Halloween on The Queen Mary? The famously haunted old ship? YES! Sounds awesome! And it was.
Mostly.
As it does every year, apparently, The Queen Mary had a big ol' blowout on All Hallows Eve, including a thing called "Dark Harbor" that features a bunch of scary mazes, costumed characters, food, and a general carnival atmosphere. On board the ship herself, the usual amenities remained, such as several ghost tours. My fiancée thought it would be really cool for us to experience these things this year, and I was naturally game.
We didn't do Dark Harbor, opting instead to enjoy the tours and then dinner at the swanky Sir Winston's restaurant near the aft of the ship. I think it was a good choice, as it would have been way too much to try to cram into one evening. It did look like fun, though, so maybe we'll give it a go next year. Maybe just not on ACTUAL Halloween. Here's why:
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| Haunted hallway |
See, the ship was, in fact, haunted. It was haunted by the two assholes that were staying in the cabin directly across from ours. When we checked in at about three o'clock, they were already being incredibly noisy, and were likely already lit up pretty good. This only became a problem when we settled into our cabin for the night, and the noise was still going on at 11:30. I called the ship's security to ask what the quiet hours were, and was told 10:00. I told them about our noisy neighbors, and they sent someone over a few minutes later.
At 2:00 in the morning, more noise erupted, as an argument started between our horrible neighbors. This time, my fiancée called security, and they again came out to keep the peace. Unfortunately, as soon as they left, the retaliation began. A girl from next door stepped out in the hall and began to yell at us and threaten us and ask why we didn't come out and say something to them ourselves. My girl happily obliged, ripping our door open and yelling "IT IS TWO O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. SHUT. UP." She was met with contempt and a few insults, so we called security a third time. This time, they told the nice folks that if they didn't calm down, they were going to be booted off the ship. I had fantasies in my head of a plank being walked, and hungry sharks below, but sadly, that didn't come to pass. There was some loud banging around and exaggerated coughing after this, but then they finally, mercifully shut the hell up. Needless to say, our sleep was pretty much zero for the night.
Aside from that bit of nonsense, we had an excellent time! The haunted tours were pretty cool and scary. We both got a couple of good jumps out of it, and even a few pictures of some creepy areas in the bowels of the old ship. No telling how many of the stories were fact, and how many were fabrication, but it was fun and spooky nonetheless. We heard all about the man who had died in his room unexpectedly, and is said to still haunt it. We were also told of a boiler explosion, and a tremendous loss of life that occurred when the Queen Mary broadsided a smaller ship and sent it to the ocean floor. There was even a story of a crewmember who was caught out in a game of hatchway-chicken and crushed by a hydraulic door.
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| Hallway to the old first class pool |
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| Creepy old signage |
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| The old first class pool, supposedly haunted by a little girl |
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| The eerie bowels of the ship |
Dinner at Sir Winston's was amazing and pretty fancy. It was kinda hilarious to see people dressed in their finest mixed in with people who were dressed in their Halloween costumes. I thought the guy in the Star Trek uniform looked particularly out of place and awesome. One guy even proposed to his girl right there in front of everybody.
I have to say, to the credit of the Queen Mary staff, they have offered have us back again for another night to make up for the horrible one we had. We will gladly be back to enjoy more of the amazing history of the old gal, and all the charm she offers. Heck, we even had a rainbow to greet us during breakfast. Can't beat it.
