Is this going to be the end of the Queen Mary?

[Concerto]

In January the investment trust that runs the Queen Mary and 26 other hotels filed for bankrupcy protection. The ship needs $289m of repairs and was difficult to operate as a hotel. So will this be the end?

Operator of Queen Mary in Long Beach files for bankruptcy protection
Future of “Irreplaceable” Queen Mary in Question as Operator Faces Bankruptcy

 

[LittleSister]

They could put it on eBay at 99p reserve, 'suit live-aboard'.

 

[pvb]

In January the investment trust that runs the Queen Mary and 26 other hotels filed for bankrupcy protection. The ship needs $289m of repairs and was dificult to operate as a hotel. So will this be the end?

Maybe, but it's only a ship at the end of the day.

 

[pvb]

They could put it on eBay at 99p reserve, 'suit live-aboard'.

Or "project boat"...

 

[Poignard]

Wasn't there some talk during the Brexit campaign of buying another Royal Yacht?

Here is the perfect opportunity.

 

[RichardS]

I went to visit her on a business trip some years ago. I didn't stay onboard although I cannot remember where I stayed.

Richard

 

[awol]

I'm confused the Queen Mary is being restored as a museum ship in Glasgow just now.

 

[Sandy]

They could put it on eBay at 99p reserve, 'suit live-aboard'.

Will it fit into Brighton Marina?

 

[ctva]

I'm confused the Queen Mary is being restored as a museum ship in Glasgow just now.

Not sure if the exact story but Cunard bought/negotiated the name for the liner, I think the one on the Clyde has a variation on the name. Lovely looking boat btw.

 

[ashtead]

I recall when I visited the QM for evening meal roughly when out there on business in 2006 she wasn’t looking that good in places but while the food wasn’t outstanding it did make for an interesting evening out. I gathered then that you could stay on board but never had the chance but maybe some older forumites will have travelled on her when sailing or stayed at long beech .Certainly would be sad to loose her to a scrap yard if the facilities are still running. Not certain there is much else around there to attract either tourists or those in need of refreshment.

 

[lustyd]

was difficult to operate as a hotel.

that's confusing for a boat essentially designed to operate as a hotel!

 

[LittleSister]

They could put it on eBay at 99p reserve, 'suit live-aboard'.

Will it fit into Brighton Marina?

I think it's traditional for live-aboards to worry about berthing only after they've bought the boat.

 

[Gary Fox]

What a pity, fingers crossed. £289M seems a lot for the repairs... almost unbelievably so.

 

[lustyd]

especially when large cruise ships are so cheap on Apolloduck! (seriously, look at them!)

 

[JumbleDuck]

Not sure if the exact story but Cunard bought/negotiated the name for the liner, I think the one on the Clyde has a variation on the name. Lovely looking boat btw.

The Clyde one started as TS Queen Mary, but was renamed Queen Mary II at the request of Cunard who wanted the name for their new flagship. Legend has it that they actually wanted to call her Victoria, as their ship traditionally ended -ia (Lusitania, Berengaria and so on) but when the chairman asked George V over a game of golf whether they might name their ship after "the greatest queen this country has ever had" the king got the wrong end of the stick and replied "I shall ask my wife", by which time it was too late to back out.

When the Queen Mary came off the register in the 70s the Queen Mary II took her original name again.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

She could be the last WW2 troop ship still afloat.

Crowd funding ?

 

[JumbleDuck]

that's confusing for a boat essentially designed to operate as a hotel!

There are more alternative hotels in Long Beach than there are mid-Atlantic. And, after all, she was retired from service because she wasn't working as a hotel at sea either.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I think it's traditional for live-aboards to worry about berthing only after they've bought the boat.

Moving her around would be more of a problem, since the bottom half of here was more-or-less gutted for a museum. Of course there's always a low-loader ...

 

[lustyd]

There are more alternative hotels in Long Beach than there are mid-Atlantic. And, after all, she was retired from service because she wasn't working as a hotel at sea either.

unsuccessful I get. Difficult not so much

 

[JumbleDuck]

unsuccessful I get. Difficult not so much

I think by "difficult to run" they mean "difficult to run at a profit".