Is it just me, or is it a "little disrespectful" Queen Mary Ghost and Legends Tour

[bbc1969]

Hi All,

My kids are in town visiting, and I took them to see the Queen Mary today. I love visiting the ship, and try to make it down to Long Beach several times per year.

My two youngest have never had the chance to take any tours of the ship, so I took them on the Ghost and Legends tour. Although a bit entertaining, anyone with any real knowledge of the ship knows most of their commentary is strictly sensationalism and twists some facts to serve the purpose of the "Ghost Tour".

Near the end of the tour (when the guide tells you that you are at the front of the ship-but really your not) they tell the story of the ramming incident with the HMS Curacoa. Amidst smoke, noise, taped yelling and screaming the guide tells of course of these lost souls haunting the ship looking for their peace-rambling on for a bit about the victims while the taped screaming continues.

In my mind these brave folks who lost their lives in wartime conditions deserve better. Even 60 odd years later, I think it is too soon to relegate these folks to hyped ghost tales-especially as many of their contemporaries are alive, well and with us today!

Just a minor annoyance on an otherwise great day. I don't know, maybe I am just too picky.

 

[inge77]

right on the money

I don't think you're too picky--I think that part of the tour you described was indeed disrespectful. I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

this sums it up

attraction does not equal museum

 

[bbc1969]

attraction does not equal museum

I agree wholeheartedly. It is unfortunate that even the newest operator of the ship tries to play both games "attraction" and museum. There may be room for such a mix, but no one has gotten it right since the ship has been in the city.


Don't get me wrong... I love the ship (I grew up with it almost-Dad was one of the original L.B. City employees working on the ship).

I am glad it survives, when we have lost so many other grand things of the era.

 

[MisterCairo]

Better to have been scrapped than to have been turned, even for brief moments, into a wax-museum-esque house of horrors.

This sounds shameful. A floating hotel? Fine. A classy location for an evening out? Great. A scene for cheep thrills in an age when relatives of those killed are still living? Crap.