Day Out – Queen Mary
Woman in the Middle | July 1, 2015When my college friend Barb came to visit us last weekend, we picked her up at the airport and headed straight for Long Beach where the famed ship “Queen Mary” is docked. It now acts as a hotel, events site, and tourist attraction. The reason we went is because I discovered they currently have an exhibition called ”Diana: Legacy of a Princess – A Royal Exhibition.”
Oh boy! Barb and I have had a thing about British royalty for a very long time. How could we NOT go? Happily, my girls were up for it (anything to make Barb happy) and Hubby, knowing our obsession, was willing to tag along (again, anything to make Barb happy. In case you hadn’t guessed, Barb is a special person to all of us).
The cost of the exhibition is $31. That includes entrance to the ship and an audio tour. We were short on time and did not take advantage of the audio tour.
We arrived about lunch time. First we checked out the menu of the tea room next to the royal exhibition we were about to see. The menu there was limited and we didn’t feel like spending $32 each for high tea. We went down one deck to the Promenade Café and found a more extensive menu so we decided to have lunch there. Everything was delicious and were good-sized portions. Prices were in the $15-20 range for sandwiches and salads. We were eating next to a window with a view of the harbor. The waiter was attentive. It was a lovely lunch!
Although the exhibit is called “Diana: Legacy of a Princess,” it actually covers the whole British family and Diana is not more than a third of the exhibit, I would estimate. I was OK with that, being the royal nerd that I am. There are lots of things such as Christmas cards, notes they have written, and nice big display boards that explain who each person is and their background.
Apparently each royal bride has a wedding dress as well as a back up dress that is an exact copy of the original dress. They had on display the back up dresses of both Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex. It was fun getting to see those dresses up so close.
The display includes some of Diana’s famous dresses. They have quite a number of them, but rotate them in and out to protect the dresses, I was told.
In an online review, one person complained that it was very cold in the exhibit. We did not find that to be the case and I saw one thermostat set at 73 degrees.
This is definitely a display for those who like the royal family. I would make sure you have at least an hour and a half to see it all, if not more.
I don’t know if I’d go to see the Royal Exhibition, but I might go see the “ghost tours” the Queen Mary has. I heard they are cool!
It all looks interesting. Keep an eye on Groupon. Sometimes they have half off tickets for Queen Mary.