Aboard the Queen Mary

The Queen Mary is famous for its alleged paranormal activity, but did you know there are things perhaps even scarier than the ghosts? At least to me.

Here’s the seven things I found scariest while spending the night aboard the Queen Mary. (A few of which I’ve noted in other posts, but here they are all consolidated.)

1. Price

Actually the price isn’t that bad. It’s comparable with other hotels in the area. Expect to pay anywhere from $100 to the mid-$200s on up, depending on which type of room you want.

Also, they have different packages that account for different prices, like the Bed & Breakfast, Aquarium of the Pacific, and Catalina packages. (We got a Bed & Breakfast one, which was worth it. There’s really no nearby food around to walk to, and the breakfast buffet was a nice spread.)

Then there’s the haunted Suite B340, which is a whole experience and price point unto itself. It starts at $499 per night. However it comes with some perks you don’t get in a regular room, like a “chest with unique items” to “amplify” your overnight experience, including a Ouija board, tarot cards, and a crystal ball.

I don’t know about you, but spending $500 a night on a hotel room is more frightening to me than any ghosts I might meet.

2. Furnishings

The room we stayed in was dated. It was clean and the bed was perfectly sleepable, but the room had a bit of a funky, old, musty smell I wasn’t expecting.

Was it because of the furnishings? I’m sure they weren’t original to the ship, but they weren’t new either.

Or maybe it was the carpet and wallpaper? Which may have been original to the ship… (They weren’t but they had seen better days too.)

3. Safety Sheet

When’s the last time you thought about what to do in the event of a fire? I mean really thought about it? Like, the specifics of what to do.

There was a small booklet type pamphlet in our room that included information about the Queen Mary, including a safety section. I hadn’t reviewed fire safety procedures since fire drills in school.

If a fire had broken out I wouldn’t have thought to feel the door first if I saw smoke wafting in, nor would I have thought about getting low and crawling.

I also never thought to leave my card key close to my bed in a hotel. I normally keep it in my cross-body purse, which I would hopefully have the presence of mind –and time– to grab in an emergency, but who knows?

4. Thin Walls

Overall it was a quiet hotel. I was aware of people in the corridor outside our room sometimes, but I was painfully aware of the people in the room next to us. And they weren’t being loud at all.

I hadn’t seen the sign about the steel walls yet. But once I did it instantly made sense why we could hear just about every word our neighbors spoke or movement they made. Luckily none of it was confidential. Just a regular family doing what families do on vacation: hog the bathroom, argue over what to watch on TV, resist bedtimes.

Thankfully. If it had been a frisky newlywed couple maybe I’d have mistaken their moans for ghosts.

5. The Playroom Replica

I’m not sure why I found it scary. It was a display behind glass. You couldn’t enter it. And presumably the things inside couldn’t get out of their own accord. Presumably. (But I have my suspicions about one doll in particular. You’ll see her in the photos below.)

But maybe that’s what scared me? I’m not usually creeped out by dolls, and these weren’t even that disturbing, but it just looked like a scene from a horror movie waiting to unfold.

6. The Isolation Ward

As soon as I spotted the Isolation Ward on a direction sign, I knew I had to check it out. The name instantly intrigued me. Was it because I’d heard of a ghost story about it once upon a time? None came readily to mind, but perhaps it was lodged in there somewhere?

Don’t know. All I knew was I had time before our ghost tour to check it out. (I was hoping it’d end up being a stop on the ghost tour, but it wasn’t.)

I was also hoping it’d be a great creepy photo spot. It didn’t disappoint.

7. Engine Room

Why I found the Engine Room scary, who knows? It actually had a light and bright, almost fresh, atmosphere. Especially compared to other parts of the ship.

There were other people around when I was down there, too. Not a lot, but I wasn’t all alone. (Unlike the Isolation Ward, which I’d had all to myself for most of the time I had explored it.)

The Engine Room had a weird vibe to it. It wasn’t one of the places on our ghost tour either, but it was mentioned during it. Maybe that’s why I found it unnerving? Power of suggestion?

Dunno.

Check-In

Have you ever stayed aboard the Queen Mary? Did you find anything scary about it besides the ghosts that are said to haunt it? (And if you did have a paranormal experience, please leave a comment with details! You lucky duck, you!)